Rory McIlroy bounced back from a lacklustre start with a red-hot back nine to remain on course to reclaim the world number ranking in the CJ Cup in South Carolina.

The Holywood star turned in one over but roared home in five-under 30 to card a four-under 67 and lie just two shots behind Kurt Kitayama and Spain’s Jon Rahm at Congaree.

“Got off to I guess a slow start, even par through three when the first three holes seemed to be yielding a lot of birdies,” McIlroy said. “It was nice to get a birdie on four, but then gave those shots back on six and eight just by not really poor iron shots, but just missing it in the wrong spot.

“It was a little off but not really, didn't feel like I was much off. Then on the back nine, I just started to hit a lot more quality golf shots and it was nice to finish the round off there the way I did on 18.”

Scores

Kitayama shot 65 but Rahm holed over 128 feet of putts in a course-record 62 to leave them one clear of Cameron Davis and Aaron Wise on 11-under.

McIlroy will go back to world No 1 for the first time in over two years if he wins on Sunday and Scottie Scheffler finishes worse than tied second with one other.

If McIlroy finishes second alone, Scheffler must finish worse than 34th alone though the American was tied 31st on three-under after a 68.

Rahm was 12-under play the last but made bogey for a 62 that still set a new course record.

“Yesterday was one of those days where I just couldn't seem to find the centre of the face,” the Basque said. “Lines were good, just wasn't truly comfortable and it's hard to score that way even though I finished really, really strong. Today was a bit of a different story, it was much better off the tee, and with the irons I felt better and was able to be a little more aggressive and give myself a lot of birdie looks and a lot of close ones.”

He certainly got McIlroy’s attention.

“I saw he got to 9 under for the tournament through like, I think he was 7 through 12 for the day,” McIlroy said. “I was like whoa. And then I saw he was -- I saw he was 12 under playing the last, so I was like whoa, just hell of a round out there even with bogey at the last. It wasn't easy. It's tricky and the greens are super quick and if you're just a little off, they can punish you. So yeah, really impressive round of golf.”

Wielding a new putter he picked up from a PGA Superstore after breaking his on the ninth on Thursday, Shane Lowry putted well to the turn in four-under 32 before coming home in level for a 67 that left him just four behind in tied sixth.

Revealing there were a few “double-takes” from customers in Bluffton, Lowry explained: “So I was pulling my putter out of the bag and I pulled it out quite quick and as it came out, it fell. As it fell, I tried to like flick it up with my foot, but like kind of not too like aggressive or anything, just kind of tried, because the shaft was like this and tried to flick it up with my foot and I caught it like right where the graphite meets the steel on those shafts and it just snapped in half.

“I was like, yeah, I had to like pick Matt Fitzpatrick off the ground from laughing. Yeah, it was interesting. I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't know if I was going to be able to use it again. It was absolutely accidental, there was no anger or anything.”

Lowry managed to shoot a three-under 68 on Thursday, coming home in two-under as he putted with his lob wedge and then with a putter borrowed from a member’s bag.

“It was like very, very strange.,” he said “It was disappointing because I like that putter, that's the one I won with a few weeks ago and I kind of was starting to like it. Yeah, look, Odyssey were very good to me, they sent one to PGA TOUR Superstore down in Bluffton, which is like an hour away, so I got in the car after the round and I drove down there, and then I bought another one just to be safe, just to have an extra one there just in case we didn't get on too well.

“I went with the one Odyssey sent me. I have the one I bought in the locker. I used my lob wedge for two holes and then I used -- my agent went to the member's bag storage and just pulled a Scottie Cameron putter from there and I used that for the back nine. And like my first putt was on the 11th green and I was like I have no idea what's going to happen here. It was a strange hour or so. Yeah, it was interesting.“

As for his round, Lowry birdied the second, third, sixth, eighth and 13th before dropping a shot at the 15th.

“I played good today, hit it really well,” he said. “My iron play was very solid and yeah, made a few birdies. I finished average enough. Bogeyed probably one of the easiest holes on the course, but other than that, the golf was pretty good.

“New putter was OK. Behaved early on, but then left a few short. And it's funny when you're kind of not used to something, but yeah, it was fine, it was good.

Lowry now has a selection of putters to choose from for the weekend but Séamus Power was happy with his wand as he shrugged off two mid-round bogeys to fire a two-under 69 and lie just five back on six-under.

The world number 46 made early birdie fours at the second and fourth but after missing a short putt at the ninth to tie for the lead, he dropped back-to-back shots at the 10th and 11th before regrouping.

“It was funny how it happened,” said Power, who made a 19-footer at the 12th and a seven-footer at the last to keep the leaders in his sights. “I probably had five or six feet for birdie on nine and just missed and then a couple of poor shots in a row and dropped all the way back. But it was nice to get one there at the last, kind of makes you feel better.”

Pleased to rebound, he added: “That’s always a challenge in golf. You're trying to just stay in the present, trying to do all the cliche things and take the next shot, but you do actually have to do that, especially when you go through a rough stretch like that.”

He was just five shots behind Kitayama and Rahm and confident he can go low over the weekend.

“I'm putting well and I really like the greens here, so you know you've got a chance,” he said. “Hopefully nobody gets too far away or anything like that, but I feel very comfortable on the course, so hopefully some more good stuff tomorrow.”

On the DP World Tour, New Zealander Ryan Fox could go to second in the Rankings after he holed a 100-metre lob wedge for an eagle two at the third and added five birdies in a 64 in the Mallorca Golf Open at Son Muntaner.

Sitting third in the DP World Tour Rankings and could leapfrog Matt Fitzpatrick into second as he goes into the weekend just one stroke behind England’s Dale Whitnell who carded an eight-under 63 to lead on 11-under.

Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell followed an opening bogey with five birdies in 67 to share 47th on two-under but Niall Kearney and Cormac Sharvin will likely be looking ahead to Q-School.

Kearney shot 73 to miss the one-under par cut by four shots while Sharvin withdrew following his opening 81.

On the PGA Tour Champions, Pádraig Harrington was left to rue a double-bogey five at the 17th as a four-under 68 left him tied sixth in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia, three shots behind leader Jerry Kelly.

In Florida, Dubliner David Carey failed to progress to the Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School when he closed with a two-over 73 at the Second Stage at Plantation Preserve.

Four shots outside the top 18 and ties heading into the final round, he turned in two-under but dropped five shots in a three-hole stretch from the 12th and finished eight shots outside the qualifying mark on five-under despite a closing birdie.

Meanwhile, Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy clinched one of five Challenge Tour cards when he finished third in the final Order of Merit after the PGA Europro Tour’s Grand Final at Lough Erne.

He had enough with a closing 76 to tie for 25th behind winner James Allen as Stuart Grehan fell from seventh to eighth in the standings after a 74 left him tied eighth on one-over, six shots behind the winner.