Séamus Power rises up the leaderboard in bid to catch Rory McIlroy

How things have changed, for the better! This time a year ago, Séamus Power needed to Monday qualify to earn a ticket into the Travelers. This time, the Waterford man – currently ranked 36th in the world and with a PGA Tour title on his CV – returned to Cromwell, Connecticut for the tournament with all the confidence of a man in a rich vein of form and continued to deliver.

As if to affirm how much has changed, he even had to do a double-take at one point on seeing a fan outside the ropes wearing a t-shirt with Power’s image on it: “You’re on TV a little bit more and good golf kind of leads to that. It’s a good thing. I like it. It’s cool. Hopefully I can get some more people like that, more fans going forward.”

Power moved up the leaderboard in this tournament, the middle of a three week stretch that started with last week’s US Open and continues with next week’s visit home for the Horizon Irish Open, with a finely crafted second round 65 for a midway total of eight-under-par 132, a shot behind early clubhouse leaders Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, now recovered from a back injury which caused him to miss a large part of the early season, and Nick Hardy.

Rory McIlroy – who’d claimed the first round lead with a 62 and among those in the second wave of starters in the second round – edged into the outright lead out on the course when covering his front nine in 31 to get to 12-under-par for the tournament.

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Power’s round consisted of six birdies and a lone bogey, getting off to a flying start with birdies at three of his four opening holes: on the first, he hit an approach from 142 yards to 18 inches; on the second, he hit a wedge to three feet, and on the fourth he hit his approach to 15 feet.

“The game feels great, that’s the fun part. It’s probably my first year on tour where, at this time of the year, I’m in a really good spot, not worried about the top-125 (to retain tour status) and all that sort of stuff. That definitely helps. It’s just easier to play a little freer, and that’s showing in my scores . . . . it’s going to be a great stretch of golf (leading up to the Open at St Andrews) and I’m looking forward to it, and hopefully I can keep it up over the weekend,” said Power.

[ Foot on the accelerator for Rory McIlroy as he takes the Travelers lead ]

In the BMW International on the DP World Tour, China’s Haotong Li added a 67 to his opening 62 to lead through 36 holes on 15-under-par 129, a shot clear of Ryan Fox. Niall Kearney (68 for 140) was the only Irish player of the three in the field to make the midway cut. The Dubliner was five shots outside the cut mark when an afternoon weather delay came but returned to play his last 12 holes in five-under to survive on the mark.

Leona Maguire ensured her presence for the weekend in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in Maryland, where the Co Cavan golfer followed up an opening 74 with a 72 to reach the midpoint on 146, two-over-par, and comfortably inside the cut in the season’s third major.

Maguire, the world number 17 who lost out to Jennifer Kupcho in a playoff at the Meijer Classic last Sunday, hadn’t managed a birdie in her opening round but fashioned a second round of three birdies and three bogeys in guaranteeing herself a chance to make further upward movement on the leaderboard over the weekend.

Stephanie Meadow, too, was on course to make a challenge after a strong front nine – with birdies on the third, sixth and seventh – saw her turn in 33 strokes and move inside the top-15.

Lydia Ko shot a second round 67 for a midway total of five-under-par 139 to assume the early clubhouse lead, with first round leader In Gee Chun, among the second wave of players, retaining the outright lead.