Irish Golf Desk

View Original

Power a remarkable 37-under for his last two events

Seamus Power plays a shot on the 11th hole during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Paddy Morgan tracks Seamus Power’s meteoric rise from journeyman golfer - and world number 463 in March 2021 — to world number 29 over the past 19 months.

Professional

Seamus Power is an Irish professional golfer from Waterford, Ireland. Power attended East Tennessee State University and turned professional in 2011 but found it hard to maintain his card on PGA Tour for many years.

Everything changed when he won his first PGA Tour tournament at the Barbasol Championship in 2021 in his 106th start to clinch his card until the end of the 2022/2023 PGA Tour season.

Events

Having a full tour card allowed Power to pick and choose his schedule and he jumped to 113th in world rankings after his breakthrough win to 69th in FedEx Cup rankings. The win qualified to play in the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions and he started 2022 in good form, finishing tied for 15th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, tied third at Sony Open and tied 14th at The American Express.

Pebble Beach

Power’s next start was at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which is played over three golf courses. Hegot off to a fantastic start and led at the halfway stage and while he struggled over the weekend , he still finished tied ninth. He was 42nd in the world rankings after Pebble Beach but needed to stay inside the top 50 to qualify for the Masters at Augusta. He confirmed his place by making it to the last 16 of WGC Dell Technologies Matchplay in Austin.

Summer

He held his own at Augusta, finishing tied 27th on four over and went on to play brilliantly in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, finishing tied for ninth behind Justin Thomas. it was another week where Power raised his profile as a golfer on one of the toughest courses in America.

Irish Open

Power followed up his good finish at Southern Hills with a tied 12th finish at Brookline in the 2022 U.S. Open. Mount Juliet was the venue for the 2022 Irish Open, and Power gave the crowds plenty of highlights, shooting three rounds of 68 with a third round 77 the only drawback as he tied for 30th. He got a fantastic draw for the first two rounds of The 150th Open, playing alongside four-time major winner Brooks Koepka and 2022 Players Championship winner, and eventual champion Cameron Smith but missed the cut.

2022/2023 and win No 2

Power went into the Butterfield Bermuda Championship as the highest-ranked player in the field at 48th in the world. He shot three consecutive rounds of 65 to be tied for the lead going into the final round. The final round conditions were difficult due to a strong breeze and Power went into the lead after a birdie on the 14th hole. He could afford to play the final four holes in two-over and still seal his second victory on the PGA Tour.

Ranking

Power jumped to 32nd in the world rankings after winning the Bermuda Championship to underline his talent and his candidacy for a Ryder Cup place.

Mayakoba

Power teed it up at World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba just four days after winning in Bermuda. He started with a four-under-par round of 67 and followed it up with a three-under round of 68 to leave himself on seven under at the halfway stage.

His best performance came in round three when he holed out three times from off the green — for a hole-in-one at the eighth, an eagle two at the 11th and from a bunker a birdie at the 14th to shoot an incredible round of 63. Russell Henley had a seven-shot advantage over Power heading into the final round and won by four shots.

But Power tied for third to move up to a career-high of 29th in the world. His last eight rounds in professional golf have been 65, 65, 65, 70, 67, 68, 63 and 68 — 37-under par — which is remarkable for a two-week stretch.

Power has started the 2022/2023 PGA Tour season in fantastic form, as he is currently number one in the FedEx Cup rankings and inside the six automatic qualifiers for the 2023 Ryder Cup.