dinner with arnold palmer on thursday night clearly agreed with world no 1 rory mcilroy all those indifferent rounds in florida so far this year were swept aside on friday as the northern irishman notched up five birdies in a row at one point on his way to a superb 66 at the arnold palmer invitational it was the first time in eight rounds in the sunshine state this year that he had broken 70 and what a way to do it from out of the pack, the 25 year old is now bang in contention for a morale boosting victory in his last scheduled start before his attempt to complete the career grand slam at the masters next month rory mcilroy hit a second round of 66 at the arnold palmer invitational on friday  it was the first time in eight rounds in florida this year that the world no 1 had broken 70  mcilroy looks to have played himself back into form ahead of the masters next month  ‘i’m just feeling more comfortable day by day, and it was great to see a few putts finally drop,’ said mcilroy, whose performance drew a glowing tribute from his good friend and playing partner, rickie fowler ‘after what i saw today and the fact he’s clearly the best player in the world, he has to be the favourite for the masters,’ said the american, who was pipped at the post to both the open and uspga championships last year by mcilroy ‘that course suits his game he didn’t start out hot today but when he gets it going as he did on the back nine, it’s hard to hang with him if he continues to play like that, he will be ready for augusta, for sure’ fowler was right when he said nothing appeared to be happening for mcilroy over his front nine, the inward half on the course in fact, he’d played much better on the first day, when he opened with a 70 but after finally getting a putt to drop at the second, and enjoying a small stroke of fortune at the third, where his pulled drive carried a water hazard by just a couple of yards, it all started to click a good wedge to the third green set up a birdie and then came his third in a row at the par five fourth at the fifth his wedge shot finished 18 inches away and then came another birdie at the long sixth, where he got up and down from a greenside bunker ‘it’s a lovely feeling when you get on runs like that and the game suddenly feels very easy,’ he said fowler's good friend and playing partner rickie fowler admitted mcilroy is now favourite for the masters  mcilroy had five birdies in a row in dubai earlier this year but this was the first time he had enjoyed such a run in an event on the pga tour, and it electrified the huge galleries at bay hill by this stage he had gone from being nowhere near the leader board into a tie for second place not even a bogey at his penultimate hole could dampen his enthusiasm ‘it was obviously not the finish i was looking for but i’m still exactly where i wanted to be, with a real chance to win the tournament going into the weekend,’ he said mcilroy will actually begin the third round on saturday five shots behind american pacesetter, morgan hoffmann, who has played brilliantly so far to post blistering rounds of 66 and 65 but can the little known hoffmann keep it going? the new jersey native is the same age as 25 year old mcilroy but there the comparison ends a solitary top three finish in 67 starts on the pga tour suggests he could struggle over the weekend three shots off the pace are world no 3 henrik stenson and defending champion matt every, while mcilroy is not the only big name from the uk in position to have a crack at winning this prestigious title matt every is also in the mix, three shots behind surprise leader morgan hoffman  ian poulter is in contention at halfway after rounds of 67 and 70 put him one shot behind mcilroy  for the third week out of four in florida, ian poulter is in contention at halfway, standing just a shot behind mcilroy following rounds of 67 and 70 he also gave a positive bulletin on his three year old son, joshua, who is making a good recovery from pneumonia ‘it was great to see him looking a lot perkier than when i left for the course this morning,’ he said padraig harrington, who began this florida swing with an amazing comeback victory at the honda classic, is also in the top 20 at halfway after rounds of 68 and 71 but there’s no getting away from the man who will attract nearly all the attention this weekend as for that dinner with palmer, mcilroy was still buzzing ‘it was fantastic, it really was,’ he said ‘we spoke for two and a half hours and he was telling stories of the old days and some of the things he’ s done from a commercial standpoint he was very close to his father just like i am and he shared a few stories about that it was just great to be in his presence and enjoy his company’ pat perez hits his tee shot on the picturesque 11th hole at the bay hill club and lodge 
florida thursday rickie fowler next month arnold palmer hoffman masters morgan hoffman first bay hill mcilroy night matt rory mcilroy this year
rory mcilroy five shots behind leader morgan hoffman at bay hill  world no 1 had dinner with arnold palmer on thursday night  rickie fowler says mcilroy must be favourite for the masters next month  first time in eight rounds this year that mcilroy broke 70 in florida  matt every one shot behind hoffman   ian poulter one behind mcilroy 