Power in contention at John Deere Classic as he seeks card safety

Seamus Power has a chance to challenge for his third PGA Tour win after he carded a three-under 68 in windy conditions to go into the final round of the John Deere Classic just three shots off the lead.

The West Waterford man (38), who lies 123rd in the FedEx Cup standing with only the top 100 fully exempt next year, is looking to regain the form that saw him reach a career-high of 28th in the world in 2022.

After suffering a hip injury and losing speed in his swing, Power has fallen to 141st in the world and missed eight of 16 cuts this season.

But he has a chance on Sunday to make a positive move up the FedEx Cup and World Ranking charts and secure his card after his five-birdie round left him in a four-way tie for sixth on a jam-packed leaderboard at TPC Deer Run.

Defending champion Davis Thompson birdied his last two holes on lightning fast greens, overcoming high temperatures to post a four-under 67 and lead by a shot from David Lipsky, Emiliano Grillo, Max Homa and Brian Campbell on 15 under.

Power is in a four-man group, two strokes further back alongside Kurt Kitayama, Austin Eckroat and Camilo Villegas with another 11 players within five shots of Thompson.

He turned in level par after following birdies at the fifth and sixth with bogeys at the seventh and ninth but birdied the 11th and 12th before rolling in a 25 footer for another birdie at the 18th to give himself a chance.

It was a tougher day for Conor Purcell in the DP World Tour’s BMW International Open in Munich, where he double-bogeyed his first hole and shot a two-over 74 to slip to 59th on three-under.

England’s Dan Brown came home in a scintillating six-under 30 to shoot 65 and lead by a shot on 16 under from compatriot Jordan Smith, who shot  66, and by three from Dutchman Joost Luiten, who also shot 65.