Power six back in Nashville; Selfridge hits route 66
Seamus Power
Web.com Tour — West Waterford's Seamus Power lost a little steam on the back nine but he is still just six shots off the pace after two rounds in the Nashville Golf Open.
The 29-year old Irish star, sixth in the money list in the race for 25 places on the PGA Tour next season, is tied for 14th on five under after a five under 67 at Nashville Golf & Athletic Club.
Power, now ranked 299th in the world, stormed to the turn in five under 31 thanks to five birdies in six holes at the end of his front nine.
ut he couldn't maintain that birdie pace on the homeward run, mixing two birdies with two bogeys to end the day six shots behind James Driscoll, who added a 68 to his opening 65 to lead by three from Mark Anderson on 11 under par. Scores
Thomas Detry
Selfridge contending in St Omer
Challenge Tour — Chris Selfridge is just six shots off the lead after a sparkling 66 left him tied for 10th at halfway in the Najeti Open in St Omer.
The Moyola Park player an eagle and six birdies in a five under par effort to jump 76 places up the leaderboard to three under as Alan Dunbar posted a 67 to move up to tied 24th, two shots further back.
Lurgan’s Gareth Shaw made the cut on the mark after a pair of 72s after two stormy days at Aa Saint-Omer Golf Club where Italy’s Andrea Pavan carded a 66 to lead by three shots on nine under par from Belgium’s Thomas Detry.
Detry, 23, only turned professional at last week’s KMPG Trophy, where he finished an impressive tied sixth, and he hopes to learn quickly from those lessons of contending over the weekend to challenge again in France.
“I learned last week I just need to stay patient,” he said. “Putts will fall and maybe on Sunday, if I’m still in contention, I can be a little bit more aggressive – I stick to my game plan pretty well but there are times when I feel I can be a bit more aggressive.
“It’s funny because I was expecting to be nervous, especially last week, but I actually wasn’t nervous at all. It was great to start my first two rounds as a professional five under, five under, so that showed me that I had the potential and I had the game to be competitive here.
“Last week gave me a lot of confidence and this week, I heard a lot of stuff about this course – it’s a tricky course and you’ve just got to be patient because you’re going to have some bad luck.
“I managed to stay patient, I managed to get some good up-and-downs when I needed to and take care of some of the tough holes out there.
“The greens are really good, it’s in great shape, so there is nothing to complain about. You’ve got to play smart and keep the hole in front of you – if you start leaving yourself downhill putts it gets pretty difficult.
“The plan is to get on the European Tour, however long that takes – six months, a year, two years. We have a plan for two-and-a-half years to get on the tour so there’s no rush, but my plan right now is to get there as fast as I can because I see I have the game to be competitive here.”
Portugal’s José-Filipe Lima lies in third on six under par after a round of 70, one shot ahead of Stewart, Ben Stow and France’s own Matthieu Pavon, the highest-ranked player on the Road to Oman in the field this week.
The Rankings Number Two is one of 15 Frenchmen to make the cut which fell at two over par, with 79 players surviving to play the final 36 holes.
Scores after round 2
- 133 A Pavan (Ita) 67 66,
- 134 T Detry (Bel) 67 67,
- 136 J Lima (Por) 66 70,
- 137 B Stow (Eng) 70 67, D Stewart (Sao) 65 72, M Pavon (Fra) 68 69,
- 138 J Glennemo (Swe) 71 67, D Perrier (Fra) 71 67, V Riu (Fra) 65 73,
- 139 Chris Selfridge (Nir) 73 66
- 141 Alan Dunbar (Nir) 74 67
- 144 Gareth Shaw (Nir) 72 72
CUT
- 146 Kevin Phelan (Irl) 73 73,
- 147 Gary Hurley (Irl) 77 70,
- WD Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 77 WD (neck)
