Ireland’s Seamus Power fired the lowest round of the day to jump within three strokes of the halfway lead at the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Japan.
Power carded eight birdies in a bogey-free 62 at Narashino Country Club, lifting him to tied-fourth on nine under and in touch with halfway leader Nico Echavarria.
Echavarria mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey to register a second successive 64 and move two ahead, while a final-hole eagle took Justin Thomas tied-second alongside first-round leader Taylor Moore.
“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” Echavarria said. “I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so good to be in this position. Game feels good. Not much is going to change and hopefully we can keep putting it like that.”
Rickie Fowler lies tied-seventh alongside Max Greyserman, having made a six-under 64 to match Echavarria’s score, as defending champion Collin Morikawa slipped eight back to tied-22nd despite a second-round 67.
World No 2 Xander Schauffele marked his 31st birthday by responding to an opening-round 73 to card a five-under 65 on Friday, leaving him 10 strokes adrift, while home favourite Hideki Matsuyama languishes in tied-65th after back-to-back 71s.
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Xander Schauffele attempted multiple times to hack out from tree roots at the par-four ninth during his opening round, resulting in an ugly quadruple-bogey
How Power moved into PGA Tour contention
Power holed lengthy putts for par on each of his opening three holes before starting his birdie run by rolling in from 15 feet at the par-four fourth, then chipped in from off the par-three fifth green and drained a 20-footer at the par-five sixth.
The two-time PGA Tour winner fired his tee shot at the par-three seventh to tap-in range, resulting in a fourth consecutive birdie to see him reach the turn in 30, with Power ending a run of pars by taking advantage of the par-five 14th.
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Seamus Power carded a second-round 62 to move into contention in Japan
Power added further birdies over his next two holes and closed his round with another at the par-five last, his eighth of the day, leaving him tied-fourth alongside Eric Cole and CT Pan.
“I mean obviously when you shoot 62, most things go your way,” Power said. “It was interesting because it was kind of an unusual start. I ended up having to make a good par save on one, two and three.
“From there on it was a lot of good stuff, everything kind of felt pretty good. It was good yesterday – I just didn’t make the putts and today obviously was much better on the greens.”
Watch the Zozo Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday from 4am on Sky Sports Golf or stream with NOW, with the event part of a triple-header of live golf.