Séamus Power is just three shots off the lead as he bids for a second PGA Tour win in the RSM Classic in Georgia that could catapult him into the world’s top 50.
Tied for tenth at Sea Island Resort overnight, three shots off the lead after opening with a seven-under 63 on the Seaside Course, the West Waterford man was in his element in breezy conditions on day two on the Plantation Course.
The 34-year-old world number 89 birdied the first and parred the next 11 holes before picking up further shots at the 437-yard 13th and the 560-yard 18th to card a three-under 69 that left him tied for sixth.
“I didn’t make too many mistakes,” said Power, who was just three strokes behind Talor Gooch, who shot a five-under 65 on the Seaside Course to lead by a shot from John Huh (67) and overnight leader Sebastian Muñoz of Colombia (70) on 13-under par.
“I was able to make a couple little par saves when I needed to, but for the most part I was pretty much in control, hitting a lot of greens. It was a good day.
“It was tricky out there, those gusts were tough. You got one at the wrong time, it was kind of a tough break. Yeah, very happy it’s ended bogey-free.”
He added: “We are in good shape going into the weekend. Hopefully have two good rounds and see what happens.”
It was a far different story for former US Open champion Graeme McDowell, who closed out a year to forget with a four-over 76 that left him six strokes outside the cut mark on two-over.
The 42-year-old from Portrush is exempt on the PGA Tour until the end of the 2021-22 season thanks to his win in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in 2019.
But his hopes of avoiding a third missed cut in a row-his 12th failure from 20 starts worldwide in an injury hit year-were dashed when he triple bogeyed his 13th hole (the Par 5 fourth) to slip back to level for the tournament and he then double-bogeyed the Par 3 seventh.
RSM Classic leaderboard (USA unless stated, Seaside Course Par: 70, Plantation Course Par: 72)
129 Talor Gooch 64 65
130 John Huh 63 67, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 60 70
131 Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 63 68,Taylor Moore 66 65
132 Zach Johnson 61 71, Séamus Power (Irl) 63 69, Scott Stallings 63 69
133 Corey Conners (Can) 62 71, Tom Hoge 65 68, David Skinns (Eng) 64 69
134 Russell Henley 64 70, Jim Herman 65 69, Lee Hodges 65 69
135 Lanto Griffin 65 70, Adam Hadwin (Can) 67 68, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 67 68, Russell Knox (Sco) 67 68, Luke List 68 67, William McGirt 66 69, Max McGreevy 66 69, Keith Mitchell 68 67, Aaron Rai (Eng) 68 67, Chez Reavie 63 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 67 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 68, Cameron Smith (Aus) 64 71, J. J. Spaun 64 71, Brendan Steele 66 69
136 Jonathan Byrd 64 72, Bill Haas 65 71, Matt Kuchar 65 71, Matthew NeSmith 67 69, Patrick Rodgers 64 72, Scottie Scheffler 63 73, Webb Simpson 69 67, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 64 72, Cameron Young 65 71
137 Brian Gay 64 73, Doug Ghim 66 71, Michael Gligic (Can) 65 72, Nate Lashley 63 74, Tyler McCumber 69 68, Troy Merritt 66 71, Andrew Novak 67 70, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 68 69, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 67 70, Scott Piercy 69 68, Kevin Streelman 68 69, Michael Thompson 66 71, Matt Wallace (Eng) 65 72
138 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 66 72, Wyndham Clark 66 72, Joshua Creel 68 70, Joel Dahmen 65 73, Nick Hardy 69 69, Brian Harman 66 72, Charles Howell III 68 70, Adam Long 67 71, Davis Love III 68 70, Peter Malnati 68 70, Denny McCarthy 66 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 71, Roger Sloan (Can) 67 71, Austin Smotherman 65 73, Brandt Snedeker 68 70, Kyle Stanley 70 68, Vincent Whaley 65 73, Jared Wolfe 68 70, Dylan Wu 66 72, Mickey DeMorat 63 75
The following players did not make the cut:
139 Hayden Buckley 67 72, Bronson Burgoon 67 72, Jason Day (Aus) 70 69, Harris English 69 70, Brice Garnett 66 73, Chesson Hadley 63 76, Brandon Hagy 64 75, Kramer Hickok 68 71, Patton Kizzire 67 72, David Lipsky 67 72, Justin Lower 67 72, Greyson Sigg 64 75, Alex Smalley 67 72, Robert Streb 68 71, Brian Stuard 69 70, Adam Svensson (Can) 71 68, Brendon Todd 66 73, D. J. Trahan 71 68
140 Lucas Glover 71 69, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 68 72, Danny Lee (Nzl) 69 71, Doc Redman 65 75, Davis Riley 67 73
141 Paul Barjon (Fra) 69 72, Harry Higgs 70 71, Max Homa 66 75, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 66 75, Matt Jones (Aus) 68 73, Chris Kirk 67 74, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 73, Trey Mullinax 67 74, Andrew Putnam 66 75, Callum Tarren (Eng) 70 71, Vaughn Taylor 73 68, Sahith Theegala 70 71, Nick Watney 71 70
142 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe) 72 70, Tyler Duncan 70 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67 75, Ben Kohles 67 75, Kelly Kraft 65 77, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67 75, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 68 74, Chad Ramey 73 69, Kevin Tway 70 72, Peter Uihlein 71 71, David Hearn (Can) 68 74, Ryan Armour 67 75
143 Ben Crane 74 69, Cameron Davis (Aus) 73 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 68 75, Scott Gutschewski 68 75, Andrew Landry 68 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 72, Sepp Straka (Aut) 68 75, Hudson Swafford 72 71, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 73, Richy Werenski 71 72, Chris Stroud 67 76, Kyle Wilshire 73 70
144 Hank Lebioda 64 80, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 68 76, Davis Thompson 71 73, Chun-Ant Yu (Tai) 71 73
145 Stewart Cink 68 77, Kurt Kitayama 67 78, Seth Reeves 70 75, Sam Ryder 65 80, Jimmy Walker 69 76
146 Joseph Bramlett 71 75, Austin Cook 73 73, Brett Drewitt (Aus) 72 74, J. T. Poston 71 75, Curtis Thompson 73 73, Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 70 76, Carl Yuan (Chn) 71 75
147 J. P. Griffin 71 76, Kevin Kisner 76 71, Brandon Wu 73 74
148 Keegan Bradley 67 81
149 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 80, Martin Trainer 70 79
150 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 77 73
