Shane Lowry knows the pressure is on this week if he is to progress to the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs and the British Open champion responded well to that on Friday by catapulting himself into contention at the Wyndham Championship with a brilliant second round 63 to sit at nine under par.
On an overcast morning at Sedgefield County Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lowry didn’t let an early setback stunt his progress by responding well and then playing the front nine – his inward nine – in just 30 strokes, leaving him in a tie for third, one shot behind second round leaders Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim, Talor Gooch and Billy Horschel.
Lowry currently sits at 131st in the FedEx Cup standings with the top 125 players moving into the lucrative playoffs, starting with next week’s Northern Trust.
If he maintains the good golf shown on Friday, the Offalyman will have no issues making it into the field for next week’s event – which Tiger Woods confirmed on Friday that he will play in.
The highlight of Lowry’s round was an eagle three on the Par 5 fifth – his 14th – after a 242 yard approach to seven feet but all the way around the golf was as good as Lowry has played since the PGA Tour resumed in June.
After starting the day with a bogey at his second hole Lowry clicked into gear with a birdie at the 13th before adding two more at the 15th and 16th to go out in 33.
And on the back nine he would continue that good play with more birdies at the second and fourth before that eagle on the fifth.
And he wasn’t finished there. After a lovely tee shot to nine feet at the 232-yard Par 3 seventh, Lowry’s tricky birdie putt slipped past the edge but that didn’t deter him from firing his approach close again on the eighth with the birdie putt this time finding the bottom of the cup. After a two-putt par to finish it was a round of 63 and a good position from which to mount a charge for his first victory since he lifted the claret jug last July.
Meanwhile Seámus Power, who is currently 161st in the FedEx Cup standings and also in need of a big week, could only manage a one under par round of 69 to sit at three under par heading into the weekend.
Power carded birdies at the second, fifth, sixth and 15th but also dropped shots on the fourth, 10th and 14th.
The only Irishman in the field who is currentlyinside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup standings – at 108th – is Graeme McDowell but he could only manage a second round 73 to miss the cut at four over par.
However, the Northern Irishman is still projected to finish inside the top 25 and therefore book his place in next week’s field.
Collated second round scores in the Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 70):
130 Talor Gooch 65 65, Billy Horschel 66 64, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 65 65, Tom Hoge 62 68
131 Doc Redman 67 64, Harold Varner III 62 69, Andrew Landry 66 65, Shane Lowry (Irl) 68 63, Harris English 64 67
132 Jason Kokrak 69 63, Roger Sloan (Can) 62 70, Rob Oppenheim 66 66, Mark Hubbard 67 65, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 68 64, Tyler Duncan 68 64, Webb Simpson 66 66
133 Peter Malnati 68 65, Adam Long 68 65, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 69 64, Patton Kizzire 66 67, Paul Casey (Eng) 67 66, Ryan Brehm 64 69, Kevin Kisner 69 64, Sungjae Im (Kor) 69 64, Patrick Reed 65 68
134 Bud Cauley 66 68, Adam Schenk 67 67, Jason Dufner 69 65, Christopher Baker 71 63, Chesson Hadley 65 69, Scott Piercy 68 66, Bol Hoag 66 68, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 67 67, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 67 67, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 65
135 Luke List 68 67, Chris Kirk 66 69, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 67 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 68 67, Matt Every 68 67, Tom Lewis (Eng) 67 68, Nate Lashley 66 69, Denny McCarthy 67 68, Wesley Bryan 65 70, Sam Burns 67 68, Jim Herman 66 69, (a) Theunis Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 64
136 Brian Stuard 70 66, Kramer Hickok 69 67, Scott Stallings 70 66, Matthew NeSmith 69 67, Austin Cook 69 67, Peter Uihlein 71 65, Hank Lebioda 65 71, Russell Henley 68 68, Patrick Rodgers 70 66, Davis Love III 69 67, Brian Harman 65 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 71 65, Michael Gligic (Can) 67 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 69, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 70 66, Troy Merritt 67 69
137 Scott Brown 66 71, Vincent Whaley 71 66, Brinson Paolini 71 66, Zach Johnson 70 67, Séamus Power (Irl) 68 69, Ben Martin 71 66, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 69 68, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 70, Ryan Armour 73 64, Brandt Snedeker 70 67, Russell Knox (Sco) 73 64, Jordan Spieth 70 67, Josh Teater 67 70, Will Gordon 68 69
The following players missed the cut:
138 Kyle Stanley 69 69, Lucas Glover 69 69, Beau Hossler 70 68, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg) 68 70, Doug Ghim 71 67, Bronson Burgoon 70 68, Chez Reavie 68 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 69 69, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 69 69, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 68 70, Brendon Todd 68 70, Zac Blair 69 69, Ryan Moore 67 71
139 Nick Watney 68 71, Charley Hoffman 71 68, Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 70, Robby Shelton 70 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 69, Aaron Wise 68 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 71 68, Brandon Hagy 69 70, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 70, Jim Furyk 72 67, Bill Haas 72 67, Harry Higgs 71 68, J.J. Spaun 70 69, Joseph Bramlett 68 71, Corey Conners (Can) 69 70
140 Wyndham Clark 71 69, JT Poston 74 66, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 67, Sepp Straka (Aut) 70 70, Ted Potter, Jr. 70 70, Sam Ryder 70 70, Brian Gay 73 67, David Hearn (Can) 72 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 69 71
141 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 68 73, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 72 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 74 67, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 71 70, Grayson Murray 73 68, Keith Mitchell 71 70, Kevin Tway 68 73, Akshay Bhatia 67 74, Brice Garnett 69 72
142 Brooks Koepka 72 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 77 65, Mark Anderson 70 72, Charles Howell III 68 74
143 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 70, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 73, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 68 75, D.J. Trahan 74 69
144 Jake Shuman 74 70, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 73 71, John Senden (Aus) 73 71, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 73, Stewart Cink 76 68, Maverick McNealy 73 71, Bol Van Pelt 72 72, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 72, Michael Gellerman 69 75
145 Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 74 71
146 Chase Seiffert 71 75, Sung Kang (Kor) 66 80, Tyler McCumber 71 75
147 Rhein Gibson (Aus) 74 73
148 Ben Taylor (Eng) 74 74, Scott Harrington 73 75
149 Michael Kim 75 74, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 75
150 David Berganio Jnr. 74 76, Robert Streb 75 75
152 Martin Trainer 76 76
