Seamus Power reacts to a wedge shot that set up a successful birdie putt at the 12th in the second round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

RORY McILROY faces a nervous wait to see if he makes the cut in the weather-delayed Players Championship after a day of high winds and higher scores at TPC Sawgrass.

The world number six carded a second successive 73 in cool, windy conditions in Jacksonville, finishing his day tied for 84th on two-over.

But it was an excellent day for Waterford man Séamus Power, who moved to within three shots of the lead, tied for 15th on three-under for the tournament with the difficult 17th and 18th still to complete when play resumes today (12:15 pm Irish time).

Shane Lowry did not get to begin his second round due to the long weather delays and was reportedly trying to buy a bobble hat with temperatures of between 7-10c and 35 mph gusts forecast for Sunday.

Scores

McIlroy was one-over with three holes of his first round to complete on signed for a 73 as Power opened with a one-under 71 that left him tied 50th, five shots behind overnight leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge.

Conditions remained challenging for the rest of the day with winds gusting to 43 mph.

Due to dangerous weather on Saturday morning, the second round did not start until noon and while McIlroy birdied the 16th and bogeyed the 18th to remain on one-over through the turn, he chipped in from 20 yards at the sixth only to pull his tee shot into water at the seventh and run up a double-bogey six.

"I might be one short," McIlroy said after missing an eight-footer for a birdie four at his final hole and carding another 73 that left him tied 84th on two-over. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. Obviously, the double on seven was very untimely.

Séamus Power birdies the par-five 11th in the second round of The Players

"I thought if I birdied the last and got to one-over, that should be good enough. I did everything I should have done on nine. I hit four good shots, but the putt just sort of didn't want to go in.

"Hopefully I've done enough. I mean, it just depends on the conditions tomorrow for the other guys."
Ranked 50th in the world, Power needs a positive result this week or in the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play the week after next to secure his Masters debut.

But cannot yet breathe a sigh of relief despite playing one of the most solid rounds of the day.

The West Waterford man (35) knocked in a 25 footer at the third to get to two-under-par and while he bogeyed the seventh, he made a 15 footer at the 11th and an 11 footer at the 12th to move onto the fringes of contention on three-under.

He narrowly missed for birdie from eight feet at the par-five 16th when play was suspended due to darkness.
He must now play the 17th and 18th, which ranked as the second hardest and hardest holes respectively over the first two rounds.

While Power birdied it in round one, McIlroy three-putted from 54 feet in the morning before barely finding dry land and chipping and putting for a hard-earned par in the afternoon.

"It was very tough," McIlroy said of the conditions. "The front nine was a little more sheltered, so it probably didn't play quite as tough. But some of those holes on the back nine are so exposed, like 16, 17, 18, it's brutal out there.

"Hitting those tee shots on 17 and 18 and just keeping them dry and walking forward is nice."
There were 29 total balls hit in the water at the 17th on Saturday—10 during the completion of round one and another 19 during round two.

"Basically, it's a big massive dartboard, and you're like, just hit it anywhere on there," McIlroy said of a hole that played at 146 yards in round one and 136 yards in round two. "I hit a pretty good seven-iron. It pitched 123."

He added that he usually hits his seven-iron 185 yards.

"It's crazy," he said.

He did not lament getting the wrong side of the draw

136-yard par 3.

36 of 60 players hit No. 17 green in Round 2.

19 found the water 💦 pic.twitter.com/TRLvVzouzY
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2022

"You get your good ones, and you get your bad ones," he said. "You have to believe that they all even out over the course of a year or a career, I guess. I've certainly been on the good side of a draw many times, and I've been on the bad side a lot too. But at the end of the day, I feel like it all just sort of evens out."

As for his game— he was ranked 113th for his iron play and 124th for putting but 15th for fairways hit — he said: "I played okay. I played pretty good. For whatever it was, 21 holes that I played today, I was one-over-par, which I thought was pretty good in the conditions."

Playing partner Justin Thomas shot a brilliant, bogey-free 69 to move up to 15th on three-under alongside Bubba Watson, whose bogey-free 68 was the best score of the day as the field averaged 75.62.

The American pair were the leading players in the clubhouse through 36 holes, one stroke better than Russell Henley, Kevin Kisner, Daniel Berger and Dustin Johnson.

Brooks Koepka followed a 72 with a nine-over 81 that tied his highest score in 567 career rounds on the PGA Tour.

Jordan Spieth shot 79, while Xander Schauffele shot 78. FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler shot 76.

“You catch some gusts, and you play, I guess, the wrong shot, the wrong gust, and you make some numbers,” said Koepka, after making two double-bogeys and a triple at the 17th.

Sepp Straka, who edged out Shane Lowry for the Honda Classic, was one shot off the lead when he arrived at the 17th hole. Two shots in the water led to a quadruple-bogey seven and a 74 that left him tied 41st.

Overnight leader Fleetwood played three holes of his second round in level par to remain tied for the lead with Tom Hoge, who did not get to start, on six-under.

They were one shot clear of Chile's Joaquin Niemann, Keith Mitchel and India's Anirban Lahiri, who have all played just 18 holes.

Just 48 of 71 players in the first wave completed the second round Saturday and 45 of 72 players in the second wave began the second round.