Rex Hoggard says if he still believes Rory McIlroy can win the PGA Championship from five shots back

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Rory McIlroy impressively bounced back from a poor opening round at the PGA Championship.

After he made four straight bogeys to end his Thursday round, McIlroy went bogey-free on Friday to shoot a three-under 67 and climb well above the cut line. It was a calm, composed and surgical display from the world number two.

McIlroy looked completely out of the mix after his opening round, and the question was whether he would make the cut, rather than win the tournament. But the course setup at Aronimink has bunched the field, and the leaders did not run away from the Masters champion.

He’s five strokes back of the leaders at one over par with two days remaining, and Golf Channel Analyst Rex Hoggard said if he thinks McIlroy has given himself too much work to do over the weekend.

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We have one of the most bunched fields in major championship history at Aronimink. Every player who made the cut is within nine strokes of the lead, and McIlroy said that everyone must believe they have a shot to win the tournament.

It didn’t look like McIlroy would be among them after round one, as he couldn’t keep his tee balls on the planet. But that issue was fixed for Friday, and he’s thrown himself well into the mix.

Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav, Hoggard said that McIlroy and 29 others are currently in the fight for the win.

He said, “Rory is a fascinating case study here because we focused on his driving yesterday, which was so poor, and I think that’s what had him so aggravated. I actually had to go back and look.

“He did not drive the ball well at Augusta when he won. However, he’s first on the PGA Tour this season in Strokes Gained off the tee. It is what it is. Like you can’t skip past the stat.