McIlroy five shots adrift of leader Hoffman at Palmer tournament post second-round 66

Northern Irish golf ace Rory McIlroy carded a second-round 66 to charge up the leaderboard and is five shots behind leader Morgan Hoffman at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The world number one golfer's first-sub 70 round on this year's PGA Tour included a run of five birdies on his back nine.

Hoffmann added a 65 to his opening round six-under 66, which left him on 13 under and three ahead of holder Matt Every, Henrik Stenson and Harris English, the BBC reported.

McIlroy currently shares sixth with New Zealand's Danny Lee and Sweden's David Lingmerth.

Meanwhile, Stenson, defending champion Every and English all fired rounds of 66 as they moved to 10 under while former US Amateur champion Lee shot a brilliant 64.

England's Ian Poulter is in a group on seven under while recent Honda Classic winner Padraig Harrington is sharing 23th spot on five under after a 71.

After starting at the 10th, McIlroy 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 found his top form 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.

McIlroy had dinner with tournament host Arnold Palmer on Thursday night and described the evening as fantastic. He said that it was just great to be in his presence, and great to be in his company.