Day two of the 3M Open in Minnesota provided another low scoring round in windy conditions as Seamus Power consolidated his good work on Thursday with a blistering hot start on Twin Cities GC. Taylor Pendrith grabbed the lead heading into moving day after an impressive 64 put him two clear of the pack on twelve-under.
Power started his day in fine form going birdie-birdie-eagle to open proceedings on the back nine on Friday. The Waterford native went on to drop a shot on his next, the par-3 14th however, before another pair of birdies on the 16th and the par-3 17th saw him turn in great shape on five-under-par for his round.
Power’s back-nine was a more testing affair as he dropped shots with bogeys on the first and third holes, both par-4s. He parred his way home to finish on 68 to sit five-under for the week and tied for 26th spot heading into moving day
The leader heading into Saturday, Pendrith was in fine form again on day two, carding his second bogey-free round to sit on -12, two strokes above second placed Matt NeSmith. Pendrith did most of his good work after turning on two-under for his day with five birdies coming on his back nine including on both par-5s the 12th and again on the final hole of his day, the 18th.
“Yeah, I’ve been hitting the ball really solidly, been hitting a lot of greens,” said Pendrith after his second round. “Today was pretty tricky with the wind, it was blowing pretty hard at times, so my speed was great all day and stayed really patient. I didn’t really have many good looks through the first hour I would say of golf and was able to stay patient and make a couple, made a couple longer ones, which was nice. Yeah, played really solid, drove the ball well and hit a lot of greens.”
Pendrith takes a two-shot advantage into round three ahead of NeSmith, who matched his 64 on Friday to sit solo second. His cause was helped with eagle on the par-5 12th hole to leave him one clear of the pair tied for third, Andrew Putnam and day one leader Bridgeman. A group of four sit one further back on eight-under to round off the top 5 in the standings.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a piece of what we go through as professional golfers, but I think playing good golf takes care of everything,” reflected second place NeSmith. “If you play good, the FedExCup and everything will work out on its own. Just try and keep the right mindset going into the weekend and play one shot at a time. We’re halfway through a golf tournament, we’re still a long way away from Sunday afternoon, so just keep doing what you’re doing and try to hit the first tee shot tomorrow pretty well and go from there.”
The top three take to Twin Cities in the final group on Saturday at 5.35 Irish time while Power kicks off his moving day with Justin Suh and Cam Davis for their third walk around. The head out off the first at 3.49PM.
Leave a comment