Seamus Power has proudly made it three halfway cuts in as many majors whereas Shane Lowry faced an anxious wait to see if his run of playing all four-rounds at the games highest level will move to 13 at the 122nd U.S. Open in Boston.
Power battled Brookline’s tougher windy conditions superbly on day two of the year’s third major in posting an even par 70 to remain at one-over on the host Brookline course.
The 35-year-old Waterford golfer headed to the clubhouse at lunch tied at one-over with past U.S. Open champions Dustin Johnson and also Justin Rose, while last month’s PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas is at one-over through 36-holes.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has already made his presence felt posting an equal-best of the morning rounds of a three-under 67 to be sharing the lead at three-under.
“I feel like I’m kind of an under-the-radar person as I don’t really feel like there’s much chatter going around with me”, said Scheffler when asked if he felt he plays better when the spotlight is not on him.
“Rory won last week, Tiger was at the PGA, so I’ve been No. 1 in the world for a while now, and it doesn’t really feel like it, so I kind of like just under the radar. I can show up and do my thing and then go home and rest”.
Power arrived in Massachusetts having made the cut on his majors due earlier this year at The Masters and then last month finished in a share of ninth at the PGA Championship in Tulsa.
Now after two rounds of his first US Open and Power is assured of three halfway cuts from as many starts in the majors
The World No. 41 commenced his round from the 10th tee and it wasn’t long before he had the crowd roaring, holing a 40-footer for a birdie ‘3’ at the par-4 12th. Power bogeyed the par-3 16th but grabbed the shot back, and barely hitting a nine-footer that found the bottom of the cup for a birdie ‘2’ and the par-4 17th.
However, he gave the shot back at the 18th or the ninth of his rond ahead of a great 24-footer for birdie at the par-3 fourth hole that just had enough legs to find the side door, and get back to one-under for his round.
Back-to-back bogeys at his 15th and 16th holes jolted Power’s progress and had him close to the expected cut-off mark but a near tap-in birdie ‘4’ at the par-5 eighth put Power back even for his rond and also back into a then share of 37th place at level ahead of a closing par to move to a tie for 33rd.
“It was an interesting day, a bit of a frustrating finish”, said Power. “I didn’t play great all day but I had a birdie chance from about seven feet on the third or my 12th, to get under par knowing that seven and eight were coming and I hit two poor iron shots on six and seven but overall I am pretty pleased.
“The scoring is so bunched it’s amazing, so hopefully this is in a decent spot going into tomorrow.
“What you have to do here is putt well. Definitely, I wasn’t playing my best out there. There were a couple of spots where I couldn’t get up and down, that kind of thing. I made a couple of nice ones from distance, which is just huge, you feel like it’s a double bonus when the course is playing hard and just able to keep me in there.
“Hopefully, I figure something out on the range in the afternoon and hopefully it stays hot for the weekend.
Lowry has made 12 cuts in the majors in succession since his share of eighth at the 2019 PGA Championship, and a run that included his triumph at Royal Portrush and a share of third earlier this year at The Masters.
However, with a pair of 72s to finish at four-over, he was just a shot inside the projected cut-off mark tied in a share of 76th place. Lowry’s second day was a mix of three birdies but also five bogeys.
Lowry’s fellow Open Champion Phil Mickelson was one heading home early after nose-diving 11-over post rounds of 78 and 73, and with the one major he is yet to win continuing to elude the now 51-year-old.
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