Power tops FedEx and breaks into world’s top 30; crocked Harrington closes on Alker
Seamus Power of Ireland hits his shot from the seventh tee during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills on May 22, 2022 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Montana Pritchard/PGA of America)
SEAMUS Power soared to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and jumped to 29th in the world when he tied for third behind wire-to-wire winner Russell Henley in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
Solo fourth, seven adrift of Henley overnight, the West Waterford man got to within four shots of the lead when he picked up two early birdies and the American made his first bogey of the week at the fifth.
But Henley slammed the door shut with a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth and closed with a 70 to win his fourth career win by four shots from Brian Harman on 23-under par, leaving Power five behind on 18-under.
Denied on the greens, Power could get just one more birdie at the 13th as a 68 left him in a five-way tie for third with Joel Dahmen, Troy Merritt, Will Gordon and Scottie Scheffler, who shot 62 but needed to finish solo second to wrest back the world number one ranking from Rory McIlroy.
Just a week after winning his second title in Bermuda, he had the consolation of a cheque for $375,560 and a jump of four places to a career-high 28th in the world and to fourth in the European World Points List and an automatic spot on the team alongside Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy (European Points), Robert McIntyre and Thomas Detry.
“Yeah, it was weirdly the same,” said Power, who made an ace, an eagle two and holed a bunker shot in round three but made nothing on the greens. “Yesterday I holed a few shots but couldn't get much going on the greens. My speed was just a fraction off.
“Like early in the week before the rain they were a little quicker and I couldn't just quite get adjusted just to that slightly slower speed. But it was good to hang in there. Hit a lot of good shots today, I was able to get a high finish out of it. Obviously just couldn't quite get it going today and put any pressure on Russell.”
Power will skip this week’s Cadence Bank Houston Open where Scheffler wil have another chance to get back to world number one, before wrapping up 2022 at the The RSM Classic in Sea Island.
“Yeah, I'm going to have a week off, come back to Las Vegas tomorrow, get some rest and catch up on things and get ready for one more before the end of the season or the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington knows he will have to win this week's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship to deny New Zealander Steven Alker the $1 million bonus after he shrugged off a neck injury to finish fourth behind Bernhard Langer in the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton.
Langer closed with a six-under 66 to win his 44th title by six shots from Thongchai Jaidee and Paul Goydos on 17-under par and close to within one of Hale Irwin's tally of 45 Champions Tour victories.
Despite pulling a muscle in his neck on the range, Harrington chiselled out a five-under 67 to finish solo fourth on 10-under as Alker tied sixth after a 71
"I gained on him, that's all I could ask for," Harrington said after cutting Alker's lead to 617,980 points, which means he can win the season-long title if he claims the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club this week and Alker finishes in a three-way tie for fifth or worse. "Obviously, I have to win next week. There's no choice there."
On the Challenge Tour, Hollywood teenager Tom McKibbin credited his consistency as key after he closed with a six-under 66 to become the youngest Irish player since McIlroy to clinch his DP World Tour card at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final.
The Newtownabbey native (19) tied sixth on six-under-par at Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca, just three shots behind Nathan Kimsey, to claim the 10th of 20 cards for 2023.
"I feel out here you need a lot of big results to get through.," McKibbin said after recording his eighth top-10 finish from 23 starts this year to become the youngest Irish player to win his card since an 18-year-old McIlroy did it in 2007. "If you're sort of middle of the pack, it's not really good enough. You have to be up there nearly every week."
Kimsey (29) closed with a 70 to win one from compatriot John Parry and South Africa's Bryce Easton on nine-under with Kinsale's John Murphy tied for 39th on seven-over after a 75 to finish 44th in the Rankings.
Murphy now heads to this week's Final Stage of Q-School, where he joins the exempt Paul Dunne and Jonathan Caldwell and former Walker Cup players Gary Hurley and Cormac Sharvin, who were the only Irish players to come through the Second Stage yesterday.
Hurley closed with a level par 71 to tie for 16th in the race for 23 spots at Emporda, while Sharvin shot a six-under 65 to finish a fourth on 12-under in the battle for 23 places at Las Colinas in Alicante, having been four-over after two holes in round one.
On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow closed with a three-under 69 to finish 44th on three-under in the Toto Japan Classic.
She finished 16 shots behind Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh who shot 65 to win by four from Japan’s Kana Nagai and after remaining 81st in the points standings with only the top 60 after this week’s Pelican Women’s Championship qualifying for next week’s season-ending $7 million CME Group Tour Championship.
