Shane Lowry’s Ryder Cup hopes were boosted by a top 10 finish at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio on Sunday.
The Offaly native’s two under par final round left him at six under par for the tournament, and up four places to a share of seventh when his round had finished. American Collin Morikawa held the lead at 12 under par through 12 holes.
Rory McIlroy finished his week at one under par overall after a mixed bag of a fourth round.
The Irishman’s level par 72 finished with bogeys on his final three holes, in all he hit five bogeys, with his birdies arriving on the fifth and sixth holes, as well as the 11th, 13th and 15th.
Meanwhile on the European Tour, Cormac Sharvin goes into the final round of the Porsche European Open seven shots off the lead and four off the top 10 in Hamburg.
His second round 74 began with two bogies either side of a birdie on the second hole. Three more birdies followed on the sixth, 10th and 12th holes before his second birdie on the Par 3 14th.
Sharvin is the only Irishman to make the cut, with Niall Kearney and Jonathan Caldwell both a shot off at four over par. Paul Dunne’s disastrous second round 82 left him 14 over par.
Matthew Southgate and Maverick Antcliff share the lead with both in pursuit of their maiden European Tour titles. Southgate added a 69 to his opening 70 at Green Eagle Golf Course to match Antcliff’s total of five under par, the Australian coming within inches of a hole-in-one on the 17th as he birdied his last three holes for a 68.
Scotland’s David Law and Scott Jamieson, The Netherlands’ Darius van Driel and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari are a shot off the lead, Molinari surging through the field with a brilliant 65, the lowest round of the week and a 10-shot improvement on round one.
Southgate believes the tough course plays to his strengths and the 32-year-old Englishman has plenty of belief in his long game.
“I’ve driven it particularly well, it’s a big strength of my game,” Southgate said. “Every tee it’s been like, take a couple of deep breaths and stick to the process of what I do every week.
“The fairways are narrow for everyone but I’ve felt for a long time I’m one of the better drivers of a golf ball in the world so I’m just trying to remind myself of positive thoughts, let it go and don’t steer it from the tee. Through 36 holes it’s worked so far.
“There’s a lot of power players out here and when you play with guys who hit it 20, 30 yards off line but they can get away with it from time to time it’s quite difficult to compete.
“But when the rough’s up and the bunkers are there and the fairways are narrow I think it makes it a lot more level playing field and your skill set’s really got to stand up to the test.
“If you do feel nervous that’s natural. We put our hearts and souls into this game and chances like this don’t come along too often. I certainly won’t want to drop any shots for letting the moment get in the way, hopefully my experience will stand me in good stead.”
Fans have been allowed on site at an event on European soil for the first time since October 2019, although the tournament started on Saturday and is being played over 54 holes due to potential quarantine issues for players, caddies and staff from the UK.
“It’s so nice to see people out enjoying the golf,” Southgate added.
“It’s been very quiet and lonely out there at certain times through Covid with no spectators, they really build that atmosphere and make it feel special being part of the tournament.”
Defending champion Paul Casey is five shots off the lead after adding a second round of 69 to his opening 75 to get back to level par.
Collated second round scores and totals in the Porsche European Open
(UK unless stated, Par 72)
139 Matthew Southgate 70 69, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 71 68
140 David Law 69 71, Scott Jamieson 70 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 65, Darius van Driel (Ned) 71 69
141 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 74 67, Thomas Detry (Bel) 68 73
142 Benjamin Poke (Den) 70 72, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 72 70
143 Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 69 74, Renato Paratore (Ita) 74 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 72, Sean Crocker (USA) 72 71, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 72 71, Laurie Canter 76 67, Marcus Armitage 72 71, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 70 73
144 Paul Casey 75 69, Joost Luiten (Ned) 76 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 74, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 74 70, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 74 70, David Drysdale 72 72, Ashley Chesters 69 75, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 76 68, David Horsey 76 68, Calum Hill 76 68, Connor Syme 75 69, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 70 74, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 73
145 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 78 67, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 72 73, Ashun Wu (Chn) 69 76, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 72 73, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 75 70, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 71 74, Jordan Smith 73 72, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 75 70, Jack Senior 73 72, Toby Tree 74 71, Dale Whitnell 71 74, Wil Besseling (Ned) 73 72, Rhys Enoch 72 73, Josh Geary (Nzl) 72 73
146 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 74 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 73 73, Justin Harding (Rsa) 77 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 76 70, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 76 70, Richie Ramsay 77 69, Cormac Sharvin (Irl) 71 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 75 71, Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 71 75
147 Stephen Gallacher 74 73, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 76 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 75 72, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 74 73, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 75 72, Johannes Veerman (USA) 81 66, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 72 75, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 71 76, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 74 73, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 73 74, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 72 75, Paul Peterson (USA) 72 75
The following players did not make the cut:
148 Alexander Levy (Fra) 80 68, Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 74 74, Jonathan Caldwell (Irl) 72 76, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 74, Niall Kearney (Irl) 74 74, Marc Hammer (Ger) 74 74
149 Aaron Rai 74 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 76 73, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 72 77, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 79 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 77 72, Oliver Farr 77 72, Garrick Porteous 75 74, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 76 73
150 Richard Mansell 78 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 77, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 77, Oliver Wilson 75 75, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 71 79
151 Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 78, Julian Suri (USA) 76 75
152 Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 78 74, Romain Langasque (Fra) 77 75, Freddy Schott (Ger) 77 75, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 73 79, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 77 75, James Morrison 81 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 78 74, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 77 75, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 78 74, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 76 76, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 76 76, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 77 75
153 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 78 75, Graeme Storm 74 79, Ross Fisher 81 72, Robin Roussel (Fra) 81 72, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 77 76, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 77 76, Tomas Guimaraes Bessa (Por) 76 77
154 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 77, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 76 78, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 73 81, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 75 79, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 74 80, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 74 80
155 Scott Hend (Aus) 79 76, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 78 77, Joel Stalter (Fra) 78 77, Ricardo Santos (Por) 79 76, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 78 77, Max Schmitt (Ger) 79 76, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 78 77, Jarryd Felton (Aus) 81 74, Nick Bachem (Ger) 76 79
156 Steven Brown 79 77, Benedict Staben (Ger) 80 76, Pep Angles (Spa) 84 72
157 Jannik Ger Bruyn (Ger) 76 81, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 78 79, Janne Kaske (Fin) 78 79
158 Gavin Green (Mal) 77 81, Jake McLeod (Aus) 77 81, Svn-Hwan Kim (Kor) 78 80, Lee Slattery 75 83, Paul Dunne (Irl) 76 82, Tom Gandy (Iom) 86 72, Julian Kunzenbacher (Ger) 82 76
159 Gregory Havret (Fra) 79 80, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 80 79, Ben Evans 81 78
160 Carlos Pigem (Spa) 77 83, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 85 75, Eduardo de la Riva (Spa) 79 81
161 Richard McEvoy 84 77, Michael Hirmer (Ger) 85 76
163 Matthias Schmid (Ger) 82 81, Moritz Lampert (Ger) 83 80
166 Georg Schultes (Ger) 84 82
