Rory McIlroy's birdie blitz gives him outside chance at Arnold Palmer Invitational

(Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy admitted he would need more of the same over the weekend after a second round of 66 was not enough to move closer to the leader, Morgan Hoffmann, in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida.

McIlroy fired five birdies in a row on his way to breaking 70 for the first time on the PGA Tour in 2015, only to find himself still five shots behind Hoffmann, who extended his advantage by adding a 65 to his opening 66.

Hoffmann’s halfway total of 131 was just one shot outside the tournament record set by Adam Scott last year, although the Australian famously failed to convert a seven-shot halfway lead after opening rounds of 62 and 68.

At 13 under par the 25-year-old was three shots clear of the defending champion, Matt Every, who also had five birdies in a row in his 66, Harris English and Henrik Stenson, the Swede covering the back nine in just 30 shots in his 66.

Ben Martin of the US was four off the lead after a 67, with McIlroy another shot back alongside New Zealand’s Danny Lee – whose 64 was the lowest round of the day – and Sweden’s David Lingmerth.

After starting on the 10th McIlroy, who missed the cut in the Honda Classic and finished ninth in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, needed to save par from greenside bunkers three times to cover the back nine in 34 after birdies on the 10th and 16th.

However, the four-time major winner clicked into top gear after the turn, holing from 18 feet on the second, six feet on the third and seven feet on the fourth before a superb approach to the fifth left him just inches from the hole.

The 25-year-old then got up and down from another bunker on the par-five sixth for his fifth straight birdie, and the streak only came to an end when he narrowly missed from 35 feet on the next.

“At that point it feels pretty easy,” McIlroy said afterwards. “You are trying to just keep it going, you can feel the momentum building and going with you.”

McIlroy’s only bogey of the day came after a miscued drive led to him finding yet more sand on the eighth, but the Open champion will have been happy with his progress in his last competitive outing before attempting to become the sixth player to complete a career grand slam by winning the Masters next month.

“It would have been nice to finish the round off a little better, but it’s still a good score and sets me up for the weekend,” added McIlroy, who had dinner with Palmer on Thursday evening. “Each day I am feeling more comfortable, especially on the greens, and we got the best of the greens, being out early. I’m happy with how I putted today and will need to putt like that over the weekend to have a chance.”

Hoffmann, who had eight birdies in 11 holes from the third, discovered before his opening round that his 97-year-old grandmother had died. “There are times in your life when you really get hit by something, and that was Thursday for me,” he said. “It helped me appreciate life and being out here, enjoying the weather and playing golf. I am living my dream.”