Golf

Back nine surge sees Power four shots back as Munoz leads in Texas

Waterford golfer cards four birdies on his final five holes to card a second round 67

Séamus Power is four shots off the lead in Texas. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Sat May 14 2022 - 10:35

Séamus Power fired off birdies in his last five holes to surge into a tie for ninth and back into contention at the halfway stage of the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas.

Power’s magnificent run came after two birdies and a bogey on his front nine, meaning he carded a 67 overall to sit four shots back of the leading group.

England’s David Skinns fired a superb second round of 63 to claim a share of the halfway lead.

Skinns, who is in his rookie season on the PGA Tour at the age of 40, carded 10 birdies and a solitary bogey to join Sebastian Munoz and local favourite Ryan Palmer on 15 under par, Palmer also making 10 birdies in a flawless 62.

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Munoz added a 69 to his opening 60 with Jordan Spieth lying three shots off the lead following a 65 as he warms up for his attempt to win next week’s US PGA Championship and complete the career grand slam.

Skinns spent 15 years on the mini tours before gaining full playing rights on the PGA Tour by finishing in the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, largely thanks to victory in the Pinnacle Bank Championship in August.

The Lincoln native has missed nine cuts in 14 starts this season with a best finish of 29th, but putting a new driver in the bag this week has paid instant dividends.

“It has been a bit of a struggle,” admitted Skinns, who worked as a delivery driver when golf shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

“I came off a really nice run on the Korn Ferry Tour to finish and I felt good going into the PGA Tour season. I played nicely in Napa (the opening event) the first two days and then didn’t play well on the weekend.

“But then when you find yourself not getting in every tournament and you start to slip behind a little in the points it’s tough to see yourself continue to fall down the list.

“You’ve eventually got to figure out a different game to play, you can’t keep looking at that otherwise it will demoralize you a little bit. You just got to get back to the reason that you’re here and I think I’ve done that decently the last six weeks or so, even though the results haven’t quite shown it.

“Most of my pro career it’s taken me a little while to get used to every level. I’m just excited to be in a position this weekend where I can make a step forward hopefully.”

Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour AT&T Byron Nelson, TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas, United States of America

(USA unless stated, Par 72):

129 Sebastian Munoz (Col) 60 69,129 Ryan Palmer 67 62,129 David Skinns (Eng) 66 63

130 Justin Lower 64 66

131 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 66 65

132 Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 64 68, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67 65, Jordan Spieth 67 65

133 Beau Hossler 69 64, Jason Kokrak 68 65, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 66, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 63, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 64 69, Seamus Power (Irl) 66 67

134 Peter Malnati 64 70, Maverick McNealy 69 65, J. J. Spaun 66 68, Scott Stallings 67 67, Justin Thomas 68 66

135 Lanto Griffin 71 64, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 64, Mark Hubbard 70 65, Matt Kuchar 67 68, David Lipsky 69 66, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 66 69, Scottie Scheffler 67 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 68

136 Jason Day (Aus) 68 68, Brice Garnett 68 68, Tom Hoge 68 68, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 71 65, Aaron Rai (Eng) 68 68, Davis Riley 72 64, Patrick Rodgers 69 67, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 69 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 69, Aaron Wise 68 68

137 Paul Barjon (Fra) 69 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 67 70, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 68, James Hahn 69 68, Dustin Johnson 67 70, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor) 70 67, Trey Mullinax 68 69, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 68, Austin Smotherman 68 69, Michael Thompson 70 67

138 Cameron Champ 70 68, Bill Haas 71 67, Taylor Moore 72 66, Andrew Novak 69 69, Pat Perez 73 65, Seth Reeves 71 67, Adam Schenk 68 70, Adam Svensson (Can) 69 69, Vaughn Taylor 70 68, Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 67 71, Vincent Whaley 69 69, Wesley Bryan 70 68, Kyle Wilshire 65 73

139 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 70, Joseph Bramlett 69 70, Tyler Duncan 68 71, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 72 67, Michael Gligic (Can) 72 67, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 69, Chesson Hadley 69 70, Patton Kizzire 71 68, Nate Lashley 72 67, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 66, Max McGreevy 69 70, Keith Mitchell 69 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 70, Matthew NeSmith 71 68, Xander Schauffele 72 67, Sepp Straka (Aut) 70 69, Callum Tarren (Eng) 71 68, Sahith Theegala 72 67, Martin Trainer 69 70, Peter Uihlein 69 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 68, Jared Wolfe 68 71, Brandon Wu 73 66, Conrad Shindler 67 72

The following players missed the Cut:

140 Sam Burns 73 67, Wyndham Clark 70 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 71, Scott Gutschewski 68 72, Harry Higgs 72 68, Luke List 73 67, Scott Piercy 69 71, Andrew Putnam 71 69, Sam Ryder 69 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 68, Brendon Todd 71 69, Will Zalatoris 71 69, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 71 69

141 Ryan Brehm 73 68, Brett Drewitt (Aus) 69 72, Talor Gooch 73 68, Kramer Hickok 71 70, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 68 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 69, Hank Lebioda 71 70, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 69 72, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 71 70, Brandt Snedeker 68 73, Robert Streb 70 71, Hudson Swafford 74 67, Bubba Watson 71 70

142 James du Preez (Rsa) 74 68, Jason Dufner 72 70, Patrick Flavin 74 68, Lee Hodges 71 71, Charley Hoffman 71 71, Charles Howell III 72 70, Ben Kohles 71 71, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 71 71, Bo Hoag 72 70

143 Hayden Buckley 71 72, Cooper Dossey 73 70, Brandon Hagy 72 71, Kevin Kisner 73 70, Kurt Kitayama 73 70, Kelly Kraft 73 70, Justin Leonard 72 71, Cameron Percy (Aus) 72 71, Chez Reavie 73 70, Doc Redman 70 73, Roger Sloan (Can) 71 72, Curtis Thompson 74 69, Kevin Tway 72 71, Ryan Armour 71 72, Jim Knous 71 72

144 Austin Cook 72 72, John Huh 69 75, Martin Laird (Sco) 74 70, Nick Taylor (Can) 72 72, Danny Willett (Eng) 72 72

145 Joshua Creel 72 73, Jim Herman 73 72, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 71 74, John Murphy (Irl) 76 69, Brian Stuard 70 75

146 Adam Hadwin (Can) 74 72, Greyson Sigg 73 73, Matt Wallace (Eng) 73 73, Lee Westwood (Eng) 74 72, Matthew Wolff 74 72

147 Richy Werenski 77 70, Dylan Wu 76 71, Chase Seiffert 71 76

148 Joseph James Killeen 78 70, Andrew Loupe 76 72

149 Mac Meissner 76 73