A three-under-par round of 67 moved Shane Lowry into the top 10 at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday but the field will all be playing catch-up on America's Daniel Berger after he opened up a three-shot lead at PGA National.
Lowry, making his first appearance of the year on the PGA Tour this year, carded four birdies and a lone bogey in his round, the highlight being an exquisite approach shot from 160 yards on the 13th hole that set up an eight-foot birdie putt.
Pádraig Harrington missed the cut by a shot as the veteran Dubliner's first appearance of the year on the PGA Tour came to a disappointing early end as he missed the cut.
Harrington’s opening round 73 had put him on the back foot in his bid to survive the midway cut and a second round 70 for three-over-par 143 – a round which featured one birdie and one bogey – wasn’t enough to ensure his survival.
Berger – the man Harrington beat in a playoff for the title in 2015 – carded a second successive 65 for a 36-hole total of 130 to move to 10 under, three clear of Chris Kirk and Kurt Kitayama.
“It’s nice to sit down in your own kitchen or your own bedroom and just feel like you’re at home and not be in a hotel,” said Berger of enjoying home comforts in his hometown tournament.
“ We spend a lot of weeks on the road, so it’s nice to be at home . . . I’m just happy to be out playing golf and enjoying it and playing a place that I love. I’ve said it a million times, sleeping in my own bed is an amazing feeling.”
Berger was happy he rose to the challenge the course posed him and told reporters: “I hit a lot of quality shots, even though they don’t look like they’re five feet from the hole, or 10 feet from the hole. I know that they’re so difficult, that to hit it to 20 feet is a good shot.
“And that’s the challenge for this golf course is the pins are tucked, the greens are firm, wind’s up, so you have to be really on point with where you’re going to miss.”
In the Jonsson Workwear Open in Durban, South Africa – a co-sanctioned event on the Challenge Tour and the Sunshine Tour – Northern Irish teenager Tom McKibbin finished with three straight birdies for a 68 for a midway total of 133 in tied-fifth place, nine strokes behind leader JC Ritchie who is chasing back-to-back wins after successfully defending the Cape Town Open last week.
LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, Par 70):
130 Daniel Berger 65 65
133 Chris Kirk 65 68, Kurt Kitayama 64 69
134 Mark Hubbard 70 64, Adam Svensson (Can) 69 65
135 Chase Seiffert 69 66, Sepp Straka (Aut) 71 64
137 Lee Hodges 71 66, John Huh 72 65, Shane Lowry (Irl) 70 67, Roger Sloan (Can) 69 68
138 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 69 69, William McGirt 68 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 69, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 69 69, Nick Watney 71 67, Gary Woodland 69 69, Beau Hossler 69 69, Martin Contini (Arg) 68 70, Samuel Stevens 70 68
139 David Lipsky 68 71, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 68 71, Aaron Rai (Eng) 67 72, Sam Ryder 71 68, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 65 74, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 72, Peter Uihlein 67 72, Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 70, Danny Willett (Eng) 67 72
140 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 69 71, Bronson Burgoon 68 72, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 68 72, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 70, Brooks Koepka 68 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 75 65, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 70 70, JT Poston 70 70, Brian Stuard 70 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 69 71
141 Joshua Creel 72 69, Lucas Glover 69 72, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 68 73, Keith Mitchell 71 70, Alex Smalley 71 70, Robert Streb 72 69, Callum Tarren (Eng) 68 73, Brendon Todd 74 67, Martin Trainer 69 72, Dylan Wu 68 73, Cameron Young 68 73, Vaughn Taylor 73 68
142 Austin Cook 72 70, Brett Drewitt (Aus) 74 68, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 70 72, Billy Horschel 68 74, Denny McCarthy 71 71, Trey Mullinax 72 70, Matthew NeSmith 72 70, Ryan Palmer 68 74, Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 71, Davis Riley 70 72, J. J. Spaun 71 71, Patrick Rodgers 68 74, Kevin Streelman 71 71, Nick Taylor (Can) 77 65, Rickie Fowler 72 70, Bill Haas 70 72, Brian Gay 76 66, Rick Lamb 72 70, Curtis Thompson 70 72, Andrew Kozan 67 75, Justin Lower 73 69
Missed cut
143 Ryan Armour 72 71, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 69 74, Brice Garnett 71 72, Brian Harman 72 71, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 73 70, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 72 71, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 69 74, Chase Koepka 71 72, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 73 70, Nate Lashley 70 73, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 70 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 69, Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 74 69, Aaron Wise 72 71, Brandon Wu 77 66
144 Paul Barjon (Fra) 71 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 72, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 74 70, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 68 76, Adam Schenk 71 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 71
145 Doug Ghim 68 77, Brandon Hagy 72 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 78 67, Ben Kohles 70 75, Hank Lebioda 71 74, Andrew Novak 72 73, Seth Reeves 72 73, Kyle Stanley 71 74, Brendan Steele 72 73, Chris Stroud 71 74, Richy Werenski 71 74, Vincent Whaley 75 70
146 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 73, Charles Howell III 70 76, Zach Johnson 74 72, Max McGreevy 70 76, Doc Redman 75 71, Austin Smotherman 70 76, Michael Thompson 71 75, Jared Wolfe 78 68
147 Wesley Bryan 68 79, Jim Herman 70 77, Kramer Hickok 69 78, Harry Higgs 71 76, Matt Jones (Aus) 73 74, Kelly Kraft 74 73, Taylor Moore 71 76, Grayson Murray 74 73, Greyson Sigg 75 72, Hudson Swafford 78 69, Kevin Tway 73 74, Jim Knous 72 75
148 Jason Dufner 77 71, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 76 72, Tyler McCumber 77 71, Alan Morin 74 74, Jimmy Walker 76 72, Kyle Westmoreland 74 74, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 78 7
149 Hayden Buckley 77 72, Nick Hardy 76 73, Patrick Reed 70 79, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 77 72
150 Michael Gligic (Can) 70 80
151 Erik Compton 69 82, David Skinns (Eng) 77 74
152 Stewart Cink 78 74, (Cha) Ramey 75 77
157 Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 83, Matthew Wolff 81 76
