Wayward Power fades with 74 as Rose surges into six-shot lead at Torrey Pines

Seamus Power's hopes of winning his third PGA Tour title or even qualifying for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am suffered a massive blow after a flurry of back-nine bogeys in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines last night.

The West Waterford man (38) went into the third round alone in second, just four strokes behind halfway leader Justin Rose after two brilliant putting days in San Diego.

He was still in solo second place, albeit seven shots behind a brilliant Rose, after making two birdies and a bogey to battle his way to the turn in one under.

He was still in solo second when Rose birdied the 10th. But even though he reduced the gap to six strokes with a brilliant birdie to Roses’s bogey at the par-three 11th, he simply couldn't find enough fairways or greens on the back nine.

A bogey at the 12th, where he left himself an awkward second standing in a greenside bunker with his ball two above him in heavy rough, proved the start of his demise.

He'd go on to match Rose’s bogey there, but while the Englishman played the remaining holes in one under to post a 68 that gave him a six-shot lead over Joel Dahmen (68) on 21-under, Power bogeyed the 14th, 15th and 16th and shot a costly 74.

After hitting just five fairways and only seven greens in regulation yesterday, he fell to tied sixth, ten strokes behind Rose on 11-under.

As a result, he fell from first to 10th in the projected Aon Swing 5 standings - a points list that awards the leading five players spots to in the next Signature Event, which is Pebble Beach.

Power can still make that Top 5, but he needs to rediscover the kind of tee-to-green excellence and short game brilliance that saw him open with rounds of 65 and 66.

Rose( 45) appears destined to take the title for the second time after forging the largest 54-hole lead at the tournament since Tiger Woods led by eight shots in 2008.

“I’ve enjoyed playing the golf course this week. I want to continue to enjoy the week as a whole,” Rose said. “And yeah, it’s another great round in good weather on an awesome golf course.”

His 21-under total shaved three strokes off the 54-hole tournament record held by Rose himself when he won in 2019, Kyle Stanley (2012), Woods (2008) and Woody Blackburn (1985).

Only Stanley failed to win, blowing a five-shot lead.

But Rose, who could leap from tenth to fourth in the world with a win, is taking nothing for granted.

“There’s never going to be any complacency,” Rose said. “I think there’s always enough respect for the game of golf in the back of your mind that you’ve got to do everything right tomorrow. 

“You’re going to come out, have to be focused, have to play well.”

Keen to play again after playing a key role in wins in Rome and New York, he has ruled out taking the Ryder Cup captaincy at Adare Manor in 2027, even if Luke Donald turns down the offer of a third successive captaincy. 

“The legends of our sport have always said: play, play, play as long as you can, because those are the best days of your life,” Rose said late last year of his desire to make an eighth Ryder Cup appearance as a player in Adare Manor next year.

“Yeah, it's really impressive,” said Dahmen, who played with Rose and Power in the final three-ball on Saturday

“To still have the drive with the career that he's had is very impressive.”

He added: “My only hope is if he doesn’t set his alarm or he somehow starts hitting in the rough on the back nine

“I don’t know. The way he’s playing and what he’s doing, I would be pleased with second place.”

That's the goal now for Power, who is four shots behind Dahmen and just two stokes behind third placed Si Woo Kim and Ryo Hisatsune.

Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, had a tough day on the poa annua greens and shot 73 to share 61st on two under.