Shane Lowry cards second 68 to lie six shots off the pace at Honda Classic

Shane Lowry didn’t have his A-game, but he hung tough through the second round of the Honda Classic at PGA National’s The Champions course to produce a second successive 68 to reach the midpoint on four-under-par 136 and very much in the hunt for a title which evaded his clutches a year ago.

And, for a second straight day, Lowry’s quest for the title in what is effectively his new “hometown” tournament – the family having moved to Jupiter, Florida – was aided by a birdie on the notoriously difficult par-three 17th hole.

Where all he needed was a tap-in from inside a foot in Thursday’s opening round, Lowry holed a monster putt of 58 feet in the second round to provide some impetus to his challenge as he heads into the weekend playing catch-up on 36-hole leader Justin Shu, who reached the halfway stage on 10-under-par 130 after a stunning 64.

Lowry’s round started with an early bogey on the second hole but that would prove to be his only dropped shot of the round as he found birdies at the par-five third, the eighth (from 30 feet) and then that dramatic putt on the 17th to sign for back-to-back 68s.

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“You’re just happy to see your tee shot on the land,” said Lowry of how imposing the tee-shot on the 17th can be, and he certainly made up for a frustrating run of eight straight pars with the birdie on his penultimate hole to head into the final 36 holes six behind Suh.

Lowry, a runner-up to Sepp Straka a year ago, when he trailed by seven shots at the halfway stage, is one of only three players from the world’s top-20 in the field – following on elevated tournaments at Phoenix and Genesis and with next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational another of those $20 million purses – as some players sought to take a week’s break.

That was never going to happen for Lowry, though. “I feel like I need to play the tournaments that I like and that I want to play. The fact I am at home, I get to stay in my home bed,” said Lowry.

From outside the cutline to inside it, Pádraig Harrington did what he had to do to ensure his survival into the weekend as a second round 68 for a midway total of level-par 140 ensured the 51-year-old Dubliner would have the opportunity to make further inroads.

A two-time past winner of the tournament, Harrington – breaking away from the Champions Tour for a two-week stint on the PGA Tour to take in the Honda and next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational – signed for a 68 that featured four birdies and two bogeys to achieve his initial target of making the cut.

Starting on the 10th, Harrington made a flying start: an approach from 174 yards to 16 feet was converted on the 11th and he made it back-to-back birdies when hitting his approach to eight feet on the 12th.

For the second day running, the 17th hole counted him as a victim. Where he’d played from out of the water in the first round, this time his tee shot found a greenside bunker and, after splashing out to seven feet, he missed the putt for par. However, he bounced back straight away when rolling in a 10-footer for birdie on the 18th to turn in two-under 33.

Harrington’s homeward run didn’t feature too much drama, though. One birdie, on the par-five third where he sank a 10-footer, was followed by a bogey on the fourth and he parred his way in after outside birdie chances on the sixth (from 18 feet), the seventh (from 12 feet) and the ninth (from 15 feet) failed to drop.