McIlroy and Lowry in the mix as Power digs deep in LA
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is lurking just four shots off the lead after carding a "slow and pedestrian" one-under 70 in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.
The Holywood star can wrest back the world number one ranking from Scottie Scheffler with a win and while he's yet to find his A game, he still looks like a major threat.
As Shane Lowry returned to form and carded a second successive 69 to share 12th place on four under, and Séamus Power birdied two of his last three holes for a 70 that left him two shots inside the projected cut line in 33rd on one under, McIlroy cruised effortlessly around Riviera.
"Sort of slow and pedestrian," he said after rolling in a 15-footer for birdie on the last on a day when play was suspended due to darkness with 14 players unable to complete their rounds.
"I played really well, tee to green, I feel like I'm right there. I feel like I've left a lot of shots out there the last couple of days; I just haven't got any putts to drop. So it was nice to see that one drop at the last today eventually."
McIlroy is four shots behind Max Homa, the 2021 champion, who carded a three-under 68 to lead by a shot from Keith Mitchell, Jon Rahm and Lee Hodges on 10-under par.
"Still sort of keeping myself within touching distance. It depends what the leaders do when they go out this afternoon and maybe how far ahead they get. Overall, like with how little I saw dropping, I'm still in a pretty good position.:
McIlroy didn't hole a significant putt until his final hole and blamed Riviera's notoriously difficult poa annua surfaces.
"Yeah, it's just poa, misreads a little bit, just sort of having a tough time trusting my reads," said McIlroy, who lost shots to the field on the greens for the second day running. "Like technically, I'm good. I think from like inside five or six feet, I've been really good. It's just outside of that range, I haven't really got a lot to drop.
"For me, I think that means more just reading the greens properly rather than anything technical, which is a good thing."
He's still ranked second for strokes gained from tee to green and plans to just keep plugging away over the weekend.
"I thought I certainly drove the ball much better today," McIlroy added. "I didn't play the par 5s as well today, I only played those in even par. Try to play the par 5s well.
"That's the key to this golf course is birdieing the birdieable holes, I didn't quite do that today. I made the birdies on the tougher ones, but hopefully, going into the weekend, I'll sort of tidy all that up."
While Tiger Woods was sitting on the projected one-over-par cut line after making three bogeys in his last four holes for a 74, Lowry was upbeat despite his bogey-birdie-bogey finish.
"Yeah, it was good," said the Offaly man, who is coming off back-to-back missed cuts in Dubai and Phoenix. "I have a sour taste in my mouth now after that finish, but when I sit back this afternoon, it's a lot different than it was this time last Friday.
"I was sitting at the Phoenix Open at 9 over par, so I managed to find something in my game this week. And I've come to a golf course I've not done that well on in the past, and I've played some nice golf, so I'm pretty happy with myself."
Lowry, who has a new caddie in Darren Reynolds, said he ironed out a technical issue that allowed him to rediscover his fade.
"My alignment was a little bit off last week and a new caddie on the bag and my coach wasn't there, so didn't really have the eyes that have been there for the last few years," he said. "Then my coach arrived on Sunday and managed to fix a few things and managed to get my little fade going in and I'm hitting some nice iron shots again.
"Yeah, I'm pretty happy with how I've played this week. As I said, I'm a bit disappointed with how I finished today, but I think I'm in a nice position going into the weekend.
Lowry has lacked confidence this season, but he says it's returning after getting back to basics with his swing.
"It's all, like it's never going to be far away. It's all about the basics for me and getting myself upright," he said. "My alignment was a little bit off last week. It felt a long way off, but it wasn't.
"When I got out this week and start hitting some good shots again, I was determined to gain my confidence back and start going for those shots that I wasn't going for last week. Yeah, it's been a nice couple of days of golf."
He has yet to make the cut in two previous appearances at Riviera but believes he's a far better player now.
"Yeah, I've only played here a couple of times and last time was 2018, so I feel like I'm a better golfer than I was then," he said. "Coming here, I was coming here with an open mind, see what it was like and yeah, I'm pretty happy, you know, the way things have gone the last two days because honestly, sitting here Monday afternoon, I wasn't in a great place. It's amazing what this game, it doesn't take much to turn it around, and hopefully, I can keep that going."
Lowry was frustrated by the slow pace of play and couldn't resist pointing that out as he paid tribute to the late DP World Tour Chief Referee John Paramor, who died on Friday aged 67 after a battle with cancer.
"Yeah, it's sad," Lowry said. "I heard the news this morning. Obviously, I was quite surprised, I didn't know he was sick, so it came as a shock to me and it's very sad for everyone.
"It's obviously very sad for his family and everyone on the DP World Tour. To be honest, I wish John would have been out there today, the pace of play might have been a bit better. He was always a great man at keeping the pace of play going well.
"Yeah, he was a great referee and just a great person. Yeah, sad day and my thoughts are with his family."
McIlroy and Woods also paid their tributes to the former referee.
"Yeah, even before I came on Tour, John was a beloved character within the game of golf," he said. "I got to know him quite well over the past few years, and yeah, it's really sad.
"He was always a friendly face to see out on Tour and I always loved my conversations with him. Yeah, it's a sad day, but he'll be very fondly remembered by the whole golf community."
Woods, who apologised for his tampon prank with Justin Thomas, had not heard the news of Paramor's passing.
"One of the all-time best rules officials," Woods said. "John was around when I first turned pro and had been a staple obviously on the European Tour and all the World Golf Championships when he came over here and was a rules official. Just a great guy. I'm a little bit taken aback by that."
The DP World Tour announced there will be a minute's silence during the third rounds of the Thailand Classic and the Challenge Tour's SDC Open today as a mark of respect.
In Bangkok, rookie Gary Hurley fired a five-under 67 to share 24th on six-under at halfway, seven strokes behind Spain's Rafa Cabrera Bello, who shot 65 at Amata Spring Country Club to lead by two strokes on 13-under from Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti.
Tom McKibbin shot 71 but missed the three-under cut by a shot, while John Murphy missed out comfortably on three-over after a 77.
Conor Purcell and Ruaidhri McGee shot 72s in the SDC at Zebula Golf Estate & Spa but missed the four-under-par cut on one-under and two-over, respectively.
Meanwhile, Leona Maguire shot a three-under 69 but goes into the weekend nine strokes behind India's Aditi Ashok in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Saudi Arabia.
The world number 11 lies joint 22nd on four-under as Ashok carded a six-under 66 for a two-stroke lead over world number one Lydia Ko from New Zealand and American Lilia Vu on 13-under-par.
