PHILADELPHIA — The technological advancements of the driver and the refinement of the golf ball to make it fly farther have made an antique like the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course about 500 or 600 yards too short, Rory McIlroy guesstimated Friday afternoon.

“If the golf ball just went a little shorter, this course would be awesome,” he said. “Not that it isn’t awesome anyway, but … it would be amazing to be able to play courses like this the way the architect wanted you to play them.”

The only defense A.W. Tillinghast’s hundred-year-old gem can offer the modern professional golfer — now a much more refined, powerful athlete — is course conditions. And Friday at the Truist Championship brought some resistance in the form of wet weather. Tee times were moved up to 8 a.m. to accommodate for unpredictable rain storms that swept through the region. Rain fell for most of Friday’s second round, at times hard enough that toward the end of the day enough water had accumulated on some greens that the squeegee team was forced into action.

The only similarity to the perfect conditions Thursday was the guy atop the leaderboard. Keith Mitchell, who fired a course-record 9-under 61 on Thursday, came back with a 3-under 67 and took a one-shot lead into Saturday over Shane Lowry, who had the low round of the day at 65.

“It‘s a four-round tournament,” said Mitchell, who got into this PGA Tour signature event via sponsor exemption. “They don’t give any points or money out on Thursday. So I’ve got to keep it going.”

The softness on Friday meant longer clubs into par 4s, Mitchell said. Justin Thomas, who is in a cluster of players that includes McIlroy tied for fourth at 7-under, pointed to the 10th hole to make that point.

“We’re flipping sand wedges, gap wedges in yesterday, and I hit a drive as good as I could and hit a pretty good 6-iron in today,” Thomas said.

“You can still make a whole lot of birdies out there. You just don’t have as much room for error.”

Mitchell’s card had five birdies against two bogeys. In addition to the conditions, pin placements on Friday were much more difficult than Thursday. Take the par-3 16th for example. The pin was on the back-right portion of the green, meaning most misses to the right would make it difficult to keep par in play with a green that slopes left to right. Mitchell’s tee shot, two holes after a birdie on the par-3 14th, found the right rough on the ledge of a bunker and forced him into a tricky stance. He nearly holed the tight pitch and tapped in for a key par.

Mitchell managed to follow up both of his bogeys with birdies. After dropping a shot on the second hole, he hit his tee shot on the 163-yard, par-3 third hole into the middle of the green, leaving a 25-footer that he rolled in for a bounce-back birdie. Then, after getting into trouble left of the green on No. 11 and dropping another shot, Mitchell answered with a nice wedge shot out of the rough on the 12th, leading to another birdie from 11 feet.

“If you get going in the wrong direction with momentum on a day like today, it can really catch you,” he said.

After just five of the 72 players were over par Thursday, 27 players shot over 70 on Friday, and the course overall played more than three shots more difficult than it played Thursday. It was harder, but not in the way it was designed to be its hardest, when it’s firm and fast.

“It‘s unfortunate, again, with the softness, the course can’t really show its teeth too much,” Thomas said. “But weather like this definitely makes it harder to make birdies. You can get up-and-down because it‘s still pretty soft, but it‘s harder to make birdies.”

What lies ahead? Saturday will bring more sunshine, and the softness provided by the watery week isn’t going anywhere just yet. But increased wind speeds — projected gusts might reach 30 mph — will provide a challenge. The weather on Sunday looks pristine: A mix of sun and clouds, a high of 74 degrees and decreased wind. Perhaps the course will play slightly firmer and faster then.

The wetness Friday at least took 30-under off the table for the eventual winner. Twenty-five players are within seven shots of the lead heading into moving day, and that group is littered with top names like Lowry, McIlroy, Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay and others.

Halfway home, Cricket’s 7,100-plus-yard path is holding up just fine, architectural intention or not.

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