Pat Perez birdied five of the last six holes at Quail Hollow to open up a two-shot lead at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Mickelson makes his move but McIlroy misses the cut
A fast finish to his second round helped Pat Perez move into a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Wells Fargo Championship.
Perez birdied five of his last six holes at Quail Hollow to go clear of fellow Americans Bill Haas and Jonathan Byrd on 12 under par.
Phil Mickelson and Lucas Glover are a further shot off the pace with Fijian Vijay Singh, Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Stewart Cink of America tied for sixth place on eight under at the top of a congested leaderboard.
Rory McIlroy, though, did not have such a good day - a 72 wasn't enough for the reigning champion as he failed to get the right side of the cut line.
Perez is the man in pole position to take McIlroy's crown after a six-under 65 that saw him post nine birdies and two bogeys in North Carolina.
He picked up three successive shots from the 13th onwards and then birdied both the 17th, where he sunk a superb 30ft putt for a two, and 18th.
Confidence
"I've been playing great the last month," said Perez, whose only win on the PGA Tour came at the Bob Hope Classic in 2009.
"This week I guess I just made some more putts and the confidence is just getting more and more each day I play."
Local boy Haas, who learned his trade on the Charlotte course, dropped his first shot of the tournament on the 17th, but birdies on the fifth, 14th and 15th holes allowed him to move to 10 under.
He is joined on that total by fellow countryman Byrd, who somewhat ruined his score of 69 with a double bogey on the 14th - his only blemish of the day.
Mickelson went bogey free in his 66, despite finding water at the 14th, and finished his round by sinking a 30-footer on the final green.
"I was thinking of going low," the three-time Masters champion said afterwards; he had begun his week with an opening 69.
McIlroy had carded a 75 on Thursday and although he went level par for his second round, it still wasn't enough to give him a chance of retaining his title.
"Yesterday I struggled with my ball-striking," said McIlroy, who recently turned 22. "I actually hit it a bit better today. I gave myself a lot of opportunities, just wasn't able to take them."
The Northern Irishman wasn't the only big name to miss the cut - England's Paul Casey was another casualty, paying the price for a terrible opening 78, while Australian Stuart Appleby followed a 68 with a score of 77 to give himself an unwelcome weekend off.
