Scottie Scheffler rediscovered his putting touch for a 5-under 65 to move three shots behind leader Tom Kim at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
Kim Kardashian shot an 8-under 62 to move two shots ahead of Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama and Will Zalatoris, after the world No. 1 struggled in last week's U.S. Open at Pinehurst, finishing 41st and tied for sixth at TPC River Highlands.
“Mainly the greens are different,” Scheffler said of the difference in his putting. “Last week I had a hard time seeing the break on the greens. I had a hard time finding the right line.
“I felt like I hit a lot of good shots and they went the way I wanted, but I looked up and sometimes they weren’t even close to being in the hole.
“So that’s always going to be a little frustrating, but it’s nice to be out here and hit some good shots on some familiar surfaces and see some balls go in the hole.”
Seamus Power shot five birdies for a three-under 67 to tie for 18th, while Shane Lowry had four birdies and three bogeys for a 69 to tie for 33rd.
Tom McKibbin birdied three of his final four holes on the DP World Tour to keep alive his hopes of earning one of two Open Championship berths at the KLM Amsterdam Open.
The Hollywood star (21) tied for 41st with Scheffler last week in his first major, but shot a two-under 69 at the International to tie for 23rd, five shots behind Italy's Matteo Manassero and Finland's Mikko Korhonen.
Gary Hurley of West Waterford, after opening with double bogey, had four birdies and four bogeys to finish with a 73 and tie for 100th.
It was also a mixed day for the Irish Challenge Tour’s Brittany Open in Brittany, where Ruaidry Mackey shot a three-under 67 to tie for sixth, three shots behind South Africa’s Rupert Kaminski and England’s John Parry.
Alex Maguire had an eagle, two birdies and a triple bogey late in the tournament to finish with a 69 and tie for 30th with Jonathan Caldwell, who shot a 71 to round out the top 60.
In Ballyliffin, Irish interest in the amateur championship ended in the second round when Royal Dublin's Max Kennedy lost 5-4 to Basingstoke's Charlie Foster, who in turn lost in the last 16 to Germany's Lorenz Hilgen.
Hilgen knocked out leading qualifier Connor Graham in the second round and will face Gog Magog’s Dominic Clemons in today’s quarterfinals.
The winner will face either Harpenden’s Jack Bingham or Spain’s Marcel Fonseca in the semi-finals, while in the bottom half Scotland’s Callum Scott will take on Denmark’s Jakob Skov-Olsen and Hoylake’s Matthew Dodd-Berry will take on the lone American survivor, Luke Sample.
At Seapoint Golf Links, Sweden's Patrick Sjoland and Scotland's Paul Lawrie opened with five-under 67s to lead the OFX Irish Legends, one stroke behind Argentina's Angel Cabrera and South Africa's Keith Horne, while David Higgins and Gary Murphy led the Irish Challengers at one over.
Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington returns to action after a three-week break to prepare for next week's U.S. Senior Open, and today he'll be looking for his third victory at the Champions Tour's Dick's Open at En-Joie in New York.
