Séamus Power overcame a mid-round speed bump to negotiate a route into the business end of The CJ Cup at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, after the Waterford man added a second-round 69 to his opening 67 to reach the midway stage on six-under-par 136, five shots adrift of clubhouse leader Kurt Kitayama.
“I’m putting well and I really like the greens here, so you know you’ve got a chance. I feel very comfortable on the course, so hopefully some more good stuff [over the weekend],” said Power of aiming to get into a stronger challenging position.
Power took care of all the Par 5s — birdying all three, the second, fourth and 12th — but suffered a blip after the turn in bogeying both the 10th and 11th holes after missing the greens with approach shots and failing to get up and down to save par.
Importantly, though, he managed to birdie the Par 4 18th to finish strongly, hitting his approach to 7ft and rolling in the birdie putt.
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“It was funny how it happened,” said a composed Power of those dropped shots. “I had a five or six-footer for birdie on the ninth and just missed and then [hit] a couple of poor shots in a row and dropped all the way back, but it was nice to get one there at the last, it kind of makes you feel better.”
In fairness to him, he managed to recover well from those back-to-back bogeys to stay in the mix of the €10 million tournament — with almost €2 million to the winner — which has a limited field of just 78 players.
“That’s always a challenge in golf. You’re trying to just stay in the present, trying to do all the cliche things and take the next shot, but you do actually have to do that, especially when you go through a rough stretch like that. You feel the momentum is against you, so you kind of just want to go back to square one, go back to the simple things, and see if you can just get it going again,” said Power.
Shane Lowry, too, stayed very much in the mix in also aiming for a big weekend in surging to five-under on his round through 13 holes to get to eight-under-par and inside the top five, while defending champion Rory McIlroy, having quieter day, was level par through 11 holes of his second round to be on five-under.
Mallorca Open
In the Mallorca Open in Palma on the DP World Tour, England’s Dale Whitnell — with a stunning 63 for a midway total of 11-under-par 131 — took a one-stroke halfway lead over in-form Kiwi Ryan Fox. Jonny Caldwell showed some fighting spirit in adding a 67 to his opening 73 for 140 to survive the cut in tied-47th but Niall Kearney missed out on making the weekend while Cormac Sharvin, who opened with an 81, withdrew before the second round.
BMW Ladies Championship
In the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, American Andrea Lee held the 36-hole lead on 12-under-par 132, two shots clear of a trio of players. Leona Maguire’s second successive 72 for 144 left her in tied-45th while Stephanie Meadow added a 71 to her opening 74 for 145 to be in tied-54th.
