Séamus Power slipped back a touch on the leaderboard despite carding a second round 69 at the The American Express in California.
After starting the day in the top five, Power sits in a tie for seventh heading into the weekend four shots behind the leader Patrick Cantlay.
The Waterford golfer hit his first bogey of the tournament at the second hole of his round, but responded with back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes he played. A further bogey before the end of his first nine ensured he took the turn at level par.
His back nine started with a birdie to bring Power below par for the first time in his round. Another birdie at the par-five 15th was immediately cancelled out by a dropped shot, but a birdie at the last ensured a round of three-under.
Graeme McDowell started the day one shot back of Power, and he finished in a similar position having also signed for a round of 69. McDowell is five shots back of the lead on nine-under overall
Patrick Cantlay survived two bogeys over his final nine holes, carded a four-under 68 and held a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend.
The reigning FedEx Cup champion moved to 14 under for the week, leading Tom Hoge by a shot. A five-way tie for third at 12 under includes Will Zalatoris, who fired an 11-under 61.
Golfers at The American Express will play one round at three different courses - La Quinta Country Club, the PGA West Stadium Course and the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course - before the final round returns to the Stadium Course following a 54-hole cut.
Following his opening-round 62 at La Quinta Country Club, Cantlay played the Nicklaus Tournament Course on Friday, making six birdies and two bogeys, including a three-putt at the eighth, a rarity for the talented putter.
“I actually putted really well today and made nothing,” Cantlay said. “The greens were a little beat up and it was hard to make putts. But I rolled it really well and I rolled it how I wanted to, I just didn’t get any to go in.”
Now Cantlay must play his final two rounds on the Stadium Course, considered the most challenging of the three. In last year’s edition of the event, Cantlay carded an 11-under 61 in the final round to finish in second.
“It’s a golf course that suits my game,” Cantlay said. “We’ll see how it plays tomorrow with the increased wind and if you drive the ball in the fairway, you get a lot of chances.”
Hoge toured the Stadium Course for his second round and posted a bogey-free, 6-under 66 Friday to move into second place. Hoge has 13 birdies and no bogeys to his name after two days.
“I’ve driven it well and I’ve just given myself a lot of looks, which I think is key around here,” Hoge said. “It’s such a shoot-out here every year, you just got to keep making birdies. So just try to keep hitting good iron shots in there and have a look on every hole.”
Hoge, 32, has yet to win on the PGA Tour and is currently ranked No. 115 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Zalatoris, the 2021 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, matched his career-low round of 61 set earlier this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Starting on the back nine at the Nicklaus Tournament Course, Zalatoris made the turn in 32 before rattling off birdies on his final seven holes for a 29.
He wrapped up with a birdie on the par-four ninth hole despite hitting a wayward tee shot that ended up in an adjacent fairway.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t in the bushes and I ended up having a pretty decent angle and a great lie,” Zalatoris said. “My caddie gave me a good number and he said, ‘Hey, let’s hit a golf shot and let’s try and get out of here with a 4,’ and the (birdie) putt lipped in.”
Tied with Zalatoris at 12-under are Lanto Griffin (65, Stadium Course), Greyson Sigg (67, Stadium Course), Cameron Young (68, Nicklaus Tournament Course) and Joseph Bramlett (67, La Quinta C.C.).
World number one Jon Rahm of Spain posted a quiet two-under 70 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course, tying him for 32nd at eight-under. Phil Mickelson is 155th in the 156-man field (seven-over) following a 73 at Nicklaus.
