2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard: Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed in contention after Round 2

McIlroy and Reed are among the group chasing after co-leaders Tyrrell Hatton and Sung Kang at Bay Hill

Round 2 of the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational was just as compelling as Round 1 as storylines for the weekend took shape and we head into Saturday with one big narrative and several other mini ones at Bay Hill. Let's take a look first at the leaders before we dive into the rest of this field.

Leader(s): Tyrrell Hatton and Sung Kang (-7) -- Hatton has been playing tremendous golf over the last six months, despite missing time with a wrist injury. He finished T6 at the WGC-Mexico Championship a few weeks ago, and his contention here is no surprise. Kang finished T2 at the Genesis Invitational in February. Both are in the top 10 this week from tee to green, and both have staying power at the top of the board. 

Contenders: Danny Lee (-6), Rory McIlroy, Sungjae Im (-5), Marc Leishman, Patrick Reed (-4) -- The winner could certainly come from farther back than 4 under, but with this caliber of player here, I doubt it will. McIlroy labored through a 1-over 73 on Friday in which he made a double and three bogeys. The encouraging part? He's two back and putted horrendously in Round 2. He's still No. 2 in the field from tee to green and playing some of the best golf of his career. I have zero concerns about how he's going to perform on the weekend.

The lurker: Rickie Fowler (-3) -- There are a couple at 3 under (Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa among them), but Fowler is the most prominent. He quietly shot a 70 on Friday to get to 3 under and has been great from tee to green. It's been a bit of an up-and-down spring so far for Fowler, but the tee-to-green work here is a good sign going into the Players Championship next weekend.

Big names to miss the cut: Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Tony Finau, Phil Mickelson -- Fleetwood gave the quote of the day from this crew.

Speaking of Phil: This was the best thing I saw all day. Mickelson was asked about the Premier Golf League, and he used it as a platform to go at Rory.

Winning score? McIlroy was asked if something less than 10 under could hoist a trophy this weekend.

"I think that ... maybe," he said. "I don't know. We'll see what the wind does over the next couple of days. If it persists like this and it's sort of that 15 to 20 and gusty, maybe. But I would like to think that if I play the way I know that I can play I can definitely get into double digits under par."

People complain about Bay Hill (because people complain about everything), but it's playing firm and fast, and the wind is up this week, which means anything (literally anything) can happen over the last 36 holes. 

The favorite (McIlroy: +275) -- After yesterday's round, he was something around +150, so if you waited a bit you got some value. That is, if you believe Hatton, Kang and Danny Lee are going to relinquish their positions at the top of the board. 

Weekend prediction: I don't know how I can predict anything other than a McIlroy win. I love how Hatton is playing, and I love Morikawa and Fowler being in it at 3 under, but it feels like McIlroy got his bad round of the week out of the way and will roll to title No. 2 of the season and another red sweater on Sunday night.

[Mar 6, 2020 at 5:31 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Rory is fighting for the top spot right now. He's +1 on the day and -5 for the week. He's two back of Tyrrell Hatton and Sung Kang, who are both at -7 for the week and likely going to be your second-round co-leaders. Hatton has staying power, not positive about Kang. I'd be surprised if he won in this field.

[Mar 6, 2020 at 4:05 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Whew, what a whirlwind last 90 minutes. Jason Day withdraws, Rory McIlroy birdies No. 9 to shoot 38 on the front and Tiger Woods is not playing the Players Championship.

A quick reset of the top of the API board: Tyrrell Hatton is -6 with a group of six players (including Rory) at -5 just behind him. I'd be mildly surprised if Rory didn't regain his lead by the end of the day.

[Mar 6, 2020 at 2:00 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

The full Camilo.

[Mar 6, 2020 at 1:56 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Rory is +1 thru four holes and tied with Harris English, Sungjae Im and Tyrrell Hatton. Have to say, I did not see that coming at all. Figured we'd see another 66 and watch him lap the field. Still plenty of time for it to play out like that.