Power and Maguire get Friday feeling to secure weekend action in US
Seamus Power made six birdies in a four under 67 to storm up the leaderboard in the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
After finishing with a triple bogey seven in round one for a 71 that left him outside the projected cut line, the West Waterford man moved up to 34th on four-under.
He’s eight shots behind Belgium’s Thomas Derry, who shot 64 to lead by two shots from Alex Smalley and Michael Kim on 12-under.
World number 84 Jordan Spieth is just a shot further back, tied with Tom Kim, after picking up five shots in his last five holes in a bogey-free 65.
Slowly getting back to form after wrist surgery last August, Spieth eagled the 13th and 15th and birdied the 17th to give himself a chance of his first win since the RBC Heritage in 2022.
“It feels great,” Spieth said. “The progress I've made since January 1 is huge. Because I was going to miss the cut this week if I was playing the first or second week of January, without a doubt.
“So it's just progress, just one one day at a time. I don't feel like I'm where I can be, but I know that I'm getting better each day.
“It's really fun to wake up and go to work and you know you're going to get better that day.
“It’ll be a good test. I honestly haven't been in contention since April of last year, so it's been a while. So hopefully tomorrow, I keep myself in there and then see how everything holds up Sunday.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler resumed normal service after his rollercoaster 69 on Thursday and shot a bogey-free 66 to move up to 11th on seven-under.
“Yeah, I feel much better about how I played today than yesterday,” said Scheffler, who is just five shots off the lead.
“I felt like both days could have gotten more out of my rounds, but overall, I did a lot more good things out on the course and am looking forward to the weekend.
“We'll see how the leaderboard shakes out, but I have an outside chance going into the weekend.”
Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo also had a great day, slam dunking his tee shot at the stadium par-three 16th for a hole-in-one that helped him make the cut on the mark after a 69.
Grillo ace - https://x.com/pgatour/status/1887975081931907462?s=46
At the LPGA Founders Cup presented by US Virgin Islands, Leona Maguire fought back from her first round 73 and made five birdies in a three under 68 to make the level par cut with a shot to spare at Bradenton Country Club.
The Co Cavan golfer was joint 42nd on one-under, 11 strokes behind Jin Young Ko, who shot a bogey-free, eight under 63 to lead by two shots from Yealimi Noh, Minami Katsu, Angel Yin and Jin Hee Im.