Collated second round scores in the USPGA Tour The American Express, PGA West (Stadium), La Quinta, California (USA unless stated, Par 72):
130 Patrick Cantlay 62 68
131 Tom Hoge 65 66
132 Joseph Bramlett 65 67, Lanto Griffin 67 65, Greyson Sigg 65 67, Cameron Young 64 68, Will Zalatoris 71 61
133 Paul Barjon (Fra) 66 67, Zach Johnson 67 66, Sam Ryder 65 68, Roger Sloan (Can) 66 67
134 Wyndham Clark 65 69, Harry Higgs 66 68, Lee Hodges 62 72, Patton Kizzire 67 67, Denny McCarthy 67 67, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 67, Séamus Power (Irl) 65 69, Aaron Rai (Eng) 67 67, Brandt Snedeker 65 69, Sahith Theegala 72 62, Harold Varner III 68 66, Vincent Whaley 70 64
135 Doug Ghim 67 68, Lucas Glover 66 69, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 64 71, David Lipsky 67 68, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 66 69, Davis Riley 66 69, Hudson Swafford 70 65, Jared Wolfe 70 65
136 Bronson Burgoon 66 70, Kevin Chappell 67 69, Michael Gligic (Can) 68 68, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 65, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 67, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 68 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 69 67, Danny Lee (Nzl) 65 71, Taylor Moore 66 70, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 69 67, Andrew Putnam 70 66, Jon Rahm (Spa) 66 70, Sepp Straka (Aut) 67 69, Chris Stroud 69 67, Adam Svensson (Can) 69 67, Stephen Stallings Jr. 69 67
137 Jason Dufner 70 67, Brian Harman 67 70, Russell Henley 67 70, Charles Howell III 69 68, Hank Lebioda 68 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 67, Alex Smalley 67 70, Martin Trainer 66 71, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 68
138 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 67 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 66 72, Tyler Duncan 69 69, Kramer Hickok 72 66, Russell Knox (Sco) 70 68, Trey Mullinax 70 68, Matthew NeSmith 69 69, J. T. Poston 69 69, Doc Redman 71 67, Patrick Rodgers 70 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 69 69, Curtis Thompson 69 69, Callum Tarren (Eng) 69 69
139 Brice Garnett 68 71, Nick Hardy 68 71, Adam Long 68 71, Peter Malnati 71 68, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 68 71, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 68 71, Pat Perez 69 70, Chez Reavie 72 67, Scottie Scheffler 69 70, Adam Schenk 72 67, Brendon Todd 71 68, Cameron Tringale 74 65
140 Brett Drewitt (Aus) 67 73, Adam Hadwin (Can) 68 72, James Hahn 70 70, Chris Kirk 71 69, Kelly Kraft 71 69, Luke List 70 70, Ryan Moore 70 70, Robert Streb 70 70, Kevin Tway 70 70
141 Wesley Bryan 68 73, Corey Conners (Can) 75 66, Brian Gay 74 67, Bill Haas 73 68, Chan Kim 70 71, Max McGreevy 74 67, Andrew Novak 69 72, Scott Piercy 70 71, Patrick Reed 71 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 68 73, Brian Stuard 69 72, Peter Uihlein 71 70, Mark Wilson 71 70, Gary Woodland 72 69, Dylan Wu 69 72
142 Jonathan Byrd 69 73, Cameron Champ 73 69, Jason Day (Aus) 67 75, Tony Finau 72 70, Chesson Hadley 70 72, John Huh 72 70, Ben Kohles 70 72, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 74 68, John Pak 70 72, David Skinns (Eng) 71 71, J. J. Spaun 75 67, Brendan Steele 69 73, Brandon Wu 70 72
143 Luke Donald (Eng) 70 73, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 73 70, Talor Gooch 75 68, Scott Gutschewski 71 72, Brandon Hagy 70 73, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 71 72, Troy Merritt 73 70, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 71 72, Michael Thompson 77 66, Nick Watney 72 71, Richy Werenski 74 69, Joshua Creel 74 69
144 Hayden Buckley 70 74, Rickie Fowler 73 71, Andrew Landry 73 71, Scott Stallings 74 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 72 72, Jimmy Walker 73 71
145 Jim Herman 74 71, Justin Lower 74 71, Seth Reeves 74 71, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 73 72, T. J. Vogel 74 71, Matthew Wolff 78 67
146 Kurt Kitayama 74 72, Davis Love III 75 71, Kyle Mendoza 73 73, Chad Ramey 74 72
147 Tyler McCumber 75 72, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 75 72, Austin Smotherman 76 71, Kevin Streelman 73 74
148 Austin Cook 78 70
149 Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 75 74
150 James du Preez (Rsa) 76 74, Nate Lashley 77 73,
151 Phil Mickelson 78 73
153 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 74 79
