Shane Lowry moves into contention with second round 68 at Canadian Open
The world number 12 followed an opening bogey with three birdies and while he didn't play as well as he did for his first round 64, he gave his iron play another workout as he dials in his spin control for Oakmont next week.
'I didn't play as well, but it was probably one of those where I probably felt like the golf course was easier than it was because I played so good yesterday,' said the Offaly man, who was tied for fourth with Ryan Fox, Jake Knapp and Cristobal Del Solar on eight-under, just four shots behind early halfway leader Cameron Champ.
'I didn't hit it close enough today and didn't really do much really well, drove it a bit poorly.
'But you're kind of going out there to put yourself in a position going into the weekend now. But I think the scoring and the course was actually a bit more difficult today than yesterday.'
Starting on the back nine at TPC Toronto in cool and breezy conditions, Lowry dropped a shot when he missed the first of seven fairways at the 10th before going bogey-free from there.
He made a 30-footer for birdie at the 13th and an eight-footer for another at the 15th to move to seven-under before using his short game to keep his momentum going.
At the tough, 508-yard 17th, he was 66 yards short of the green in two after finding rough off the tee but flicked a wedge to eight inches to set up his par four.
He didn't birdie the gettable par-five 18th or first holes but after missing chances early on the back nine, he got away with a pulled drive and made a 25-footer for another birdie at the fifth, then watched a 10-footer fall in the side door for par at the 220-yard seventh.
'It was beautiful out there yesterday, and there wasn't much wind at all,' Lowry said of the contrast between rounds.
'There was a bit of wind up this morning, and when you're down in the valleys and between the trees, it kind of swirls a little bit.
'So it was tough to get that right and with softer greens, it's very hard to get the ball pin high here. So you need to be in full control of your ball.'
Lowry has made no secret of the fact that he's looking forward to the challenge of Oakmont, where he was tied second in the 2016 US Open, and he believes this week's test can help.
'I think there's a lot of iron shots that are going to be needed for next week,' he said. 'Taking spin off and been really in control of your spin and your trajectory.'
Big-hitting Champ took advantage of just his sixth start of the season in Canada, going bogey-free for the second day running as he added to a 66 to his opening 62 to lead by three shots in the clubhouse on 12-under from Thorbjorn Olesen (70) and Richard Lee (64).
Rory McIlroy was in the afternoon wave but after opening with a 71, he needed at least a three-under 67 to make the projected two-under cut.
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