Seamus Power admits his game isn’t exactly where he wants it to be despite continuing his excellent run of making cuts at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba in Mexico.
Power added a four-under 67 to his 68 on Thursday to sit seven-under for the tournament and in a share of 22nd heading into the weekend, however he will fly the Irish flag solo after both Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell failed to better the four-under cut line.
Lowry was the better of the pair, although a two-under 69 combined with a 71 left him two shots shy, while McDowell could only card a 71 on day two to finish a shot further back at one-under.
That leaves Power as the only Irishman remaining in the field, but he has work to do to pull himself up towards the top of the leaderboard as he is already seven shots adrift of leader Matthew Wolff, whose second round 68 took him up to 13-under, two clear of Scottie Scheffler.
The Waterford man is on a consistent run having made the cut at 15 of his last 17 events and has risen to 100th in the world rankings, and a good weekend at Mayakoba would see his ranking get into the double figures for the first time in his career.
He showed glimpses of the form that he will need to make a leap on moving day in his second round, Power birdieing the 13th and 17th on his front nine, before adding further birdies at the second, fifth and seventh to move himself just outside the top-20 at the halfway mark.
Although he only had one mistake on his scorecard – a bogey on the par-four third – the Barbasol Championship winner claims he still has plenty more to give over the next couple of days.
“It’s a lot of similar stuff, putting myself in good spots. I made a couple of extra putts today which was nice, so overall I’m not where I want to be but a couple of good runs over the weekend and we can get a decent finish,” said the 34-year-old.
“There were a couple of wedge shots you’d have like to have back, not hitting them as close as I’d like, but overall it’s not too bad.
“It’s one of those rounds you’re pleased with. You are not overly happy but you are by no means sad about it. I’m in a decent spot and hopefully I can do a little bit better again tomorrow.”
Unfortunately Lowry and McDowell will have the weekend off after neither could work their way up the leaderboard enough to book a place in the final two rounds at El Camaleon.
Lowry’s challenge, although he was only two shots short, always looked to be in vain after two bogeys on his front nine – having started at the 10th – left him with plenty of work to do, but he produced a valiant back nine that saw him birdie three of his final seven holes to at least give himself an outside chance.
Meanwhile it was a horror start that did it for McDowell, the former US Open champion bogeying the first and then double-bogeying the third to put himself in a battle to make the cut from the outset and, despite four birdies giving him a chance, his hopes ended at 17 with a bogey.
At the top, the resurgent Wolff was not quite as spectacular as his superb first round 61, and two late bogeys took the gloss off what is still a strong position to be going into the weekend in, the 22-year-old leading by two from Scheffler after a 68 took him to 13-under.
Wolff had mixed six birdies with just one bogey for the first 15 holes of his round to pull four shots clear, but bogeys at 16 and 18 dropped him back down towards the chasing pack, with Viktor Hovland and local favourite Carlos Ortiz a shot further back at 10-under.
“I had a couple bad breaks coming in. No.16 just doesn’t really set up well for me, not going to take driver there, and 3-wood kind of works away from the fairway,” explained the former Oklahoma State star.
“It was a hard finish, but I was really happy with how I played today. Felt like it was pretty difficult this afternoon, honestly. Wind started to swirl a little bit and pick up.
“I was really happy with how I started because, you know, following a round like I had yesterday, it’s not always easy to come out and keep on making birdies and glad I proved to myself that I could do it.
“I put myself in a really good spot, so I’m excited for the week.”
Scheffler kept himself in touch as he rattled off five consecutive birdies in his final six holes to card a 64 that has him at 11-under, two back of Wolff, while Ortiz and Hovland both recorded 65s to sit a shot further adrift at the top of the leaderboard.
Brooks Koepka’s struggle for form continues, however, the former World No.1 finishing with back-to-back 71s in Mexico to miss the cut by four shots at level-par.
- Full scoring HERE
Leave a comment