Irish interest at the Hewlett Packard Enterprises Houston Open came to an end after the second round as Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell and Seamus Power all ended up missing the cut in Texas.
With the second round having carried over to Saturday, it left Lowry facing a nervy wait at two-over after completing his two rounds, one back of the projected cut mark, while McDowell was on the line with six holes of his round still to play.
However, with the cut holding firm at one-over at the conclusion of the second round, that would be too low for both players as McDowell struggled on the resumption of his round, carding two bogeys to drop to three-over.
The Rathmore man dropped a shot at the par-four 14th when he failed to make up-and-down from short of the green, and then missed a chance to get the shot back at the following hole when he missed from nine feet.
Needing a birdie down the last to make it into the draw for the third round, McDowell had to hole out from the greenside bunker, but he failed to do so and a closing bogey left him too far back.
Meanwhile, Lowry would have had to return to the Country Club of Houston in case he did sneak inside the cut line but, after a lengthy morning wait, he was left disappointed as he had unfortunately taken one shot too many.
Seamus Power also missed out after adding a level par 70 to his opening 75 to leave him 5-over for the tournament.
At the top, unlikely leader Martin Trainer will take a one-shot lead into the weekend, the former Puerto Rico Open winner at 10-under, one stroke ahead of Kevin Tway, with Adam Long at seven-under in third place.
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