Séamus Power shot Simpson and Kirk in Detroit

If I had to believe the hype, the Rocket Mortgage Classic stage should be reserved for those with the X-Factor, those like the huge Bryson DeChambeau or someone like Matthew Wolff, the upcoming young star with the extravagant swing.

Add Séamus Power to the mix. The 33-year-old Co Waterford – an East Tennessee State graduate, who has sidetracked between the main PGA Tour and the secondary Korn Ferry Tour in recent seasons – played golf without bogey to turn a second round 66 with an under 11 -para a half of the total of 133 to leave him a shot behind Chris Kirk and Webb Simpson’s halfway lead.

The fact that Messrs DeChambeau, Wolff and Mark Hubbard fit the company at the top of the chart was proof of how much Power had played to position himself to compete for a first PGA Tour title at the weekend.

Power – who had lost the cut in each of his last two events on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour, and with limited opportunities on the main circuit given his status – has so far made the most of his chances with a strong all-round game, hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation in the second round and making sure that his putter does not finish the job more often by claiming six birds.

“It is a course, if you can drive well, you will have many possibilities, you can reach some Par 5, you have wedges [in hand for approach shots]”, Said Power.” So it was a bit of a focus on Tuesday, Wednesday, trying to make sure the driver is in as good a position as possible… I probably consider myself a pretty good course manager. You just have to choose your spots. But the advantage I have, the first two rounds I drove well, so I give myself more opportunities to be aggressive. “

To support his opening round 67 with a 66, he added: “I’m happy. I guess I didn’t have my A-Game enough, but I was able to manage it well enough and make good shots at the right time. ”

The power got up and ran early when he sank a 45 foot per bird in the second hole. He supported him with a four foot footer for birdies on the third and rolled in a five foot footer on the seventh to turn in 33 shots.

The power then claimed further birds on the tenth (seven feet), the 13 (six feet) and another on the 14 (three feet) to move to the top of the ranking.

Having failed to keep his tour card complete last season, Power’s form – somewhat suddenly giving his best result so far this season was tied to 35th place in Porto Puerto before the blockade – came. in a moment of welcome with the opportunity to tick a certain number of boxes going forward if you keep it on the weekend. Indeed, a victory would change life; but even a top 10 would put him back on the field for next week’s Workday tournament in Ohio.

“I’m just happy to play, so I’m just trying to relax and enjoy myself,” said Power.

Wolff, the 21-year-old American who secured his decisive victory in this week’s 3M tournament a year ago, had six consecutive birds – 14th to 1st – in his round but suffered his only bogey in his final hole , in ninth place, after a bad drive in rough, which saw him fall in advantage.

Second round scores and totals collected in the USPGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic (USA, unless otherwise noted, par 72):

(a) indicates amateurs

132 Chris Kirk 67 65, Webb Simpson 68 64

133 Richy Werenski 67 66, Matthew Wolff 69 64, Mark Hubbard 67 66, Ryan Armor 69 64, Bryson DeChambeau 66 67, Seamus Power (Irl) 67 66

134 Sepp Straka (Aut) 68 66, Kevin Kisner 65 69

135 Brian Stuard 68 67, Matt Wallace (Eng) 66 69, Hudson Swafford 67 68, Brandon Hagy 67 68, Doc Redman 65 70, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 68 67, JJ Spaun 66 69, Troy Merritt 68 67, Cameron Tringale 68 67

136 Luke List 69 67, Pat Perez 68 68, Scott Stallings 65 71, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 67, Adam Hadwin (Can) 67 69, Lanto Griffin 70 66, Mark Anderson 68 68, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 66 70, Maverick McNealy 68 68, Ted Potter, Jr. 68 68

137 Steve Stricker 70 67, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 67 70, Chris Stroud 66 71, Harold Varner III 70 67, Lucas Glover 67 70, Christopher Baker 69 68, Cameron Champ 69 68, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 69 68, Michael Thompson 69 68, Sam Burns 68 69, Brendon Todd 68 69, Scott Harrington 71 66

138 Zack Sucher 69 69, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 69 69, Kevin Chappell 69 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 70 68, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 67, Keegan Bradley 69 69, George McNeill 67 71, Wesley Bryan 69 69, Zac Blair 70 68, Rickie Fowler 67 71, Johnson Wagner 67 71, Michael Gellerman 68 70, Tyler Duncan 68 70

139 Adam Schenk 68 71, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 71 68, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 68 71, Austin Cook 69 70, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 67 72, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 68, Tony Finau 69 70, Tom Lewis (Eng) 68 71, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 69, Harry Higgs 69 70, Bo Van Pelt 70 69, Patrick Rodgers 69 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 70, Sungjae Im (Kor) 70 69, Jonathan Byrd 70 69, Josh Teater 70 69

The following players have skipped the cut

140 Peter Malnati 66 74, Jason Day (Aus) 70 70, Scott Brown 68 72, Roger Sloan (Can) 72 68, Sam Ryder 68 72, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 68, Nate Lashley 71 69, Chesson Hadley 71 69, Matt Every 72 68, Cameron Davis (Aus) 71 69, Ben Martin 73 67, Ricky Barnes 73 67, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 70, Dominic Bozzelli 69 71

141 JT Poston 69 72, Matt Jones (Aus) 73 68, Aaron Wise 72 69, David Hearn (Can) 71 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 71, Tyler McCumber 73 68, Bo Hoag 72 69, Bronson Burgoon 73 68, Jamie Lovemark 68 73, Chase Seiffert 66 75, Grayson Murray 74 67, Ben Taylor (Eng) 72 69, Russell Knox (Sco) 70 71

142 Robby Shelton 73 69, Peter Uihlein 72 70, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 71, Ryan Brehm 71 71, Joseph Bramlett 70 72, Will Gordon 71 71, Patrick Reed 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72, Jason Dufner 74 68, Bubba Watson 71 71, Brian Harman 71 71, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 71, Doug Ghim 71 71, Sahith Theegala 73 69, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 73 69, Brandt Snedeker 73 69

143 Shawn Stefani 69 74, Kyle Stanley 74 69, Michael Gligic (Can) 72 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 72, Peter Kuest 71 72, Hank Lebioda 71 72, Bill Haas 68 75, Ryan Blaum 70 73, Patton Kizzire 71 72, James Hahn 67 76, Martin Trainer 71 72, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 73 70, Kevin Tway 72 71, Michael Kim 73 70

144 James Nicholas 70 74, Scottie Scheffler 79 65, Rob Oppenheim 72 72, Jimmy Walker 74 70, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 73 71

145 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 76, Alex Noren (Swe) 72 73, John Senden (Aus) 72 73, Tom Hoge 73 72, Robert Streb 72 73, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 72 73, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 71 74 , Chandler Phillips 71 74, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 75 70

146 Vincent Whaley 71 75, Roberto Castro 73 73

147 Kurt Kitayama 71 76, Wes Roach 77 70, Andrew Putnam 74 73, Kramer Hickok 72 75, Beau Hossler 72 75, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg) 73 74, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 75 72, DJ Trahan 73 74

148 Rory Sabbatini (SVK) 76 72

149 Brian Gay 73 76

155 Donnie Trosper 78 77