Rory McIlroy narrowly avoided an early exit from the 107th US PGA Championship as he posted a two-under-par second round to make it through to the weekend on the cut line.
McIlroy bogeyed the final two holes to add a 69 to his opening 74 and make the cut with nothing to spare on one over par, alongside playing partner and defending champion Xander Schauffele.
Starting on three over, and with a late tee time, McIlroy looked set to play his way into contention as he made four birdies inside his opening ten holes.
However, back-to-back bogeys on 11 and 12 halted his progress, and while he cancelled them out with consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th, he handed away two late shots with bogeys on the last two holes.
Jhonattan Vegas is the halfway leader on eight under par.
Tom McKibbin led the Irish contingent after the opening round, and he holds onto that accolade going into the weekend at Quail Hollow.
The Belfast golfer started the day on one under par following Thursday's opening 70 and managed a level par 71 during Friday’s second round.
One birdie, and one bogey on the final hole, among 16 pars in a very consistent round of golf as McKibbin safely negotiated his way into the weekend with two shots to spare.
Among the early starters on day two, McKibbin now finds himself in a share for 36th place, seven shots behind pacesetter Vegas.
Three of the five Irish in the field missed the cut with Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington finishing one shot off the mark on two over, while Seamus Power ended up on four over par.
Harrington needed a one-under par round or better to make it, and while he was level after his front nine, two bogeys looked to have ruled him out of contention.
Two late birdies offered a chance, however, he could only make par on his final hole when a birdie would have secured safe passage into the third round.
Lowry, likewise, needed a 70 or better after Thursday’s 73, but like Harrington, he posted a level-par 71 to miss out by the minimum.
Two bogeys and two birdies on his front nine meant that he turned on level par for his round, and then a birdie on the 12th had him well placed for a place in the field on Saturday.
But Lowry could not take advantage of the easier 14th and 15th holes and then dropped that costly shot on the 16th, which would ultimately end his tournament.
And a furious Lowry made his feelings about Quail Hollow known in emphatic fashion after a tee shot on the eighth hole pitched in the fairway and bounced sideways into a pitch mark left by another player.
That meant the former Open champion was not allowed relief for an embedded ball and, after confirming the situation with a rules official, Lowry could only hit his second shot into a greenside bunker.
Lowry responded by slamming his club into the turf and exclaiming loudly: "F*** this place" before going on to make a bogey five and flipping his middle finger at the hole as he tapped in.
"You hit a lovely tee shot, you’re not expecting that," Lowry said of the eighth hole.
"I was obviously very annoyed with that because I felt like I had quite a bit of momentum going in the round and standing there with 40 or 50 yards to the pin off the fairway it’s an easy pitch shot for me and I walk away making bogey
"You don’t get many chances and I feel like the eighth hole is one, and when you don’t take advantage of a good tee shot or you get a bit of a break like that it’s not ideal is it?"
Lowry was particularly unhappy with the unsolicited input of an on-course reporter, adding: "The ESPN guy was a bit too involved when he wasn’t asked to be and that’s what annoyed me a lot.
"He came straight over and said 'That’s not your pitch mark’ and like that’s not for you to talk about, it’s for me to call a rules official and decide what happens.
"I wasn’t arguing that it was my pitch mark, I was trying to be 100 per cent sure because imagine if I come in [after the round] and all of a sudden somebody told me that was my pitch mark.
"They told Brooks [Koepka] his ball was okay yesterday and it was on the driving range so you need to be careful about what you’re doing because there’s so much at stake."
Seamus Power’s hopes took a hammering on the sixth and seventh holes when he made bogey, double bogey, and while he made birdie on 17, it proved too little too late as he missed out by three.
Leader Vegas has recorded just one top-25 finish in 16 majors, had looked set to enjoy a more sizeable lead when he reached 10 under par before taking four to get down from a greenside bunker to make a double bogey on the last.
The resulting 70 left him two shots clear of France’s Matthieu Pavon, Si Woo Kim, who made a hole-in-one from 252 yards on the sixth in his 64, and Matt Fitzpatrick, with world number one Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa another stroke back on five under.
"I feel like finishing so late yesterday, not getting a great sleep, and having to come back early kind of put me not in the best mood all day," Vegas, who completed an opening 64 at 8pm on Thursday, said.
"Even though it’s never easy to give two shots away right at the end, [there’s] a lot of golf left, so got to keep remembering the good stuff."
