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Some things never change at Quail Hollow Club ...

Guess who's contending?

They are calling it the most predictable surge ever.

Rory McIlroy vaulted onto the first page of the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club, once coined “Rory McIlroy Country Club” by Jordan Spieth for reasons that we saw on Friday. The Masters champion finally found solid ground after spinning his wheels in his opening 18 holes and shot a very easy-looking 4-under 67 to jump into a tie for eighth. He sits four strokes behind the lead, but holds the second-lowest betting odds to win, with many believing he’s the favorite now.

It’s harder to find a bigger horse for a course than McIlroy at Quail Hollow, the site of four of his 30 TOUR victories. It’s become a more synonymous combo than the Oklahoma City Thunder and flopping and the Cleveland Browns and poor quarterback play.

McIlroy has finished in the top five in half of his appearances at Quail Hollow, a remarkable feat that spans more than a decade. His game is tailor-made for the course, playing right into McIlroy’s distance advantage and ability to hit towering iron shots that land soft on firm greens. It was evident on Friday, which was far from McIlroy’s best performance, but his average is good enough to run into more than a few birdies. He shot 32 on the back nine, without making birdie at the drivable par-4 14th. He also missed two very makeable birdie putts on the 12th and 17th holes.

“It was a solid day,” McIlroy said. “I wouldn't say I played a lot better than yesterday, but I scored a little bit better.”

The door is ajar for McIlroy. There’s only one major winner beating him through 36 holes. That’s Justin Thomas, 7-under. The only player with better odds to win is Tommy Fleetwood, who is 8-under and one back of Im. The other five golfers have a combined three TOUR victories.

So, once again, McIlroy is contending at Quail Hollow. Same as it always was.

Playing through

• 📺 Catch up on Round 2 highlights ...
• 🥵 Rickie Fowler played the first round with a fever of 102 degrees. Feeling better, he shot 8-under on Friday. My colleague Sean Martin detailed Fowler’s wild week ...
• 🏈 Just two sons of New England paired together at the Truist Championship pro-am. Check out the best moments from Drake Maye and Keegan Bradley's round.

Another Fitzpatrick trophy?

Is it possible to be the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year with only three starts to your name? Alex Fitzpatrick is making a compelling case.

The younger Fitzpatrick is 7-under, tied for third after two days at the Truist. He earned membership two weeks ago by winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside his brother Matt. And any worry that the younger Fitzpatrick was carried by his older brother has been quelled over the last six competitive rounds on TOUR. Alex Fitzpatrick finished in a tie for ninth last week at Trump National Doral and is in the mix heading into the weekend of his second-ever Signature Event, displaying a poise and comfort level that’s not easily faked on the PGA TOUR.

It’s why I’m already ready to go against the argument I made before the start of last week that it was too early to put Fitzpatrick in the Rookie of the Year conversation. He’s earned it, and frankly, the rest of the rookie class hasn’t impressed. Fitzpatrick is the only rookie with a win this season, and he’s well on his way to back-to-back top 10s at Signature Events. No rookie can claim to have done that either. Here are the other contenders:

• Sudarshan Yellamaraju – 36th in the FedExCup, two top 10s in 12 starts, including a T5 at THE PLAYERS Championship
• Kristoffer Reitan – 54th in the FedExCup, two top 10s in 11 starts

Quickly, Fitzpatrick has emerged as the most impressive of the bunch. He leads the field in approach play after 36 holes and was attacking pins down the stretch on Friday. Those are signs of an ultra-confident golfer, one whom I’ll stop underestimating from now on.

Parting shots

• ⚠️ Beware the dormant golfer. Sungjae Im (9-under) and Justin Thomas (7-under) have done very little since they both returned from injury at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. That’s changing this week. I was ready to lump Tony Finau (3-under) into that mix until he made triple bogey at the 18th.
• 🤨 Max Homa is off to a nondescript start, 1-over so far. It could be much worse. He’s last in the field from tee to green and on approach, but his putting has saved him. He’s gained nearly five strokes on the greens.
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 This is Tommy Fleetwood’s best start to a tournament all year, currently in solo second. A prime opportunity for this second TOUR victory.
• 🧐 I’m monitoring Robert MacIntyre, who was rolling to start the year but has had a few gaudy (not in a good way) results recently. He shot 80 in a disastrous opening round at the Masters and was uncompetitive at the RBC Heritage. He’s tied for 55th so far in Charlotte.
• 🎥 These guys are good. Check out Chandler Blanchet's ace in "The Green Mile" at Quail Hollow from 188 yards.
• 🤏 Fifteen players are averaging under 300 yards per drive this week. Only one is in the top 15: Rickie Fowler. Distance is a prerequisite to success at Rory McIlroy Country Club, erhm … Quail Hollow.