After a decent showing in Thursday’s opening round, Waterford’s Séamus Power will be disappointed not to have maintained his form on Friday’s as the 39-year old bowed out of the Valero Texas Open after a posting a one-over-par round.
Power struggled on the first after a wayward tee shot saw him in the trees, leaving no option but to punch out. Power took his medicine and made double.
A bogey was to follow at the par-4 fourth but the two-time PGA Tour winner bounced back with a textbook birdie at the par-5 eighth.
Taking the turn at two-over-par, Power added another square to his scorecard making bogey at the par-4 11th taking him to three-over for the day but he closed out his round in positive fashion, making two birdies at the par-3 13th and 16th on his way back to the clubhouse, but that wasn’t enough to get Power within the two-under-par cutline.
At the top of the leaderboard, Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre takes a four shot lead into the weekend after posting an eight-under-par round two.
Starting on the back-nine, the 29-year-old came flying out of the blocks with a birdie on the 10th, followed by an eagle at the 14th. The Scot would go on to make 6 more birdies, with four of them coming in the final five holes.
MacIntyre added the Valero Texas Open this year to be sharp for the Masters, and it seems to be paying off.
“I didn’t play last year, just went straight into Augusta. This was an adjustment for that reason,” MacIntyre said. “I wanted to be sharp – or sharper – going into Augusta.”
MacIntyre is looking to become the third left-landed player in a row to win the Valero Texas Open, following Brian Harman last year, and Akshay Bhatia in 2024.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg sits four back from MacIntyre in second place at 10-under-par, as the 26-year-old posted his second 67 which included a brilliant hole-out at the par-4 sixth.
“I feel great. I feel like I’ve been playing good golf,” Åberg said. “For me, golf is about putting yourself in situations where you can win tournaments. I feel like I haven’t really done that very well the last 12 months or so, but starting to see it now, which has been really nice. So I’m looking forward to one more shot at it this week.”
The is a four-way tie for T3 heading into round three as Kevin Roy, Bud Cauley, Thorbjørn Olesen and Tony Finau all sit at nine-under-par.
Finau made a 35-foot eagle putt at the last to keep him near the leaders.
“It was nice to make an eagle on the last,” Finau said. “I hit a really good drive, pushed my second shot a little, got lucky, covered the water and was able to roll that one in. Sometimes those are the small little breaks that you need to be towards the top of the leaderboard.”
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