Rory McIlroy off RBC Canadian Open pace but Tom McKibbin 'good position' for European title defence
![Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy reacts to his putt on the second green during the second round of the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOjJiOWY0MmM1LWVkMDktNGRkMC05OTk5LTI5NzdjYjcwODE5NjoyZDg3MTJiMi01ZjExLTRmMDItYjNhOS04NTk2YzVjZTk2Njc=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy reacts to his putt on the second green during the second round of the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)](/img/placeholder.png)
McIlroy finished in a two-over round of 72 to sit tied for 30th after his second round at Hamilton.
Ryan Fox was also on 10-under at the close, with Joel Dahmen next in line on eight-under.
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Hide AdHaving enjoyed a bogey-free opening round, McIlroy hit pars yesterday across the first six holes.
However, a bogey on the seventh proved the sole setback before the turn.
He then wrapped up the first four holes of the back stretch with a bogey, par, birdie and bogey before pars heading home.
Another Northern Ireland golfer, Tom McKibbin, has hit the halfway stage of his European Open title defence six behind leader Laurie Canter on a six-under tally in Germany.
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Hide AdMcKibbin followed up his 69 on Thursday in Hamburg with a 71 yesterday.
"I’m looking forward to the weekend because I’m in a good position on the leaderboard," he said on the official European Tour website. "Last year has given me confidence where I played well in the final rounds.
"And, hopefully, I can do the same again over the next couple of days.
"The course is playing a lot longer and a lot softer than last year.
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Hide Ad"I’m hitting a lot of long-irons into the greens and some of the greens are generating a lot of back spin which is hard to predict."
He opened yesterday five shots back and the situation suffered a double-bogey setback on the opening hole.
However, he hit back with four birdies across a testing day.
"The rain and wind we had earlier in the day made it especially tricky," he said. "It was a very good day.
"It was obviously not the start I wanted with a double-bogey.
"But I battled back very nicely with some sensible golf and I got rewarded for that."
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