Lowry in for the weekend in Texas, Power drops back in Louisiana
Jimmy Walker. Picture via Golf Channel
PGA Tour — Shane Lowry endured another mixed day in San Antonio when he fired a second successive 74 to slip to tied 47th in his final warm up event for the Masters.
The Clara man, who did well to shoot 74 on Thursday, will have been pleased in parts about a second round that saw him slip 15 spots on the leaderboard and 10 shots behind leader Jimmy Walker as the wind eased at the JW Marriott TPC San Antonio.
While he had a reasonable day with the putter, he missed more greens that he would have liked but at least has two more rounds to battle his way up the leaderboard.
In contrast to day one, when he made a good comeback, he was two over after seven holes yesterday, battled his way back to level par with seven holes to go but then bogeyed his 13th and 17th coming home as he chased birdies.
Local man Walker added a five under 67 to his opening 71 to lead by one on six under par from Aaron Baddeley (68-71) and Charley Hoffman (67-72) with Jordan Spieth and Kevin Na two behind in joint fourth. Phil Mickelson is only four behind.
"It's nice to have friends and family here," said Walker, who lives a 35-minute drive from the course. "Good vibes and good mojo, and I believe in all that stuff. Positive energy is good."
Web.com Tour — Seamus Power could only manage a level par 71 in the second round of the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by NACHER and slipped eight spots to tied 24th on four under.
The West Waterford ace will have been pleased with the opening 67 that gave him his best start of the season on the second tier US circuit.
But it was more of a struggle in the second round at Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club in Broussard as he followed a brace of opening birdies with bogeys at the fourth and fifth to turn in level and then sandwiched birdies at the 11th and 12th between bogeys at the 10th and 13th.
Power is eight shots behind Australia’s Rhein Gibson. who fired a three-under 68 to stretch his lead to two shots.
Gibson stands at 12-under 130, topping Stanford rookie Cameron Wilson, who matched Gibson’s 68 with one of his own late in the day.
Six players – Hao Tong Li (67), Ryan Blaum (68), Hunter Haas (66), Bronson Burgoon (68), Glen Day (69) and Harold Varner III (67) – share third place at nine-under 133, three shots off the lead.
Thursday’s opening round was delayed 2:41 by afternoon storms in the Lafayette area, which pushed Friday’s schedule back and ultimately prevented a dozen golfers from completing the second round.
That group will return to the course Saturday morning and resume play at 7:30. Following the 36-hole cut, the third round will begin at approximately 8:30 a.m local time.
