Séamus Power kept in touch at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit with a round of 71 leaving him at seven under par, three behind leaders Joaquin Niemann and Tom Lewis.
On a tougher scoring day at Detroit Golf Club Power made birdies on the seventh and 14th with just one bogey at the 12th adding up to a one under par round.
Power was fourth reserve to get into the field at the start of the week in his on-going attempt to move inside the top-125 on the FedEx Cup standings. He is currently 159th.
Leading is Niemann and Lewis who both shot round of 69 to get to 10 under, one clear of Max Homa, Troy Merritt and Chris Kirk. Homa fired a seven under par 65 on Friday, tied for the best round of the day with Scotland’s Russell Knox, who is in an eight-way tie for sixth at eight under.
Neither Niemann nor Lewis has made a bogey through two rounds. Niemann credited an improvement in his putting for that performance.
“I think that’s the best part of my game right now,” he said.
Niemann, 22, only has one PGA Tour win to his name but is ranked 30th in the world thanks in part to consecutive second-place finishes in the Tour’s two Hawaiian events in January.
Niemann has 16 career top-10s on tour, compared to just two for Lewis. But the 30-year-old Englishman does have a pair of wins at the European Tour’s Portugal Masters.
“I’ve obviously won on most tours all around the world, and this is obviously the hardest tour to play on and to win on, but I’m a long way away from that,” Lewis said. “If I can, then awesome. My time will come when I’m ready.”
Lewis’ putting was also in top shape, as he tied Niemann at 10 under with several holes to go by reading a difficult 22-foot birdie putt that climbed uphill and traveled back down to the cup.
Homa finished his round with birdies on the final four holes, including putts of 35 and 27 feet on the 15th and 16th and an approach on the last hole that to 10 inches.
First-round leader Davis Thompson, who tied the course record Thursday with a nine under 63, took a step backward with a one over 73 Friday to land him in the crowd tied for sixth.
Phil Mickelson, after a drawn-out squabble with a Detroit newspaper about an unflattering report related to his gambling history, made the cut line on the number at 3 under and will play the weekend. He shot even par 72 on Friday.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau went 72-71 to miss the cut at one under – just his second missed cut of the season – days after parting ways with caddie Tim Tucker. He declined to speak to media after either of his rounds despite having Rocket Mortgage as a sponsor.
Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan tested positive for Covid-19 before playing his second round and withdrew.
Scores after the second round (USA unless stated, Par 72)
134 Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 65 69, Tom Lewis (Eng) 65 69
135 Chris Kirk 67 68, Max Homa 70 65, Troy Merritt 67 68
136 Brandon Hagy 65 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 68, Davis Thompson 63 73, Kevin Kisner 67 69, Pat Perez 67 69, Richy Werenski 68 68, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 65, Sean O’Hair 70 66
137 Beau Hossler 68 69, Hank Lebioda 67 70, Matthew Wolff 67 70, Maverick McNealy 68 69, Séamus Power (Irl) 66 71, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 68, Tyler Duncan 70 67
138 Adam Schenk 72 66, Bo Hoag 70 68, Danny Willett (Eng) 68 70, Doug Ghim 70 68, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 67 71, Jason Kokrak 69 69, Kramer Hickok 69 69, Lanto Griffin 68 70, Michael Gellerman 70 68, Robert Streb 67 71, Ryan Brehm 71 67, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 69 69, Will Zalatoris 70 68
139 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 70, Chesson Hadley 69 70, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 68 71, J. J. Spaun 66 73, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 71, Keegan Bradley 71 68, Kevin Tway 71 68, Kyle Stanley 70 69, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 69, Rickie Fowler 70 69, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 72, Vincent Whaley 71 68
140 Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71 69, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 70, Chris Baker 70 70, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 68 72, Jason Day (Aus) 67 73, Joel Dahmen 70 70, Lucas Glover 68 72, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 69, Mark Anderson 70 70, Matthew NeSmith 71 69, Michael Gligic (Can) 67 73, Nelson Ledesma (Arg) 72 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 72 68, Patrick Rodgers 70 70, Patton Kizzire 68 72, Roger Sloan (Can) 65 75
141 Bo Van Pelt 68 73, Brandt Snedeker 70 71, Bubba Watson 68 73, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 71 70, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 70, Cameron Tringale 71 70, Curtis Thompson 69 72, Jimmy Walker 69 72, Josh Teater 70 71, Patrick Reed 69 72, Phil Mickelson 69 72, Scott Brown 70 71, Scott Stallings 68 73, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 69 72, Willie Mack III 68 73
The following Players missed the Cut:
142 Brendon Todd 68 74, Brian Stuard 71 71, Brian Stuard 71 71, Bronson Burgoon 73 69, Chez Reavie 68 74, Daniel Wetterich 73 69, Denny McCarthy 71 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 73, Gary Woodland 72 70, Harry Higgs 73 69, John Pak 71 71, Justin Suh 69 73, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 70 72, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 73, Mark Hubbard 70 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 72, Michael Thompson 70 72, Nate Lashley 72 70, Peter Uihlein 70 72, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 70 72
143 Austin Cook 73 70, Bryson DeChambeau 72 71, David Hearn (Can) 73 70, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 72 71, Harold Varner III 71 72, J. B. Holmes 69 74, Joseph Bramlett 67 76, Kevin Stadler 70 73, Ryan Armour 71 72, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 67 76, Ted Potter Jr. 69 74, Webb Simpson 69 74, William McGirt 71 72
144 Brice Garnett 75 69, Charles Howell III 69 75, Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 73, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 74 70, Harrison Frazar 70 74, Hunter Mahan 72 72, Jason Dufner 73 71, Martin Trainer 74 70, Robby Shelton 73 71, Sepp Straka (Aut) 72 72
145 Adam Hadwin (Can) 72 73, Chase Seiffert 77 68, Doc Redman 72 73, K. J. Choi (Kor) 71 74, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 73 72, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 73 72, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 72 73, Vaughn Taylor 74 71
146 Austin Eckroat 72 74, Ben Martin 75 71, Brian Gay 75 71, Connor Arendell 70 76, Rob Oppenheim 72 74, Scott Piercy 75 71, Tyler McCumber 70 76
147 Andrew Landry 70 77, D. J. Trahan 72 75, Matthew Every 74 73, Sam Ryder 75 72, Tain Lee 73 74, Tim O’Neal 74 73, Tom Hoge 71 76, Will Gordon 77 70
148 Cameron Champ 71 77, James Hahn 74 74, Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 73 75
149 Adam Long 73 76, Grayson Murray 73 76, Michael Kim 73 76, Nick Watney 74 75
150 Ben Taylor (Eng) 73 77, Peter Malnati 74 76
151 Rafael Campos (Pur) 76 75
153 Jeff Roth 77 76
154 Scott Harrington 76 78
