McIlroy makes his move at Arnold Palmer

A round of 66 sent Rory McIlroy soaring up the leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday, but the world number one ended the day five shots of the pace set by Morgan Hoffmann at Bay Hill.

Hoffmann fired nine birdies and two bogeys to add a 65 to his opening 66 as he reached 13 under par at the halfway point.

McIlroy carded five birdies in succession during his 66 to break 70 on the PGA Tour for the first time in 2015.

However, the 25-year-old's round was not free of incident as he needed to save par from greenside bunkers three times to cover the back nine in 34 after birdies on the 10th and 16th.

The four-time major winner clicked into top gear after the turn, holing from 18 feet on the second, six feet on the third and seven feet on the fourth before a superb approach to the fifth left him just inches from the hole.

McIlroy then got up and down from another bunker on the par-five sixth for his fifth straight birdie and the streak only came to an end when he narrowly missed from 35 feet on the next.

His only bogey of the day came after a miscued drive led to him finding yet more sand on the eighth, but the Open champion will have been happy with his progress in his last competitive outing before attempting to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters next month.

Hoffmann's halfway total of 131 was just one shot outside the tournament record set by Adam Scott last year, although the Australian failed to convert a seven-shot halfway lead after opening rounds of 62 and 68.

The American found out before his first round on Thursday that his 97-year-old grandmother had passed away a few hours earlier and hopes to attend a memorial service for her in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.

Hoffmann pilots his own plane that he recently bought from his friend David Booth, who plays left wing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Padraig Harrington followed up his opening round of 68 with a 71 and is five under for the tournament.

The Dubliner carded four birdies in his round but three consecutive bogeys from the 14th hole took the sheen of his day.

Two rounds of 72 weren't enough for Graeme McDowell to make the cut, while Shane Lowry also missed out on the business end of the tournament after adding a 70 to his modest earlier effort of 75.

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