As Knapp became just the 14th man to break 60 on the PGA Tour, bringing the once feared Champion Course at PGA National to its knees with a bogey-free 12 under 59 to lead by four, Lowry made six birdies and a bogey to share 16th place after round one.
The world number 18 knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and while he didn’t finish the round as he would have liked, he birdied the first, third, seventh, 10th, 13th, and 14th to head into the dangerous Bear Trap holes from the 15th to the 17th on six-under.
He two-putted from long range for his par-three at the 15th but found the water from a fairway bunker at the 16th and did brilliantly to get up and down from 134 yards for a bogey, knocking in an eight-footer.
He struggled again for par at the short 17th, but after leaving his recovery chip 22 foot short in the fringe, he holed the par putt.
We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.
Please review your details and accept them to load the content
The Offaly man couldn’t birdie the 18th after bunkering his second shot, but his 66 left him within striking distance of an outstanding Knapp.
“It’s just one of those days where everything was kind of clicking,” Knapp said after finishing one shot off the Tour scoring record of 58, set by Jim Furyk in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship.
Seamus Power made four birdies and two bogeys in a two-under 69 that left him 76th, just outside the projected cut line.
Horschel also praised Knapp but felt the rough was not long enough to punish wayward tee shots. But he also made headlines for stopping a five-foot-long alligator heading into the gallery at the sixth.
The Florida native had just putted out on the green when he first noticed the fans stepping back.
The police officer with Horschel’s group ran over to intervene, but after he failed, Horschel grabbed his 60-degree wedge and shooed it away.
“I didn’t think about it,” Horschel said after his 66. “But good thing I did grab a 60 because I’ve got two extra ones in the locker, so if that one did become unavailable, I had two more in the locker.”
“He was going nowhere good,” Horschel added. “So, I just went over there and helped the cop.
“As Cam (Young) said before I went over there, he said, ‘What was he going to do? Try to use a Taser on him?’ But I think he would have had to get a little close on that one to try and make it effective.”
Meanwhile, Leona Maguire had more than 30 putts for the second day running to fall 11 shots off the pace in the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore
After taking 31 putts in an opening 75 at Sentosa’s Tanjong Course, the Co Cavan star used the blade 32 times in a one-over 73 in round two.
She’s tied for 45th in the 66-strong field on four-over, 11 strokes behind Major winner A Lim Kim.
The Korean carded a three-under 69 to remain in front, one ahead of New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and two clear of Hyo Joo Kim and England’s Charley Hull.
“Today still my shot is good and putting is good but still green read is hard for me, and then a lot of swirling wind, gust a lot,” Kim said. “Tricky days.”
Maguire birdied two of the four par-fives, but four bogeys left her well down the field.
