Poulter hurts chances
On bubble for Ryder Cup, misses cut following 72
NORTON — When it comes to the Ryder Cup, very few have been better at antagonizing the Americans than Ian Poulter.
Whether he returns to the European squad next month in Paris is squarely up to captain Thomas Bjorn, who makes his four captain’s picks on Wednesday.
Poulter is 12-1-2 in five Ryder Cup appearances, including 4-0-1 in singles play, with the Europeans winning four of those years, but he was not selected in 2016 when Europe lost 17-11 at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.
“I think so, for sure,” Englishman Justin Rose said yesterday. “He’s obviously been fantastic in the Ryder Cup in the last sort of decade or so. I know it was pretty hurtful for him to miss the last one and watch from the sidelines.
“Sometimes that can be the biggest inspiration. I’m sure that spurred him on to definitely want to make this team in Paris by watching . . . at Hazeltine.”
Poulter did not help his cause, however, by missing the Dell Technologies Championship cut by 1 stroke at 3-over after a second-round 72. He was 1-under for the round on the 16th tee, but hit a ball in the water, leading to a double-bogey 5.
He won the Houston Open in the spring to qualify for the Masters and has had three other top10 finishes this year including at Firestone last month.
Among those who are on the European Ryder Cup bubble here this weekend are Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Russell Knox and Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
The seven spots that have been secured belong to Eduardo Molinari, Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Alex Noren. Only Molinari, the British Open winner, is not playing here this weekend.
The eighth spot will be decided today in the European Tour event in Denmark between either Thorbjornsen Oleson, Eddie Pepperell or Matt Fitzpatrick.
Locals make good
The three local products will all be sticking around for the weekend.
Hopkinton’s Keegan Bradley put himself squarely in contention to win his first golf tournament in more than six years for a second week in a row. He turned in a 2-under 69 to follow up his opening 67 and is at 6-under, 5 shots behind Webb Simpson in a tie for seventh.
Starting on the back nine, he made all four of his birdies in a stretch from No. 18 through No. 5, playing those holes in 3-under.
Peter Uihlein of New Bedford got off to a fast start with four birdies through five holes but ultimately gave them all back in an even-par 71 that has him at 2-under in a tie for 34th.
Bogeys at Nos. 7 and 18 were particularly damaging as the field played both par 5s under par.
Uihlein made a 40-foot putt at the par-3 11th but made three bogeys in a row at 11-13.
Currently 83rd in the FedEx Cup standings, he will need to get inside the top 70 to advance to Aronimink next week.
Worcester native Scott Stallings turned in a 2-under par 69 and is even overall in a share of 55th. He had four birdies and two bogeys on his card.
Stallings entered the week 94th and will need a big weekend to play next week.
Scores get lower
Seventy-seven players made the cut at 2-over 144. TPC Boston played more than a shot under par yesterday at 69.833 after an opening round of 71.144. The par-36 front nine played more than a shot easier yesterday than in Round 1 at 34.635, while the back remained slightly over par at 35.198.
The stretch from Nos. 11-14 contain all four of the hardest holes on the course. The par-4 11th, which played 499 yards yesterday, was the hardest at 4.25. The par-5 18th was the easiest at 4.594, with only 12 players making worse than par . . . .
There were six bogey-free rounds yesterday after just two on Friday: Hatton, Simpson, Tiger Woods, Chesson Hadley, Rahm and Patrick Reed.