Rory McIlroy refused to let a last-hole bogey ruin some ideal preparation for the The Open as Masters champion Danny Willett suffered more frustration ahead of the seasons third major.McIlroy carded a superb 66 in testing conditions at Le Golf National to claim a share of the halfway lead in the French Open as Willetts last competitive appearance before Troon ended in a second consecutive missed cut.Six birdies in the first 14 holes had taken McIlroy into the outright lead in his first event since missing the cut in the U.S. Open, only for the 27-year-old to drive into the water on the 18th for the second day running.The resulting bogey left the world No.4 in a five-way tie for the lead on five under par alongside Mikko Ilonen, Brandon Stone, Thongchai Jaidee and Wang Jeunghun, who won back-to-back titles in Morocco and Mauritius earlier this year.Its a really good days work, said McIlroy, who revealed after his opening 71 that he had whittled 17 swing thoughts down to about five as he worked on eradicating some bad habits from his game.I cant let a bit of a disappointing finish taint a really good day. I felt for the most part I controlled my ball well and holed some good putts. Even the ones that didnt go in looked like they were going to and Im in a great position going into the weekend.Its a work in progress and it doesnt feel very natural at the minute, its quite mechanical and I am concentrating a lot but if I set up well it tends to go where I want it to.McIlroy, who was unable to defend his Open title in 2015 after suffering an ankle injury while playing football with friends, added: Its ideal preparation for the Open, especially with the little breeze we have had as well.Its great preparation to have my last two competitive rounds before the Open in contention in tricky conditions. I cant really ask for much more than that.In contrast, Willett had earlier only been able to add a second round of 72 to his opening 75 to finish five over par and continue a disappointing run of form.The world No.9 finished third in the BMW PGA Championship at the end of May, but smashed the putter he used at Augusta in frustration during the U.S. Open and missed the cut in the BMW International Open in Germany last week.The last three weeks weve putted as bad as we ever have and things havent quite gone our way, Willett, 28, said. When you keep shooting the worst score you can its a tricky game.Just not done anything very well really. Missed a lot of putts, couple of bad shots that cost us and just one of those days again. S--- couple of weeks. Its fine margins and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of them.The last time Willett missed two cuts in a row was coincidentally in the U.S. Open and French Open last year, but he then bounced back to finish sixth in the Open at St Andrews a fortnight later.Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger had held a four-shot lead when he reached nine under par thanks to five birdies in his first eight holes, but then ran up a triple bogey on the treacherous 18th and also dropped shots on his last two holes.That left the Austrian a shot off the pace alongside Nicolas Colsaerts and Anders Hansen, the 45-year-old Dane who announced his retirement at the end of last season.I just came out to play four events, Hansen explained after a flawless 68. I need to play five to keep my status [as a European Tour member] and this week counts for two, so thats perfect.I never expected this and when I came down 15 and saw my name on the leaderboard I was laughing a bit. I thought This is just stupid. Maybe Im just more relaxed about the whole thing because it doesnt really matter.Balenciaga Shoes Sale . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Fake Balenciaga For Sale .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. https://www.fakebalenciaga.com/ . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Fake Balenciaga . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Fake Balenciaga 2020 . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club.LAS VEGAS -- Maryland trailed for much of the game, grew frustrated by its miscues and needed to make key plays down the stretch under pressure.Just what the No. 6 Terrapins were craving.Brionna Jones had 20 points and a career-high 20 rebounds and Maryland pulled away late to beat Washington State 79-69 on Saturday.Maryland (6-0) entered having won each game by at least 32 points. The Terrapins largest deficit was 2-0 and it had trailed for less than 2 minutes total in five games.This team is really, really competitive, so I think theyd much rather play in games like this where youre tested to be able to see how to work through a game, coach Brenda Frese said. We really enjoyed it.The Cougars led by six in the first half and for much of the third quarter. With game tied at 61, Jones hit two free throws and Destiny Slocum added a 3-pointer and two free throws in a 10-2 run to put Maryland ahead 71-63 with 1:39 left at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout.I think this just shows how hard we have to compete going forward, Jones said.The senior centers offensive rebounds helped keep her teammates in it in the first half. She delivered clutch plays down the stretch as her teammates found a rhythm.She was huge, Frese said. We knew we were going to be able to go inside, but her presence, they had no answer for her on both ends of the floor.Kaila Charles scored 19 points, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 15 and Slocum 11 for Maryland in its final tuneup before its showdown at No. 4 Louisville on Thursday.Borislava Hristova scored 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting for Washington State (4-2). The Cougars were 7 of 21 from the foul line.Im really proud of our team. I thought we had a good tournament here, Washington State coach June Daugherty said. We played very well the other night against Nebraska and I thought for about three and a half quarters, we played pretty well against the No. (6) team in the couuntry.ddddddddddddBIG PICTUREMaryland: Winning games by 56, 45 and 64 points before routing No. 23 Arizona State by 41 Friday may have led to a lack of intensity. There were plenty of missed layups and poor passes allowing the Cougars to gain confidence in a physical game.Washington State: The Cougars, picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12, have plenty of contributors. For the sixth straight game, 12 players saw action. Daugherty, in her 10th season, had her players diving for loose balls and drawing charges in an inspired performance.POLL IMPLICATIONS:Maryland could move up a spot by jumping over the loser of Sundays game between No. 3 South Carolina and No. 4 Louisville. Thursdays matchup with the Cardinals in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge figures to be the top game of the week.JONES DOMINANCEJones said she maybe had a 20-20 game in high school, but not recently. Her previous career high was 19 rebounds.HRISTOVA SHINESHristova, the Pac-12s second-leading freshman scorer last season, was held to nine points against Nebraska and previously suffered through 4-of-13 and 5-of-14 shooting games.She has not been happy with her play on both ends of the floor, Daugherty said. To her credit, she just relaxed a little bit and let the game come to her for a while. Then she got some confidence and she tried to take over the game, which is great to see.FREE THROW WOESDaugherty looked at the stats sheet and the 14 missed free throws and declared, Thats ballgame.Caila Hailey went 2 for 8 from the line.UP NEXTThursday will be Marylands first trip to Louisville since beating the Cardinals to advance to the 2014 Final Four.Washington State returns home to face San Diego on Friday, its fourth West Coast Conference opponent of the season. The Pac-12 opener is Dec. 27 at No. 15 Washington. ' ' '