Shane Lowry powered back into the reckoning at the Tour Championship with a superb round of 63 on Friday.

Near the foot of the field after an underwhelming even par opening round, Lowry was only at one-under par after his outward nine before his putter caught fire on the back nine.

Beginning with the 10th, the 2019 Open champion rattled in six birdies to shoot a spectacular 29 on the inward nine to leave himself in the clubhouse in a tie for seventh, six strokes adrift of joint leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley.

After another birdie at 12, Lowry made a modest bit of history on the 14th by holing the longest ever putt in the FedEx Cup playoffs, draining a 97-footer for birdie on the 14th.

That set in train a run of three successive birdies, Lowry sinking putts of 21ft and 7ft for birdies at the short 15th and the par-4 16th.

After saving par from short of the green at 17, he rolled in a 10-footer on the par-5 18th to cap off an excellent showing.

FULL LEADERBOARD

For Lowry, the performance comes at a timely moment, with European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald set to confirm his team, including his six captain’s picks on Monday week.

With no Ryder Cup points on offer at East Lake, Lowry will likely be overtaken in the race for the final automatic qualification slot by Rasmus Hojgaard – who did not qualify for the Tour Championship after playing a partial PGA Tour schedule this year – as the qualifying process concludes this weekend.

The Tour Championship does not offer qualifying points to American players, as their six auto-qualifiers were locked in last Sunday. It doesn’t offer points to Europeans, either, something Lowry only recently learned.

Hojgaard only needs to finish tied-29th or better in the British Masters to jump above Lowry into sixth place in the European Ryder Cup standings and secure his ticket to New York.

The Dane is currently tied-14th on four-under heading into the weekend at the Belfry.

After 36 holes, Lowry is in a cluster of players on seven-under, which includes Rory McIlroy, who carded a three-under par 67 on Friday.

After his round, Lowry outlined his disappointment with the selection process.

“I only found out about that Monday,” he said. “I thought I was guaranteed getting points this week,” he said. “I thought I was going to be pretty much guaranteed on the team.

“Yeah, I was somewhat disappointed to hear that. But the rules were made at the start for qualifying, and that was it.”

McIlroy, a three-time winner of the Tour Championship (in 2016, 2019 and 2022), didn’t drop a single stroke in his second round but struggled to capitalise on a number of chances, having to content himself with three birdies, on the first and the par-5s on the sixth and the 18th.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 22: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays a shot on the 17th hole during the second round of the TOUR Championship 2025 at East Lake Golf Club on August 22, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy joined Shane Lowry on seven-under par after Friday’s second round

The in-form Fleetwood, who’s still awaiting his first win on American soil, matched Lowry’s round of 63 to reach the halfway point at 13-under par.

The Englishman recorded six birdies on the back nine, a run interrupted by a solitary bogey on the 16th to put himself in a prime position heading into the weekend once again.

Thursday’s leader Henley carded back-to-back birdies on the final two holes to join Fleetwood on 13-under after a five-under par round of 65.

Cameron Young shot the low round of the day, registering nine birdies in total to post a 62 and sit in third on 11-under par.

Bob MacIntrye and Patrick Cantlay share fourth place on 10-under after shooting rounds of 66 respectively.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler drained sunk a late birdie putt on 18 to get to eight-under par and take sole possession of sixth place.

Otherwise, it was a frustrating afternoon for the four-time major winner, which included a smashed club in the sand and a sarcastic fist pump after a missed par save, as he carded a one-under par 69 which saw him lose ground on the leaders.

One stroke further back is the large grouping on seven-under, which contains Lowry, McIlroy, as well as Justin Thomas and Sam Burns.