Day two of the St. Jude Championship, the first of this season’s FedEx Cup playoffs, served up another hot round in Memphis. With temperatures in the high nineties even at the end of play, there were low numbers to be had as the field negotiated their way around TPC Southwind.
Seamus Power still heads up the Irish challenge after two rounds with another consistent showing of level-par in the heat. Starting with birdie on the first, he had only one blot on his copy, with bogey on the par-three fourth after three-putting on the short 200-yard hole. 14 pars on the bounce followed as Power managed his way around the daunting back-nine to sit tied for 27th heading into a vital weekend for the Waterford man.
Shane Lowry finished on a high after a battling round, having to recover from back-to-back dropped shots on the fifth and sixth holes. He pulled one straight back on the following hole after sticking his 128-yard approach shot to four feet for birdie. He would pull his score back to even-par with another birdie on the short 14th, before cleaning up with a hole out eagle with his second shot from a fairway bunker on the final hole. A beaming Lowry walked off the 18th green after his eagle, sitting two-under as he heads into the weekend action.
It was a frustrating day for McIlroy in the Memphis humidity as he struggled to get firing. A damaging double-bogey on the par-five third hole was tough to recover as he traded two more back and forth before the turn. Six pars came on his back-leg to stem the bleed, before more off campus excursions on the 16th and 18th. He finished on three-over for his Friday and slips down to a tie for 58th on one-over for the tournament.
Rounds of 63 from joint leader Denny McCarthy, as well as Sam Burns and a timely round from Viktor Hovland were the best of today, seeing all three climb to the top of the leaderboard. McCarthy shares the lead on -11 with 2021 Green Jacket winner Hideki Matsuyama, while Burns sits one stroke back. Tour leader Scottie Scheffler and Justin Rose complete the top five on nine, and eight-under-par respectively, the pair quietly moving into contention at the top.
Rallying after an extensive post-round practice session in the heat, Hovland shot an eight-birdie, one-bogey 63 in Round two to vault up the leaderboard. “I think I was in bed by seven last night,” he said. “Had a good night’s sleep even though it was an early morning tee time this morning. It’s important to just be out here, get your work done, and then just go inside and rest up. I’ve been utilizing the cold plunges out here, as well,” he added. “Just trying to recover as much as possible, but obviously keep working and trying to get better for the rest of the week.”
Hovland began the week in 57th spot and dicing with the bubble ahead of the BMW Championship next week. He must make moves this weekend if he has any hope of defending his FedEx Tour Championship crown. He is currently projected to sit in 43rd place after the second round of play in Tennessee.
With the weather expected to be a factor on round three, the matches have been shuffled to three-balls in order to avoid the inclement conditions. “Cannot rule out isolated thunderstorms during the afternoon with the peak heating of the day. Otherwise, a cold front is forecast to move through the region this weekend increasing the chance for thunderstorms Saturday into early Sunday. This will break the heat on Sunday with highs in the upper 80s and less humid conditions,” according to the Tour’s official weather service.
Just one more factor for the top 70 players on Tour to deal with as they fight for top spot. Power and Lowry are in the second two groupings off the first and 10th tees, respectively. 3.56pm will see them begin the weekend’s action. Rory, meanwhile will head out from the 10th at 5.13pm Irish time with ground to make up on the lead.