Seamus power had a decent opening showing at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities as his solid two-under first round sees him within six of overnight leader from Jacob Bridgeman.
Power started brightly with an opening birdie only to go on a run of three dropped shots on the bounce from the second to the par-3 fourth. Only for this run, the Waterford man would have been right at the sharp end of the leaderboard heading into the second day, but Power went on to recover well throughout the day.
Birdie on the par-4 7th clawed one back, and this was backed up by an impressive eagle on the par-5 12th to break par. One more stroke gained followed on the 16th to see Power in the clubhouse on -2 overnight. He hits the course on day two in the afternoon groups, teeing off from the 10th at 6.54PM Irish time on Friday.
Mackenzie Hughes heads up the challenge to Bridgeman, the Canadian sits one back on -7 while a gaggle of players sit one further back heading into Friday. Hughes went around bogey free to sit solo second ahead of Martin Trainer and Andrew Novak.
“Yeah, it was a great day,” mused Hughes after a hot final few holes. “I felt like I was maybe a tad bit off early with my swing and kind of — made a nice up-and-down to keep my round going early. Kind of found a bit of a rhythm with my swing kind of seven, eight holes in and started to swing it a little better, and the putter was cooperating nicely today. It was a fun day on the greens.”
First round leader in Minnesota, Bridgeman did most of his good work on the way home on day one with five birdies in his last seven to card an impressive 63 and sit one-clear at the top. The 23-year-old comes into the week off the back of three missed cuts in a row to record his career low round having turned pro in 2022. Billy Horschel, coming off a second-place tie Sunday at The Open Championship after holding the 54-hole lead, withdrew about an hour before his tee time due to illness.
“Yeah, I kind of struggled with my golf game the last three weeks, my mental game the last three weeks,” said the overnight leader, reflecting on his fine first day. “I was in kind of a rough place. Never had struggles with my confidence until these last few weeks and I told a couple people I felt like I’ve been kicked in the face. But it’s all new to me, I’m a rookie out here. I’m still pretty young, I have to remind myself that. These are all new courses that I’m facing every week. I have to learn them. I don’t have the 10-plus years of experience that some of these other guys have, so it’s not the easiest thing in the world.”
The leader will take to the course for round two at 8.11PM Irish time looking to consolidate his fine opener. Trace Crowe and Neal Shipley will accompany Bridgeman for his second walk around Twin Cities GC. Second place Mackenzie Hughes heads out from the 10th with K.H. Lee and Gary Woodland at 7.05PM.
Leave a comment