Tom Kim sits two clear after a weather delayed second day on TPC River Highlands but Shane Lowry stole the show on Friday with a 62 of his own to match Kim’s from yesterday.
Lowry’s would be the round of the day as he put on a masterclass of approach play. Lowry’s irons were red-hot as he almost holed out for eagle twice, on the first and again on the par-5 6th. His hot streak continued after the turn with 10- and 18-foot putts on the 10th and 11th moving the Clara man to -6 thru 11. There was no let up from Lowry as the par-5 13th would bring an eagle after another 25-foot putt found the bottom of the cup. On -8 for the day and on the 15th when play was suspended, Lowry kept his head to par his way home after play resumed, Nine-under for the tournament and just four back, the Offaly man is in great shape heading into moving day.
Seamus Power was first of the Irish out around TPC River Highlands and was quick off the mark with a birdie on his opening hole. This would be handed back with bogey on the fourth before one more of each on his front nine to see the Waterford man turn on level-par for the round and -3 for the tournament. The par-3 11th saw sand trouble for Power and bogey would follow. He fought back though, with back-to-back birdies on the next two including the par-5 13th. The 17th saw Power come up short and wet on his approach to drop one more and finish his day as he started on -3.
Overnight leader, and celebrating his 22nd birthday, Korea’s Tom Kim hit the course today with the look of a man who wanted to kill off the tournament on Friday and enjoy his celebration weekend. Kim was quick out of the traps and was displaying laser guided accuracy to go four-under for his front nine. While hitting fairways and greens for fun, birdies on the second and the par-5 sixth were followed by a run of three more around the turn up to the tenth. Tee-to-green remained strong on his back nine but, Kim’s putter cooled down as he would par his way home over the last seven holes. -13 for the birthday-boy in the clubhouse.
If Kim had plans of a quiet weekend, the chasing pack did not get the memo. Charges began with Colin Morikawa, whose six-under-par outward nine shot him into contention to leave him two strokes back from Kim on -11. Akshay Bhatia and Xander Schauffele kept pace with Kim with five-under rounds of their own, as did Scottie Scheffler who was navigating the 17th when the hooter sounded for the weather suspension. After the lengthy delay, Scheffler came back out unfazed to birdie the 18th and put himself two back and level with Bhatia and Morikawa.
Before he could start his birthday celebrations, Kim took time to share his thoughts on another excellent showing: “Yeah, I’ve definitely gone into today, just not really thinking about the score. I’m playing really well and I know kind of what I’m doing on the golf course, so just really executing my game plan, that’s just kind of how I’m doing it, and the score is the score. I’ve been playing really, really solid, and I’ve been saying the past few minutes that it’s not about this week, it’s about keep building these momentum blocks for the rest of the season.”
The freshly-minted 22-year-old feels very much in control and full of confidence as he continues to grow his stock as one of the game’s best young talents.
“I think the big difference is it’s just sharper and I’m more aware now,” he said of his recent consistently fine play. “I think the work I’ve been doing has just kind of, like, you know, the past few months it’s just been kind of like making sure I can, that I feel confident out in the competition, not practice rounds, right. So, I think this stretch is making me more sharper and more ready and I think it’s kind of time to show.”
World number one and fellow birthday-boy Scheffler had a different way of passing the weather delay than most this evening: “Yeah. Meredith and Bennett were there, so we just hung out, changed a diaper, and tried to get him to stop crying, but it was cold in there, so it was a little tough.
”After the delay I came out and hit some really nice shots. It was nice to birdie 18 to finish. Before that I feel like I played a lot of solid golf and did some good things, so overall it was I think a pretty solid day.”
Lowry heads out in the fourth-to-last pairing with Justin Thomas for company for the third time this week, while Seamus Power is paired with the US’s Lee Hodges for day three in soggy Connecticut.
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