Power off to winning start with MacIntyre as Lowry starts Hero Cup with defeat
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 13: Séamus Power and Robert MacIntyre of Great Britain & Ireland tlook on from the seventh green during the Friday Fourball matches of the Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 13, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Séamus Power was in sensational form alongside Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre as they helped Great Britain and Ireland trail just 3-2 against Continental Europe after the opening fourballs in the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi.
As an out-of-sorts Shane Lowry lost 1-up with skipper Tommy Fleetwood to Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Sweden’s Alex Noren in the top match, rookies Power and MacIntyre got GB&I’s lone win as they made 10 birdies in a comfortable 4&3 win over Austria’s Sepp Staka and Irish Open champion Adrian Meronk at the bottom of the order.
Power and MacIntyre were pleased to strike up a strong bond straight away and put a point on the board for GB&I before the Continentals fought back to halve the last two matches on the course
"Yeah, we played well,” said Power, who is 29th in the world and top the FedEx Cup standings on the PGA Tour. "We made plenty of birdies. Made some putts at key times and things that you have to do to win a fourball.”
MacIntyre added: "Exactly that. Solid tee-to-green both of us. Rolled in some nice putts when we needed to but overall just a good day.”
The pair met for the first time on Tuesday when they played a Skins game with Lowry.
"I’ve got a connection with him, kind of same background, so it's been fun,” MacIntyre said. "Scotsmen and Irishmen always get on well. It was overall a good day.”
The pair are now bracing themselves for two foursomes matches on Saturday.
"We were saying, it's going to be a long day tomorrow but it's good.,” Power said. "Foursomes is a different deal but we played a lot of it growing up. We should fit into it easy enough and see what happens.”
Lowry’s long game looked rusty and while his short game was strong for most of the day, he found water with tee shots at the par-three fourth and the tough ninth as Continental Europe won the second, sixth and ninth with birdies to turn three-up.
However, the Ryder Cup duo fought back, and after the Offaly man made a birdie four at the 10th to cut the deficit to two holes, they halved the 11th and 12th in birdies before drawing level.
Fleetwood holed a 20-footer at the 14th for a winning par four, then knocked in a 12-footer at the 177-yard 15th to square the match.
The English star then made a 10-footer for a half in par at the 17th to keep GB&I in the match, but they couldn’t match Noren’s pitch and putt birdie four at the 18th.
Fleetwood almost drove into the lake but couldn’t get up and down from 98 yards for birdie and while Lowry had a chance to get up and down from right of the green to salvage a half, he came up short on the fringe with his pitch from 30 feet and was gutted to start the week with a defeat.
“It was a battle on my behalf,” Noren said after making a five-footer for a winning birdie four with partner Pieters inside him in three. “Played some decent golf in the middle but just happy to get the up-and-down on the last. And Thomas, he hit some great shots in the end to get it and the whole front nine. He played great.”
Belgium’s Thomas Detry and the outstanding Frenchman Antoine Rozner were eight-under as they beat Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith 2 up to give Continental Europe a 2-0 lead before Power and MacIntyre blitzed Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk 4&3 in the bottom match.
Power had six of GB&I’s 10 birdies in a performance that will give him confidence for Saturday’s double session of foursomes.
He birdied the short fourth and MacIntyre the sixth and 11th to put them 3-up before the West Waterford man hit his tee shot seven feet at the short 12th and brushed in the putt to extend the lead to four holes.
Power then made a 36-footer for birdie and a half the 13th to put them 10-under for the round before they closed out the match at the 15th.
English duo Callum Shinkin and Matt Wallace halved with France’s Victor Perez and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi. But while it looked as though Continental Europe captain Francesco Molinari and Nicolai Hojgaard would make it 3-1 after day one against Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson and England’s Richard Mansell, the GB&I pair fought back from 2-down after 11 holes to halve the match.”
It's mean a lot to play alongside your friend representing Great Britain & Ireland 🙏@mattsjwallace | #HeroCup pic.twitter.com/JyQ1Ck10cs
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 13, 2023
GB&I skipper Fleetwood was relieved in the end to find his side just 3-2 behind when a 4-1 deficit looked possible just 90 minutes before the finish.
"I think it was a good team performance on the first day,” Fleetwood said. "I know we would loved to have finished the day and been the right side of the scoreboard and been up.
"Unbelievable really that four matches go down the last. Just shows how close the teams are in terms of levels.
"I think in the end, to get out of that session 3-2, we'll definitely go back to our team rooms feeling the better, and the guys, I just said to the guys, that's why those guys are at the back, trust them to get something out of it at the last and be very tough coming down that last hole.
"Overall, happy. I think everybody, that's the first competitive round this year and I think it went really well. I thought all of us put in good performances.”
As for his match with Lowry, he said: “We got completely out-putted early on and then we were the better team for the back nine.
"Coming down the last two, it can always go either way. But the guys said, at the back end, to get something out of the last matches, Seamus and Bob did unbelievable and they love playing together. That was really nice and a great partnership there.
"Played five matches and a lot more to go and tomorrow is a completely different day. That's ten matches, two rounds of golf for everybody, foursomes, completely different game. So we're going to see how tomorrow goes. But it will get down to the nitty-gritty tomorrow.
"I think we played well. I think it was very close, and there's a long way to go but happy that we are all got our first competitive round of the year out of the way.
"I think we've established what this team competition is really about, and I think to get the adrenaline flowing down those last holes was great, and keep believing in ourselves. Still have full faith in what we are going to do this week and there's a long, long way to go.”
Continental Europe captain Molinari was also happy with his team’s performance.
"I'm really, really happy and proud of how we started today,” he said. "I think obviously a lot of tight matches which is good for Luke and the vice captains to see.
"My guys did amazing. Obviously, it's a nice start, long way to go but it's always nice winning a day, winning a session.”
On the G4D Tour, Louth’s Brendan Lawlor opened with a five-over 77 to share third place with Italy’s Tomas Perrino and South Africa’s David Watts heading into the final round of the G4D Tour @ Hero Cup.
The world number two is four strokes behind Spain’s Juan Postigo Arce, who carded a one-over 73 to lead by three shots from Canada’s Kurtis Barkley in his quest for his maiden title.
