SHANE LOWRY AND Graeme McDowell share a tie for 29th place at the PGA’s Workday Charity Open where they were playing catchup all day after being hit by rain storms.

Leader Collin Morikawa followed up his first round seven-under 65 with a six-under second round last night to reach a 13-under 131 total and a lead over Kevin Streelman and Justin Thomas in Dublin, Ohio. 

Irishmen Lowry and McDowell are 10 shots off the lead on 3-under, McDowell following up his opening day 68 with a 73 while Lowry posted an even par round of 72.

After impressing with his accuracy on Thursday, McDowell struggled with his radar yesterday, hitting only eight of the 18 greens in regulation. 

He bogeyed the 447-yard par-4 sixth, after his tee shot landed in the fairway bunker, the kind of trouble he could have done without and failed to resolve. A 17-foot putt for birdie at the par-5 11th helped, another bogey at 13 didn’t.

Still birdies at 14 – where he sunk a 24-foot putt – and 15, a 23-foot putt was nailed this time – moved McDowell to 1 under for the round and suggested things would turn out okay.

But it didn’t. He bogeyed the par 3 16th and then three-putted at the last to post a 73.

Lowry, meanwhile, fared slightly better, shooting a 72, hitting 13 of the 18 greens in regulation. It looked like being a brighter day for the Offaly-man, though, when birdies at the par-5 fifth, par-4 sixth and par-4 ninth – where a superb 131 yard approach shot set up an easy chance, as well as two more birdies on 11 and 12, left him four under for the round.

But he finished poorly, missing a par putt from four feet on 14, posting a double bogey at the par-5 15th, and another bogey at the 201-yard par-3 16th, where he rolled a two-putt for bogey. He had also bogeyed the third and 10th.

Morikawa meanwhile was delighted with his form.

“The game feels good from top to bottom, whether it’s off the tee, putting, approach shots,” he said. 

Rain, wind and lightning led to two play suspensions that lasted over an hour each at the Muirfield Village Golf Club course.

Morikawa showed he is back by rolling in nine birdies on the course that will double as the venue for next week’s Memorial Tournament.

“It’s obviously nice to hit some approach shots, hit my cut that I just hadn’t had the past couple weeks. So it’s good to be back, and we’ve got two more days of the same thing,” said the 23-year-old American.

Morikawa is coming off his first missed cut since turning pro last summer when he failed to get into weekend play at last month’s Travelers Championship. 

He tied for ninth at the last event before the Tour shutdown because of the global pandemic.

- Bubble Boys -

 The Workday Open this week became the first PGA tournament to lump its coronavirus positive players into the same grouping. 

South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli and Americans Denny McCarthy and Nick Watney were each playing for the first time since testing positive and were grouped together out of an “abundance of caution,” said tournament officials.

Watney was five over with four holes to play and Frittelli was four over but McCarthy is hoping to make the cut after being one over through 14.

The three stay in their own bubble. They have limited access to the clubhouse or training facilities and are being isolated in a vacant area under the old pro shop at the Ohio-based tournament. 

PGA is allowing a return to competition for players and caddies who continue to test positive for coronavirus if at least 10 days have passed since the symptoms first appeared and 72 hours have passed since fever has disappeared.

Additional reporting by AFP