A string of four birdies over five holes to open the back nine propelled Justin Lower to a 6-under-par 65 on Friday, matching his round from the previous day and giving him a two-stroke lead through two rounds at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton, Bermuda.
That result may not have seemed particularly likely through the first half of Round 2 after some members of the field completed the first round earlier in the day after a suspension due to darkness Thursday. Lower still began his second round tied for the lead with Hayden Springer and had three birdies over the first five holes before a bogey at No. 9.
“I had a bad break on 6 and 9,” Lower said. “To not get the par 5s when they’re all kind of reachable other than No. 2 just being into the wind, that part kind of sucks.”
But things heated up for Lower at Port Royal Golf Course when he carded birdies on Holes 10, 12, 13 and 14 to stake himself to an eventual two shot-lead over Robby Shelton and Ryan Moore. Most of the field completed the second round before play was suspended due to darkness for a second straight day.
Lower still felt he could have finished a little stronger.
“Yeah, it felt good most of the day, pretty solid for the most part,” Lower said. “It would have been nice to get one of those last two putts to go in on 17, 18, but still a great round and I’m happy where I’m at.”
On Thursday, Springer and Lower shot 6-under-par 65s to grab an early one-shot edge over Patrick Rodgers, Joseph Bramlett and Kevin Dougherty before play was suspended.
Springer shot a 1-under 70 to fall off of Lower’s pace and fall into a tie for 10th. Rodgers (71), Bramlett (72) and Dougherty (73) also fell behind the leaders.
Shelton and Moore, meanwhile, matched Lower on Friday to stay in contention. An eagle on 17 highlighted Shelton’s day, and he added five birdies to finish 7-under 64. Moore was a little more up-and-down, with bogeys at 16 and 8 to go along with his eight birdies.
“If you start missing it 20 yards offline here, you can get it in trouble really quick,” Moore said. “For me, it’s controlling that ball and keeping the misses at least in reasonable places to be able to play. The greens are receptive enough that it’s not ideal being in the rough, but you still have a chance to knock it on the green and have a reasonable putt, but it’s always better being in the fairway.”
Shelton spoke about not looking ahead to the FedExCup rankings and to focus on the moment.
“You know you have to play well and you know that you need to win,” Shelton said. “A top-5 would be great, but you’re really looking for the win. You’re not looking at the cut line, you’re going out to win. That should be your mentality every week.”
Among those who did not finish the second round, Greyson Sigg is in the top position at 4 under through 16 to tie for sixth place.
Sam Ryder (62) and Kevin Kisner (66) are tied for fourth at 9 under through two complete rounds.
–Field Level Media
