Consecutive rounds of 64 has Seamus Power in the lead at Pebble Beach

Seamus Power. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Seamus Power showed the planet his meteoric rise to 50th in the world was no flash in the pan when he put on an incredible display of ball-striking and putting and fired a second successive 64 to lead the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by five shots in the clubhouse at halfway.

After beating the field average by eight shots with a stunning, eight-under 64 at Spyglass Hill in round one, the 34-year-old West Waterford man made 10 birdies at iconic Pebble Beach, including eight in a magical 11-hole stretch from the sixth top set a new 36-hole scoring record on 128.

At 16-under par, the Tooraneena native four shots clear of Tom Hoge, who sits on -12 at Spyglass Hill.

Power took advantage of almost windless conditions as he combined brilliant short-iron play with deadly putting to put himself in pole position to claim his second PGA Tour win and a place in the Masters.

He two-putted the par-five second for birdie but then three-putted the fifth from 60 feet before reeling off eight birdies in his next 11 holes to briefly move six clear.

Seamus Power walks on the sixth hole

After rolling in an 11 footer at the par-five sixth, he brushed in a 20 footer for a two at the iconic seventh, saved par with a delicate chip at the eighth, then birdied the next four holes.

Ranked first in the field for proximity to the flag, he birdied the ninth (6 feet), 10th (22 feet), 11th (5 feet) and the 201-yard 12th (8 feet), lipped out from 15 feet at the 13th before flicking a 97-yard wedge to four feet at the 582-yard 14th for his eighth birdie of the day.

He then made a 12-footer up the hill at the 16th to go eight-under, bogeyed the 17th after blocking his tee shot but made amends by getting up and down from 96 yards for birdie number 10 at the 18th.

Kinsale’s John Murphy rode Power’s coat-tails and carded a three-under 69 to get back to level par.

The 23-year-old Cork man birdied the second, seventh and 10th, bogeyed the 12th and 13th but birdied the 16th and 18th to lie just three shots outside the top 65 and ties who will make the 54-hole cut after his third round at Monterey Peninsula Country Club today.