SÉAMUS POWER needed to combat to maintain his victory hopes alive within the Sony Open however Graeme McDowell’s gallant 66 was in useless as missed the minimize by a single shot in Hawaii.
ower overcame a scrappy begin to card a two-under 68 that left him in an 11-man log-jam for fifth place on nine-under at Waialae Nation Membership.
He goes into shifting day six photographs behind Russell Henley, who added a 63 to his opening 62 to guide by three photographs at midway from the resurgent Haotong Li (65) on 15-under, however happy to hold across the lead.
“At present was a little bit of a wrestle, to be trustworthy, particularly early on,” mentioned Energy, whose run of bogey-free holes ended after 73 in a row when he drove into water left on the second to drop his first shot for the reason that ultimate gap of the primary spherical of final week’s Sentry Event of Champions.
“I hit a few very free photographs, made a few bogeys and was in a position to get better and sort of flip into a pair below. Sort of stored me in it to some extent, however yeah, simply a few issues to tidy up there afterwards.”
Energy misplaced management of his ball flight early on however nonetheless chiselled out his sixth sub-70 rating in a row with no little talent.
He birdied the third, short-sided himself in a bunker and bogeyed the 204-yard fourth however then performed his final 10 holes in three-under-par.
After two-putting the par-five ninth from 40 ft to show in stage par, he birdied the twelfth from seven ft, then received up and down from 94 yards for par on the thirteenth after a wayward drive, holing an eight-footer there earlier than chipping to 18 inches on the 18th to arrange a closing birdie 4.
“It was free early,” Energy admitted. “I simply misplaced management of my flight there and it price me a few photographs. So if we will get that again and provides myself a couple of further probabilities over the weekend, that’s the plan.”
The West Waterford star (34) may go to thirty first on this planet with a win or break into the world’s high 50 with a top-four end however he is aware of he faces a tricky examination if the wind blows.
“I did not miss too many fairways right this moment however you get punished fairly shortly,” he mentioned. “Course is in nice form. Tough is up and nasty. I did not miss too many fairways right this moment however you get punished fairly shortly.
“It is going to be attention-grabbing, particularly if the wind blows over the weekend. With the wind down, clearly it sort of counters a heavy tough. However it’s in nice form. Greens are beautiful.”
McDowell (42) overcame a double-bogey six on the second and made six birdies in a 66 to get to four-under solely to overlook his fourth minimize in a row within the wraparound season by a single shot.
“I received a extremely bizarre lie within the lure on two for my second and had a giant lump of sand on it and the ball got here out sideways and went proper,” McDowell mentioned.
“I hit my greenside bunker shot sort of skinny and it shot throughout the opposite aspect of the inexperienced and I made six so I used to be dissatisfied there.
“However I used to be actually joyful to come back again and make six birdies within the subsequent 16 holes to offer myself an extended afternoon and possibly a sweaty lengthy afternoon to overlook by one [joking], however fingers crossed.”
Henley, who held at the least a share of the lead after every of the primary three rounds of the US Open final June earlier than ending tied thirteenth behind Jon Rahm, bookended every 9 with eagle threes.
The Georgia native (32) received his maiden title by capturing the Sony Open in 2013 however has since received simply twice extra together with his most up-to-date win coming within the Shell Houston Open 5 years in the past.
Two-time European Tour winner and Haotong Li has fallen to 460th from a career-high of thirty second on this planet in 2018, when he was third behind Jordan Spieth in The Open at Royal Birkdale, is exhibiting indicators of a return to type.
The Chinese language star (26), who contended for the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park, adopted a gap 63 by making six birdies in a five-under 65 to sit down alone in second place.
Matt Kuchar, the 2019 champion at Waialae, went bogey-free for the second day working, including a 65 to his opening 64 to lie third on 11-under, 4 behind Henley.
Two-time PGA TOUR winner Michael Thompson was fourth on 10-under after a 67 with Energy tied for fifth with Stewart Cink, Corey Conners, Adam Svensson, world newbie No 1 Keita Nakajima, Riley Davis, Dylan Wu, Brandt Snedeker, Patton Kizzire, and Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama on nine-under-par.