Scottie Scheffler regained his putting touch and fired a five-under 65 to lie three shots behind leader Tom Kim in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
Kim shot an eight-under 62 to lead by two shots from Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama and Will Zalatoris with the world number one, who struggled on the greens and finished a lowly 41st in last week’s US Open at Pinehurst, tied for sixth at TPC River Highlands.
“Mostly different greens,” Scheffler said of the difference in his putting. “I struggled seeing the break on the greens last week. I had a hard time finding the right line.
“I felt like I hit a lot of good putts that came off the way I wanted to, and I looked up and they were just not even really close to going in at times.
“So that can always be a bit frustrating, but it’s nice to get here on some familiar surfaces and hit some good putts and see some balls go in.”
Seamus Power made five birdies in a three-under 67 that left him tied 18th while Shane Lowry mixed four birdies with three bogeys in a 69 that left him joint 33rd.
On the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin birdied three of his last four holes to keep his hopes alive on winning one of two spots in The Open at the KLM Open in Amsterdam.
The Holywood star (21) who tied for 41st with Scheffler on his major debut last week, carded a two-under 69 that left him joint 23rd, five shots behind Italy’s Matteo Manassero and Finland’s Mikko Korhonen at The International.
West Waterford’s Gary Hurley followed an opening double-bogey with four birdies and four bogeys to card a 73 that left him tied 100th.
It was also mixed day for the Irish in the Challenge Tour’s Blot Open de Bretagne in Brittany, where Ruaidhri McGee’s three-under 67 left him tied sixth, three shots behind South Africa’s Rupert Kaminski and England’s John Parry.
Alex Maguire had an eagle, two birdies and a late triple bogey seven in a 69 that left him tied 30th with Jonathan Caldwell just inside the top 60 after a 71.
At Ballyliffin, Irish interest in the Amateur Championship ended in round two when Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy fell 5&4 to Basingstoke’s Charlie Forster, who in turn lost to Germany’s Laurenz Shiergen in the last 16.
Shiergen, who knocked out leading qualifier Connor Graham in round two, takes on Gog Magog’s Dominic Clemons in today’s quarter-finals.
The winner will meet Harpenden’s Jack Bingham or Spain’s Marcel Fonseca in the semi-finals while in the bottom half of the draw, Scotland’s Calum Scott will face Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen as Hoylake’s Matthew Dodd-Berry takes on the lone American survivor, Luke Sample.
At Seapoint Golf Links, Sweden’s Patrick Sjoland and Scotland’s Paul Lawrie opened with five-under 67s to lead the OFX Irish Legends by a shot from Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and South Africa’s Keith Horne with David Higgins and Gary Murphy the leading Irish challengers on one over.
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington returns after a three-week break to warm up for next week’s US Senior Open when he begins his bid for a hat-trick of wins in the Dick’s Open on the PGA TOUR Champions at En-Joie in New York today.