Shane Lowry has made the cut at the Wyndham Championship to give himself a chance of qualifying for the big money FedEx Cup playoffs next week.
However, he is currently lying just outside the top 70 on the Order of Merit, which would get him into the lucrative season-ending series of tournaments, so the Offalyman will need a good weekend to move up the rankings and secure a slot.
He is currently on three under, in joint 40th, and nine back from leader Russell Henley on -12 and needs to finish inside the top 23 to qualify for FedEx.
Lowry added a second-round 69 to his opening 68 at Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina, and it included five birdies, but two bogeys and a double at the par three 16th took the sheen off his otherwise low scoring.
Shane was right around the bubble until his long birdie attempt on the 16th rolled off the green and down the slope, leading to the eventual double bogey-five.
Meanwhile, up at the top of the leaderboard, Henley remained in a familiar spot with a 4-under 66 on Friday that gave him the lead at the Wyndham Championship for the fifth time in the last 10 rounds, just not the round that counts toward winning.
Billy Horschel and Justin Thomas made late moves that could help salvage their seasons.
The Wyndham Championship is the final PGA TOUR stop before the Playoffs begin for the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup.
Henley led the opening three rounds in 2021 before stumbling on the final nine and making bogey on the last hole to miss out on a playoff. He’s off to another solid start this year. He opened with a 62, and then finished off his second round with two straight birdies.
Billy Horschel is at No. 116 in the FedExCup and most likely needs to finish alone in second to secure a spot in the Playoffs that start next week in Memphis, Tennessee.
He rose to task with a 62, his lowest score ever on the PGA TOUR that featured an eagle on the par-4 eighth hole when he holed out from 94 yards, and three straight birdies over the closing stretch to move into second place.
“I’m excited where my game’s going. We’ve still got a long ways to go to get back to where I would like to be in this game of golf, but at least we’ve got momentum behind us pushing us forward now,” Horschel said.
Horschel knows what he has to do. He also realizes odds were against him making the FedExCup Playoffs, so he had already booked a trip to The Bahamas with his family.
“Listen, it’s a win-win. I either go to Memphis or I go to Abaco with my kids and wife for a week,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens this weekend.”
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