Séamus Power scraped into the weekend at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club after shooting back to back rounds of 69.
For a long time it looked as if Power had hit one shot too many after a late bogey on the 17th dropped him below the cut mark on two-under-par, but he climbed back inside at the eleventh hour to guarantee himself another 36 holes over the weekend as he looks to collect crucial FedEx Cup points.
JJ Spaun is thinking a little bit about his schedule and a lot about his putting while in contention. The reigning U.S. Open champion believes he’s getting both lined up just about right three weeks before he tries to defend his first major title.
Spaun surged with four birdies on his front nine before a couple of late bogeys in a 2-under 68 that put him at 8 under Friday, two shots behind Englishman Jordan Smith and one back of Hideki Matsuyama and three others after 36 holes at Colonial.
Smith took the lead by himself with a 31-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th, saved par from a bunker on 17 and missed a 9-footer for birdie on 18 to finish at 10 under with a second consecutive 65.
“It’s going to be a new experience for us out here leading for the first time,” said Smith, a 33-year-old PGA TOUR rookie who qualified through the DP World Tour and had his best finish at third in the Valpar Championship. “Not going to force anything, not going to rush anything, just going to see what happens and enjoy it.”
Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion with 10 other TOUR victories, and Michael Thorbjornsen had matching 65s. They were at 9 under with Ryan Gerard (67) and 2023 The Open champion Brian Harman (66).
Spaun was joined by Akshay Bhatia (65), Russell Henley (66), Brice Garnett (66) and Alex Smalley (67).
Power will tee off in the fourth group today alongside Austin Eckroat and Takumi Kanaya.
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