Seamus Power continued his impressive showing to end his round sharing fifth place late in the second round at the A T & T Byron Nelson to the north of Dallas in Texas.
The West Waterford golfer added a solid second day four-under par 68 to his sizzling opening 65 to move to 11-under par in the Euro 6.6m event on the TPC Craig Ranch course.
Power went into day two just two shots off the lead and wasted little time making his presence felt with three birdies in his opening five holes.
Starting from the 10th, Power landed his 181-yard second shot at the par-4 11th to just three-feet for birdie.
Seamus Power well into the mix at the AT & T Byron Nelson with scores of 65 and 68
Power headed to the next, the par-5 12th hole and elected to lay-up short of the water guarding the green before landing his third to 11-feet for a birdie ‘4’.
Power then moved into double figures at the short 318-yard par-4 14th in deciding to lay-up some 80-yards shy of the green ahead of landing his second to 12-feet right of the flag and holed the putt.
He then played steady with seven straight pars before Power dropped a first shot in two days and at the par-3 fourth or the 13 of his round when found the green back left but three-putted from some 60-feet for a bogey ‘4’.
Power was clearly not going to allow the bogey to upset his push up the board, and it was like the Irishman was seeing the hole as big as a bucket when he drained a 38-foot birdie at the 16th hole of his round, the par-3 seventh.
Power was now back inside the top-10 in 10th place at 10-under par.
He then rounded-off two very respective Texas rounds with a par at his 17th and then superbly found the ‘dance floor’ at the par-5 ninth and calmly two-putted from just over 50-feet for the fifth birdie of his round.
“Today probably wasn’t quite as sharp as I was yesterday but overall, I kind of managed it pretty well and knocked in some chances when I got them,” he said.
“My iron play has been pretty sharp, and driver is not as good as I would like it yet, but it’s getting better. I do like the greens. I feel like I’m reading them pretty well. Most of the game is pretty sharp.
“I also like this golf course. It’s easier off the tee I guess a little bit longer, but my irons, as I said my irons have been good, so I feel like get after a lot of pins that some other guys can’t, and then my wedges and putting have been good the last two weeks.
“All in all, I feel like any time I tee it up here I’m going to have a pretty good chance.”
Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington had dropped down the board following his opening 66 to be one-over for his round and to be right on the five-under cut-off mark late in his round.
American Sam Burns grabbed 10 birdies in a bogey-free 62 to lead the field at 17-under par.
Texan Jordan Spieth, and with scores of 63 and 71, was tied with Power at 11-under par and looking to capture the Lone Star State double after earlier last month ending a four-year winless run to capture the Valero Texas Open.
“When I wake up at 4:30 I’m in a bad mood just as most people probably are and I needed to kick that today,” he said.
“On Thursday even when I wasn’t playing a good hole, I was kind of laughing at the miss or chunked it and laughed. Today I had a shorter fuse”.
