Seamus Power brilliantly birdied three of his last six holes to put some putting worries behind him and dip inside the projected cut mark at the weather-delayed WM Phoenix Open.

The West Waterford man struggled to gain momentum on the greens as he opened with a level par 71 at TPC Scottsdale.

He was 11 strokes behind Canadian Nick Taylor, who fired a career-low 60 to head the field by five shots, matching the biggest 18-hole lead in the tour’s record books.

The Waterford man headed straight back out for round two, but while he followed a birdie four at the third with back-to-back three putts at the seventh and eighth (where he missed a two-and-a-half-footer), he didn’t lose hope and came home in a superb 33 to post a 69 that left him tied 47th.

After getting up and down for birdie at the par-five 13th, the Tooraneena man rolled in an eight-footer for a vital birdie at the 15th before following missed chances from around 12 feet at the 16th and 17th with a snaking left to right breaking 15-footer for a crucial birdie at the last.

It was a timely boost for Power, who this week fell outside the world’s top 100 for the first time in more than two years and has yet to secure any major starts this year.

Time is pressing in his bid to qualify for the Masters and it’s also a factor in Phoenix, where the tournament is running five hours behind schedule after Thursday’s three-and-a-half hour rain delay was followed by a 90-minute frost delay yesterday.

It meant Shane Lowry did not get to tee off until sunset last night, managing to par the first hole and share 28th on four-under.

Lowry was eight shots behind Taylor, who followed the fireworks of his 60 with a sedate 70 to share the lead with Andrew Novak, who posted a brace of 65s, on 12-under, two shots clear of Maverick McNealy.

“Yeah, it's weird feeling disappointed after a 70,” said Taylor, who was second to Scottie Scheffler in the event last year. “But this morning was pretty hard to follow up.”

Doug Ghim was four shots behind with two holes of his second round still to play while big names such as world number four Justin Thomas (65), hattrick-seeking defending champion and world number one Scheffler (66), Cam Young (67) and Kiwi Ryan Fox (15 holes) were lurking just four shots off the pace on eight-under.

With the weather improving slightly, it promises to be a raucous weekend.

“Yeah. I saw people, groups of people at 5:00, 5:15 this morning walking with just hands full of booze,” Thomas said.

“I just can't fathom how those people are feeling right now, but if they're still standing, power to them, and very happy that they were out cheering us on.

“It's a rowdy crowd. It's a passionate crowd. That's what makes this event special.”

It’s also rowdy at Las Vegas Country Club with the Super Bowl approaching and three of LIV Golf's biggest stars at the top of the leaderboard for today’s final round of LIV Golf Las Vegas.

Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are tied on 11-under after shooting eight-under 62s in Friday's second round.

But Jon Rahm is in a three-way tie for third at nine-under after shooting 63 and will join them in the threesome that tees off the first hole at 5:46 p.m. Irish time.

"It's what everybody wants to see," said Rahm, who is playing in his second LIV Golf tournament following his estimated $300 million defection in December.

"It's always a little bit better for a player when you win and you know you actually had to compete against the best in the world at their best.”

DeChambeau said: “There's no better feeling. As much as we enjoy it, the spectators will enjoy it more.

"It's more of a sprint to the finish now, and with a lot of birdie holes out there, it's going to be exciting. A lot of fireworks."

Johnson was just two under through his first eight holes before heating up on his final ten holes with six birdies.

"Obviously it was a good day," said Johnson, whose 4Aces GC shares the team lead with RangeGoats GC at 26 under.

"Just really solid. Drove it really well. Hit a lot of nice iron shots. Gave myself a lot of looks at birdie."

Graeme McDowell’s level par 70 saw him slip to tied 26th on four under.

His score did not count in the team event where his Smash GC teammates Talor Gooch, Brooks Koepka and Jason Kokrak are fourth, just three shots behind the leaders.

In the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin is well in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, where he made five birdies in a two-under 70 to go into the weekend tied for sixth on five-under.

He’s just four strokes behind Australia’s Haydn Barron, who scorched home in five-under 31 and added a 67 to his opening 68 at Doha Golf Club to lead compatriot Harrison Endycott and Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino by two shots on nine-under.