Power shrugs off late double; Leona contending; Thornton wins
SEAMUS POWER shrugged off a closing double-bogey and vowed to “stay aggressive” as he chases his FedEx Cup dream at the Northern Trust in New Jersey.
The West Waterford man looked set to move into the top 10 at six-under for the day playing the last but while he thinned a bunker shot over the green and took six, a four-under 67 left him tied 25th on five-under and in which a chance of making the top 70 in the standings who make next week’s BMW Championship.
“I don’t have much to lose,” said Power, who was seven shots behind Jon Rahm, who shot a 67 to lead by a shot from Tony Finau on 12-under at Liberty National. “I was 73rd coming in so I am only going to drop a handful of spots, if I drop.
“I will try and get aggressive because you want to get into next week but you also want to go into next week with a chance of making the Tour Championship (for the top 25).
“If I can stay aggressive over the weekend and get a high finish, you never know what can happen over the next couple of weeks.”
Shane Lowry, who is ranked 66th in the FedEx Cup race, made over 100ft of putts in a four-under 67 to lie a shot further back while 26th ranked Rory McIlroy recovered from a triple-bogey six at the second to shoot 70 and looked set to make the cut on the mark at one-under.
In the AIG Women’s Open, Leona Maguire is looking to make her maiden win a Major after she found her putting touch and fired a bogey-free 67 to lie just two shots off the lead at halfway at Carnoustie.
As Castlewarden's Lauren Walsh finished birdie-birdie for a 69 to move into contention for the amateur medal on one-under-par, Maguire made five birdies to share fifth place on five-under.
"I didn't feel like I did a whole lot wrong yesterday, but I just didn't hole any putts,” said Maguire, who birdied the fourth, fifth and seventh, then birdied par-five 12th and 14th to lie just two shots behind American Mina Harigae and 2018 winner Georgia Hall
“I spent a lot of time last night working on my putting and my stroke and got off to a really nice start today. It was nice to get a few birdies early and turn in under par and take advantage of the two par-fives coming in."
On the European Tour, Ryder Cup wildcard hopeful Henrik Stenson shot 69 to lie just two shots behind Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg on eight-under in the D+D Real Czech Masters in Prague.
Skipper Pádraig Harrington was 29th on three-under after a 71 with Gavin Moynihan 50th one-under after a 72 and Niall Kearney 63rd on level after a 68.
Meanwhile, Kinsale's John Murphy (23) closed with a six-under 65 to tie for 10th in the Sydbank Esbjerg Challenge to earn another Challenge Tour start as Norway's Espen Kofstad birdied beat Scotland's Ewen Ferguson in a playoff after they'd tied on 11-under.
In the AlG Men’s and Women’s Senior Cups at Castle, Roganstown meet Banbridge and Tramore face Enniscorthy in today's men's semi-finals as The Island meet Elm Park and Lahinch face Douglas in the women’s.
At the Irish Legends presented by the McGinley Foundation, Welshman Phillip Price and England’s Paul Streeter opened with six-under 65s to lead by two shots on the Old Tom Morris Course at Rosapenna as Brendan McGovern shot 70 and Paul McGinley a 73.
Meanwhile, former European Tour winner Simon Thornton (44) closed with a four-under 67 to win the NI Masters hosted by Jonathan Caldwell by two shots from England’s David Langley on 14-under at Clandeboye.
