The Irish duo of Graeme McDowell and Seamus Power find themselves with the weekend off with each missing the cut as tournament leader Hudson Swafford was stung by a bee on day two of the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.
McDowell and Power went into the second round each posted rounds of two-under par 70s and with the pair also posting 73s to miss the three-under par cut by two shots.
McDowell teed-up as defending champion and the Northern Irishman will be bitterly disappointed in choosing to compete on the Caribbean island than host this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
G Mac’s second round was a mix of three birdies, a bogey and a fifth hole triple bogey ‘7’ sandwiched between his birdies at five, six and eight.
McDowell will no doubt return to Florida before heading to Scotland for next week’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open while he is also contesting the following week’s BMW PGA.
Power also collected three birdies but also four bogeys.
Swafford posted scores of 65 and 67 to move two shots clear of his rivals at 12-under par as the 33-year old Florida golfer seeks to capture a second PGA title after winning the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge.
And Swafford revealed he was stung by a bee early in his second round that included six birdies in the continuing very humid conditions.
Setting the pace. @Hud_Swafford follows his 65 with a second-round 67 to take @CoralesChamp lead. pic.twitter.com/f89ETqWqph
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 25, 2020
“The wind wasn’t really blowing though this morning but is was still was very humid,” he said.
“Then I actually got stung by a bee right in the joint of my finger on the second hole. It kind of started swelling up and it was nice and warm, so it was kind of some chaos the first few holes. I didn’t need any treatment. I grabbed my putter on the second tee box, No. 11 for my round, and I guess there a little hornet there.
“I was stung literally in the joint of my little pinky. It started swelling up,so I was just kind of rubbing it with ice after my tee shots for the first five or six holes on the back side, I guess also it kind of cleared my mind and let me just focus on something else.
“Actually, my caddie got stung yesterday on the forearm on the first hole and I guess he just said it’s kind of a good omen. We played well and we ended play well again today.
“It also was a little cooler out there, but the little breeze yesterday afternoon helped out, so it picked up later in the day, so that made it nice.”
Swafford capped his round with seven birdies including a closing hat-trick.
