Koepka leads as Poulter and Casey’s Ryder Cup hopes fade
Ian Poulter and Paul Casey saw their hopes of qualifying automatically for next month’s Ryder Cup dealt a blow during the second round of the Northern Trust as Brooks Koepka moved into a share of the lead.
US Open and US PGA Championship winner Koepka joined fellow American Jamie Lovemark at the top of the leaderboard on 10 under with a six-under-par 65 in New Jersey, where Tiger Woods narrowly made the cut.
Automatic qualification for Thomas Bjorn’s side ends next week, and with Thorbjorn Olesen the current occupant of the eighth and final spot on the European team - taking a week off, 10th-placed Poulter and 11th-placed Casey have a chance to put themselves in pole position for a place at Le Golf National.
Casey moved to within two shots of the lead with three birdies on the front nine, but had four bogeys and a double-bogey on his back nine, with a 73 leaving him eight shots off the pace in a share of 44th.
Fellow Englishman Poulter also had a tough finish, tangling with a bunker at the eighth - his last - and running up a double bogey six to make the cut on the mark at level par alongside Woods, who was round in 71.
Koepka and Lovemark, who carded a 66, are a shot ahead of Adam Scott. The Australian enjoyed the day’s best round with a 64 that took him to nine-under and into third overall.
He is followed by America’s Dustin Johnson, who had another round of 67 to sit two shots back, despite making two triple bogeys this week.
But Koeopka was delighted with his round, which sparked into life when he eagled the 631-yard 13th after reaching the green in two.
“I wasn’t happy the first 11 holes the way I hit it,” Koepka said. “When I hit that 3-wood, it all clicked. I felt like I was finally able to release the golf club. When I did that, everything started to click.”
Woods, for his part, was just pleased to make the cut after struggling with his putter.
“The name of the game is you’ve got to make putts, and you’ve got to roll it,” he said. “No matter how good your drive, you’ve still got to roll them and still got to make putts, and I didn’t putt very well today. I had a hard time seeing my lines, and consequently didn’t make anything.”