SÉAMUS POWER AND Rory McIlroy are four shots off the leaders after the second round at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina, while Masters champion Scottie Scheffler upped the ante after his tepid opening round to move firmly into contention.

Waterford’s Power had shot a blistering 65 on Thursday but his momentum slowed during a trickier second round at Harbour Town’s links course: he was the only player in the top 20 to score above the 60s, albeit his one-under-par 70 was enough to keep him in the hunt at the midway point.

It was a round of two decidedly different halves for Power, who moved to nine under par with three birdies in his front nine before dropping a couple of shots on the par-4 12th and the par-5 15th.

McIlroy was bogey-free but could find only three birdies for a three-under-par 68. Harbour Town is not a course that especially suits the four-time major winner but his seven-under-par total heading into Saturday is his best ever halfway score in South Carolina.

Shane Lowry, meanwhile, followed Thursday’s tame 70 with a disappointing 72, a score which leaves him near the bottom of the leaderboard on even par for the tournament.

In the aftermath of his second Masters title, Scheffler, who opened with two-under-par 69 on Thursday, carded a second-round 65 to sit eight under all told.

Power, McIlroy and Scheffler are all chasing Tom Hoge, who shot a field-lowest 64 on Friday and leads the way in a four-way tie with Sepp Straka (65), Collin Morikawa (66) and JT Poston (68), all of whom are 11 under par.

Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg is a shot behind the leaders, as are Patrick Rodgers and Mackenzie Hughes, after all three shot their second successive 66 to sit pretty heading into the weekend.