Rory McIlroy survived a chaotic finish to his second round to make the cut at the PGA Championship by the slimmest margin as Quail Hollow proved altogether unwelcoming to its Irish visitors on Friday afternoon.

Having battled back from a disappointing opening 74 to be four-under for his round and safely within the cut line, McIlroy stood over a kick-in par putt on the penultimate hole.

What followed was barely believable. On second thoughts, it was very believable. It was a bite-sized re-enactment of his Sunday psycho-drama at Augusta last month.

From three feet, McIlroy inexplicably missed the par putt, playing partner Scottie Scheffler having stunningly missed from an identical distance mere seconds earlier.

The bogey dropped McIlroy back to level par for the tournament but with the cutline set at +2 he knew a bogey or better on the 18th would ensure weekend action.

From the tee he hooked his drive low, hard and left where it clanged off the tented roof of a spectator stand and bounced high into the air back towards the creek that snakes up the entire left side of the hole. Time stood still but the ball landed just on the water’s edge at an awkward height.

McIlroy gouged an iron out of the perilous position but sent it to the thick rough right of the green. He then thinned his chip badly and faced a potentially dangerous putt.

Back-to-back bogeys to finish and survive by the bare minimum, nine shots off halfway leader, Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas.

An uncharacteristically early Saturday tee time awaits McIlroy in the first Major after he completed the career Grand Slam. It’s far from ideal but at least he’s alive.

The afternoon wave was Irish-heavy. Of the quintet here only Tom McKibbin had an early appointment locked in for Friday.

The debutant from Belfast made the most of it with a serene level-par 71 which had him comfortably inside the cut line for the entirety of his round.

It couldn’t have been in a more absolute, stark contrast to what followed. This was an evening of Irish carnage. Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington both agonisingly missed the cut having come home to sign scorecards which left that at +2 and hoping for a mathematic miracle that didn’t arrive.

In between them, Seamus Power battled gamely but also saw his challenge ended as a 3-over 74 left him on +4 overall.

For McIlroy there are many, many questions. But for the second-straight day there were no answers as he refused to speak to the media, just as he had done the afternoon before.

The excuse given Thursday was that McIlroy was eager to get to the range to find fixes. 

As his second round began it looked as though he had found them. In a steamy cheers-to-the-weekend atmosphere he fed off the energy and thrived, finding four birdies in 10 blemish-free holes.

His driver was working better than it had done on Thursday and the putter was not yet singing but at least clearing its throat. 

Then things began to get messy in a hurry. Away from the course a report emerged on Sirius XM Radio in the US that McIlroy’s “gamer” driver had been deemed non-conforming by the USGA after an inspection on Tuesday. He was then forced to switch drivers prior to his opening round.

Back inside the ropes a first bogey arrived on the 11th courtesy of a drive into the bunker and a three-putt from 44 feet off the fringe of the green.

Like Charlotte buses, another arrived right away, its origins again coming off the tee when he found rough. The rollercoaster was off an running and the Quail Hollow masses had to hang on. 

Back-to-back bogeys were followed by successive pars and then back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15. He was just seven off the lead now and with Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Max Homa and Matt Fitzpatrick having all surged up the leaderboard, a lively weekend was on the cards. 

They almost came crashing down in that frantic bogey-bogey finale. Friday night won’t have been a festive one at McIlroy HQ, somewhere in these leafy southern suburbs of Charlotte.

A drawing board will surely have been called for if McIlroy is to have any chance of forcing his way back.

Maybe the first thing his coaches and advisors could write at the top is one motivating precedent: this very same course was the site of his first ever victory Stateside in 2010.

It came after he scrambled like hell to make the cut bang on the number at +1 overall leaving him nine shots off the lead.

He’ll return here on Saturday on +1, nine off the lead chasing something altogether unlikely. But it’s been done before.