Strong winds played havoc with the field on day two of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort on Florida’s western coast and Seamus Power braved the elements better than most and heads into the weekend firmly in the mix.
A three-under opening round was an ideal start, but with an afternoon second-round tee time and gusts forecast to reach the mid-30s in mph, anything in red figures was going to be an excellent return at the Copperhead Course which is traditionally one of the tougher PGA Tour layouts.
After four consecutive pars to start, back-to-back birdies on the par-5 14th and par-3 15th holes – he started on the back nine – saw him leap into the top-10 on the leaderboard, and though he’d drop a shot on 17, a one-under opening nine holes was a superb return.
The highlight of the day came at the par-5 first as he smashed a 345-yard drive down the bottleneck fairway before unleashing a sublime 222-yard approach to three feet and tapped in for eagle to temporarily tie for the lead, but a bogey at three would see him fall back. From there, he’d par his way home, making a good up-and-down from a greenside bunker on eight and then rounding out with a two-putt par after finding the fairway bunker on the last, reaching the clubhouse at -5, tied for sixth and just a shot off the lead.
The five-way tie at the top sees early starters Kevin Streelman and Chandler Philips joined by Mackenzie Hughes, Brendon Todd and the ageless Stewart Cink whose round of 67 was the joint lowest of the day but, like Power’s 69, came in the toughest of conditions.
Joining Power at -5 are a nine-strong group that includes Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover. Thomas had reached -7 before bogeying his final hole, but his position on the leaderboard defies his play off the tee as wild driving and sublime recovery play were the hallmarks of his performance.
“Yeah, I think my finish on 18 kind of sums it up,” Thomas said afterwards. “I truly just feel like I completely lost my concentration and what was going on and just hit a terrible iron shot there. Yeah, it was weird. I mean, I think we got very lucky with the weather. I know those guys had a lot of wind this morning, we had some this afternoon, it just was very gusty and it made that back nine very challenging. But, yeah, I scrambled really well and I hit a lot of really, really quality golf shots. I picked a bad time to have the worst shot of the tournament so far, but I’m in a great place with two days left.”
Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, former champion Jordan Spieth and two-time winner Sam Burns are among the big names to find themselves the wrong side of the cutline, but with steady winds again forecast for Saturday, it’s sure to be another grind for those who’ve made it through to the weekend.
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