Rory McIlroy Struggles in 2nd Round of 2017 PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy struggled Friday in the second round of the 2017 PGA Championship, posting a one-over 72 for the second consecutive day at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

McIlroy now sits at two-over for the tournament, and he entered the clubhouse in a tie for 33rd place, 10 strokes behind leader Kevin Kisner.

Here is a look at the current leaderboard:

The four-time major champion finished his round with three birdies and four bogeys after starting the day on the back nine.

His round fell apart during a five-hole stretch from No. 2 through No. 6 that saw him post four bogeys, although he did post birdies on the seventh and eighth to limit the damage.

McIlroy's most impressive highlight of the day came on his first hole, as he remarkably saved par despite having to play his approach up the cart path.

As seen in this video courtesy of PGA of America, the Northern Irishman followed that up with a nice chip and a tap-in to avoid disaster:

McIlroy played clean over his first nine holes of the day with one birdie and eight pars. A big reason for that was his dominance off the tee.

Rory's birdie on the par-five 15th was the direct result of a massive drive that gave him an advantage over much of the field, as evidenced by this video from the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:

McIlroy had played his way up to even-par for the tournament through nine. However, the wheels started to come off shortly thereafter.

He sandwiched a par on No. 4 between two bogeys on either side to drop to three-over on the day and four-over on the event overall.

Luke Kerr-Dineen of USA Today pointed out that McIlroy is an immense talent but seems capable of swinging wildly from one end of the spectrum to the other at any moment:

That was apparent over the final three holes of his round since he was able to salvage respectability and avoid a snowball effect that could have caused him to miss the cut.

McIlroy was able to take advantage of another par-five on No. 7 with a big drive followed up by a delicate chip to set up an easy birdie putt:

That birdie started to turn the tide for McIlroy, who carried the momentum over to the par-four eighth.

He sunk a birdie try for the second consecutive hole and entered the ninth with a chance to save an even-par round:

It looked as though the 28-year-old was going to do precisely that, but he couldn't catch a break on his final birdie attempt of the day.

McIlroy seemed to have the perfect speed and line on his putt, but it sat on the lip and refused to drop, which forced him to settle for a par:

The final three holes of McIlroy's round were encouraging, but with how well Kisner has played at the top of the leaderboard, it is difficult to envision Rory making a run.

McIlroy does have a long history of success at Quail Hollow, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him make a move during the weekend. However, he may have dug himself too deep of a hole to claim his third PGA Championship win.