Charley Hoffman holds one-shot lead at Arnold Palmer Invitational

Charley Hoffman holds a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Matt Fitzpatrick remains in contention.

The American fired a joint-low round-of-the-day 66 at Bay Hill to set the clubhouse lead and head in to the weekend one clear of Emiliano Grillo, with Matt Fitzpatrick sitting well-placed in third.

Marc Leishman and American pair Kevin Kisner and Lucas Glover are three strokes back on seven under, while England's Paul Casey remains inside the top 10.

Rory McIlroy is safely through to the weekend despite an up-and-down 71, while Henrik Stenson was among the players to miss the cut.

Beginning the day a shot off the pace, Hoffman bogeyed the first but drained a 35-footer at the fifth and added gains at the sixth and ninth to reach the turn in 34.

A birdie at the 11th was followed by another long putt at the 13th, before Hoffman picked up shots at the 16th and 18th to temporarily go two strokes clear of the field.

Grillo moved up the leaderboard with a hole-out from the bunker at the 12th and a chip-in eagle 16th, before cancelling out a blemish at the second with gains at the fourth and sixth to grab a share of the lead.

The South American then missed from eight feet to save par at the eighth, his penultimate hole, with Fitzpatrick a further shot behind after mixing five birdies with two bogeys in another impressive display.

"Everything's coming together slowly," Fitzpatrick told Sky Sports. "Just got to keep on top of things going into the weekend and hopefully push on.

"The Masters is three weeks away now and hopefully I can keep this form going into it. Everyone tries to peak around there, it's difficult but someone's got to do it."

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Francesco Molinari sits on six under ahead of Tony Finau and Jeunghun Wang, with Casey one of three players six adrift after 36 holes.

World No 1 Jason Day and Justin Rose are in the group of players on three under, while Tommy Fleetwood birdied four of his final seven holes to close a bogey-free 66.

McIlroy recovered from bogeying his opening two holes and finding the water at the 17th to post a blemish-free back nine, as Stenson took three attempts to hack out of water at the 11th on his way to a two-over 74.

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