Séamus Power in the hunt as Shane Lowry loses putting touch to miss cut at Brookline
Seamus Power plays a shot on the ninth hole during the second round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Friday, June 17, 2022. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Séamus Power was saved by his putter, but Shane Lowry was undone by his as a second successive 72 saw him miss the cut by a shot in the US Open at Brookline.
The powerful West Waterford man made five putts between nine and 45 feet in an adventurous, level par 70 to trail Joel Dahmen and Collin Morikawa by six shots at The Country Club.
But Lowry, who was confident of making the cut had the wind not dropped in the afternoon, headed for his rental house looking for some GAA solace on TV with plans to return to the course for some putting practice.
Ironically, it was the midlander who was the happier of the two with his long game after another gruelling round at The Country Club.
Power is becoming a seriously impressive player at the highest level and helped by caddie Simon Keeling, he managed to avoid getting over-frustrated by his painfully slow playing partner, the Korean Joohyung Kim (19).
He admitted his putter was key to keeping alive his hopes of making a title run over the weekend despite having just 10 Major rounds under his belt.
“I made a couple of nice ones from distance, which is just huge,” Powere said of his putting. “You feel like it’s a double bonus when the course is playing hard and you’re just able to keep in there. Hopefully I figure something out on the range in the afternoon and hopefully the putter stays hot for the weekend.”
Starting on the back nine, the world number 41 rolled in a right to left breaking 45 footer at the 12th to get back to level for the Championship in the course of a rollercoaster round.
After lipping out from five feet at the 13th, he made a 16 footer for par at the 15th, handed that shot back at the 191-yard 16th, then rolled in a slick 10 footer for birdie at the 17th only to plummet into the front bunker at the 18th and drop another shot.
It was similar fare on the back nine as he brushed in a 25 footer for birdie at the third but missed the sixth and seventh greens and dropped two shots. But he rescued his day by following a birdie from 15 feet at the par-five eighth by almost holing a high-tariff bunker shot when short-sided at the ninth.
With the top 50 covered by just five shots as he finished, Power knows a decent round today could put him in the shake up tomorrow.
Shane Lowry and his caddie Brian Martin on the 12th hole during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Robert Beck/USGA)
“If you can just hang in there and get hot for maybe nine holes over the weekend it could be all that it is going to take,” he said.
“You still get frustrated and all that but the thing with the majors is you have got to snap out of it pretty fast because you can turn one mistake into two dropped shots pretty quickly. I have been smart when I have got out of position and I think that's huge, didn't get any doubles, it is hard to get shots back so avoiding those so far has been key.”
Lowry looked destined for a good day on the greens when he rammed in a 40 footer for an opening birdie at the 10th. But it was not to be as he racked up four three-putts.
He would three-putt the 12th from above the hole, miss 15 footers for birdies at the 13th and 14th, then three-putt the 16th from 45 feet and drop another shot at the 190-yard 16th, where he was unlucky to end up in the wispy fescue just above a bunker.
The Offaly man feared the worst when he three-putted the par-three second to go five-over for the championship but he sandwiched another three-putt bogey at the sixth between birdies at the fifth and seventh to finish on four-over.
“Ah look, yeah I'm in for the weekend, I'm sure,” Lowry said of the cut for the top 60 and ties. “If I can somehow find something on the greens, I can get back to maybe to par to better for the tournament over the weekend and that could be a good week.”
He won’t get the chance now to turn it around and show off his tee to green game.
“Tee to green, my game was pretty flawless today so I'm a little bit disappointed with my score. When went five-over for the tournament at the second (11th), I wasn't very hopeful from there and I was thinking about the 9:30 home from Boston tonight.
“But I hung in there and I knew I'd have a chance on five and a chance on eight and I birdied those two holes. I'm happy I'm in for the weekend. It shows a bit of character about myself.”
He can feel aggrieved he got the bad side of the draw for the second major running, made even more difficult by playing with Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut by eight after a 73, and Louis Oosthuizen, who was left to rue and opening 77 as he improved with a 69 to miss out by three.
As for his putting, Lowry said: “Honestly, I feel really bad on the greens at the minute. It's a mental thing for me. I putted average last week but I've been putting lovely for the guts of a year now but you can't judge at all on a week or a couple of days .
“If I had putted anything similar to what I have been doing of late I am pretty sure I've been near the top of the leaderboard.”
