After a top-10 finish at last weeks 3M Open, Séamus Power failed to maintain momentum closing out the regular season as he didn’t manage to post a single under-par round at Detroit Golf Club, crashing out of the Rocket Classic with a score of four-over-par.
Power’s recent years on TOUR have been hindered by injury but last weeks showing at TPC Twin Cities gave us a glimpse of what the 39-year-old has left to offer but unfortunately for the Waterford man, that glimpse didn’t make it to Detroit.
After a first round 74, Power needed a second round in the low 60s if he were to have any chance of making the weekend and that very briefly seemed likely as the two-time PGA TOUR winner was two-under through three.
It seemed that when Power was on role, there was always something there to knock him off it this week as he faultered at two putts inside five feet at the fourth and seventh to make bogey on both. Power squeezed in one more birdie as he closed out the front nine, sinking a near 30ft putt at the par-3 ninth.
From there it seemed Power know his chances were done he yet again missed two putts inside a couple of feet at the 10th and 14th. Power parred his way back to the clubhouse, carding a one-over-par 71.
Power’s missed cut in Detroit leaves him with one final opportunity to rescue his season. The Wyndham Championship is the last stop before the FedExCup Playoffs, and with Power sitting 58 points outside the top 100, he’ll likely need a contending finish in Greensboro to secure stronger playing rights for next season.
A second round 61 for world no.3 Cameron Young sees him climb to the top of the leaderboard alongside Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn with a tally of 10-under.
After a disappointing one-under-par first round, Young came flying out of the blocks on Friday, making birdie at seven of his first eight holes and thought he had a shot at the lowest score in PGA TOUR history.
“I was thinking 55,” he said. “You hate to call it a disappointing 61, it felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole,” Young added.
Young, who has three wins this season, shot a 59 in 2024 at the Travelers Championship and had a chance to join Jim Furyk with multiple sub-60 rounds on the PGA TOUR.
Matt Wallace and Rickie Fowler occupy T4, one stroke back from the leading trio at nine-under.
Fowler briefly surged into the lead with a couple of early birdies but as the day played out, more squares began to add to his score card as Fowler got back to the clubhouse with a two-under-par 68.
“Nice to finish with birdie on 18,” said Fowler, whose sixth and last win was the 2023 Rocket Classic. “A lot of good stuff today and nice to be in a good spot for the weekend.”
Peter Malnati was the 18-hole leader thanks to his first round 61 but the 39-year-old was 10 strokes worse off on Friday, carding a one-over-par 71 to drop to T6 at eight-under.
Tony Finau is hoping to improve on his positioning to be among the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings after next week’s Wyndham Championship. Finau is into the weekend with a 36-hole score of five-under and currently sits 87th in the standings.
“I check it pretty much every tournament just kind of see where I’m at, even on off weeks,” said Finau, the 2022 Rocket Classic champion.
Note worthy names failing to make the cut are Akshay Bhatia, Wyndham Clarke, and Chris Gotterup. Sponsor exemption and social media star Brad Dalke bowed in dead last with a final tally of 16-over.
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