( CNN ) -- The contrast could not be greater . As Tiger Woods hooked his tee shot at the first hole way left of the fairway , new world number one Rory McIlroy rolled home a birdie putt on his closing hole to lead the PGA Championship on nine-under-par . Woods , who bravely teed it up in the final major of the season despite a back problem , was eventually finish with a second straight 74 to be five shots outside the halfway cut mark for the weekend . McIlroy , bidding for a hat-trick of victories after winning the British Open and WGC-Bridgestone International , followed his opening 66 with a 67 to set a testing target for the later starters , which nobody was able to match . Jason Day of Australia got closest with a best of the day 65 to trail McIlroy by a stroke and he was joined on eight under by veteran American Jim Furyk . As one of the early starters on the second day , the 25-year-old Northern Irishman had to battle torrential rain , which brought about a near hour delay to play at Valhalla , but carded just a solitary bogey on his card . Starting from the 10th , it came on the 12th to put him back to four-under , but McIlroy rebounded superbly with a birdie at the next and then an eagle on the par-five 18th , rolling home a 30-foot putt . A run of pars came on the first six holes of his back nine before a stunning 242-yard five-wood approach to the par-five seventh had the galleries gasping . McIlroy missed his putt for a second eagle of his round but the tap in birdie took him to eight-under and on his final hole , the ninth , came that final birdie to open up a lead on the field . `` I 'm feeling good about my game . I 'm confident , '' McIlroy said . `` I did n't hit it quite as well as I did yesterday , but still really in control of my game and my emotions , '' he told the official PGA Tour website . Britain 's Lee Westwood and American Kevin Chappell , both leading on six-under after 65s on Thursday , carded respective second rounds of 72 and 74 to drop back into the pack in Kentucky . Woods did save par on the first after his errant tee shot , but left himself with an almost insurmountable task to make the weekend after a three-putt double bogey on the sixth . He appeared to be hampered by his injury , but the 38-year-old did finish with a flourish by birdieing the 18th . Phil Mickelson , who had been paired with Woods , went one better , rolling home a short eagle putt to signal his challenge after a 67 for six-under overall . The 2013 British Open champion has only one top-10 finish all season , but moved to within three shots of leader McIlroy with his late charge .
Rory McIlroy sets halfway pace at PGA Championship . The world No. 1 is in contention for his first major title since winning the U.S. Open last month. Tiger Woods misses cut after second straight 74 . Phil Mickelson finishes with an eagle to go six-under .