Lowry scorches into the mix in Greensboro with spectacular 63
Shane Lowry of Ireland putts on the ninth green during the second round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on August 14, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Chris Keane/Getty Images)
Shane Lowry swapped his calculator for a hot putter and punched in a seven-under 63 to roar into contention for the Wyndham Championship.
Well aware that he needs a good finish to make the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings who’ll join Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Co in the first Playoff event at TPC Boston next week, The Open champion insisted he’s in Greensboro to win, not make FedEx Cup calculations.
“I know I need to play alright this week,” Lowry said after making eight birdies and 126-feet of putts in his lowest PGA Tour round, matching the Saturday 63 he shot to take a stranglehold on The Open at Royal Portrush last summer.
“I know a top 15 will probably be okay. But at the end of the day, I feel like I am at a different level than that. I feel I am here to win a golf tournament. I don’t feel I am here just to make it to next week.”
Tied 42nd overnight after an opening 68, Lowry bogeyed the 11th but made three putts of around 15 feet for birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th to turn in two-under.
But he then scorched home in five-under 30, mixing birdies at the second (22-ft), fourth (30-ft) and eighth (9-ft) with great par save from eight feet past the third and a spectacular eagle three at the fifth, where he ripped a 242-yard four-iron to seven feet.
“Two under yesterday after playing lovely was quite disappointing,” said Lowry, who is tied for fifth with Harris English, Andrew Landry and Doc Redman on nine-under, one adrift of leaders Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim and Talor Gooch and Billy Horschel.
“Out here you need to go low so I knew I needed to go out and shoot a decent number to try and put myself up there going into the weekend and I’ve done that.”
He ended the day tied 11th overall for Strokes Gained Putting, picking up 3.639 shots on the field, and was projected to move from 131st to 99th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Seamus Power needs a top-four finish to make the Playoffs but a 69 saw him just make the cut on the mark at three-under.
Sam Horsfield. Picture: Getty Images
Brooks Koepka shot 70 to miss out on two-over, while Graeme McDowell, 71 for four-over, also misses the weekend.
At the European Tour’s Celtic Classic, Clandeboye’s Jonny Caldwell fired a bogey-free, five-under 66 to leap to sixth place, just three shots behind England’s Sam Horsfield, whose 64 gave him a one-shot lead over Thomas Pieters on 11-under. Scores
Cormac Sharvin is 26th on four-under after a 67 but Gavin Moynihan shot 71 to miss the level par cut by three strokes with Paul McGinley seven-over after a 74.
Meanwhile, Leona Maguire was seven shots behind American Stacy Lewis and Spain’s Azahara Muñoz after a second successive 72 left her tied 35th on two-over in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club. Scores
On the Champions Tour, Darren Clarke’s 70 left him seven shots adrift of Jerry Kelly on five-over in the Bridgestone Senior Players at Firestone. Scores
