Séamus Power will need a significant improvement on his opening day’s efforts if he’s to make it through to the weekend at the PGA Tour’s Black Desert Championship in Utah after carding a one-over 72.
The Waterford man is looking to shore up his position in the ‘Next 10’ in the FedEx Rankings and secure invitations to the big money AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera by finishing between 50th and 60th, and his T11 finish at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship was a step in the right direction and lifted him to 53rd.
If he’s to avoid slipping a couple of spots this week, however, he’ll likely need a round in the mid-60s on day two.
Starting on the 10th, he overcame an early bogey to birdie 13 and 18 and make the turn at -1. It was a slightly disappointing tally, however, as he’d been impeccable off the tee and had given himself plenty of good birdie opportunities but fail to take advantage.
His first wayward drive came on 11 and it was a costly one, as he was forced to re-tee and made a double bogey-six. When he rolled in a 17-footer for birdie on 15 and had two par-5s to come, things were looking up, but he made a bit of a mess of the 16th from ideal position and made another six, and parred the final two to reach the clubhouse at +1 for the day and tied for 110th when play was suspended for darkness.
It was a day of low scoring at the top of the leaderboard, however, and Adam Svensson shot a career-low 11-under 60 to take a two-stroke lead.
Henrik Norlander hit all 14 fairways and all 18 greens in posting his career-low of 62. He was joined by Korn Ferry Tour grad Matt McCarty, who had an eagle on the reachable par-4 fifth.
Svensson came through in the afternoon and made seven birdies through 10 holes before he finished with a flourish.
The Canadian chose to lay up on the fifth — reachable par 4s are a signature of the late Weiskopf in his golf course designs — and made an 8-footer. Then came his 35-foot eagle on the par-5 seventh to move into the lead.
“I thought it was going to go left and it went right and went in,” Svensson said. “You’ve got to get a little bit lucky here and there. But overall I played very well.”
He saved par from 8 feet on the par-3 eighth and then got up-and-down from a bunker by making a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth.
“It’s just one of those rounds where everything just comes together,” Svensson said.
It was the second straight week during the FedExCup Fall portion of the PGA TOUR that a player shot 60. David Skinns missed a 10-foot putt for a chance at 59 in the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Svensson would have needed an eagle on his final hole for a sub-60 round, but found a bunker. He wasn’t even aware a 59 was in play because he thought Black Desert Resort was a par 72.
“I didn’t even think about it, really,” he said.
The par-3 17th was set up for drama at just 130 yards, playing to a front pin with a backstop behind and several players came close to recording a hole-in-one, but Ben Kohles was the only player to manage it on his way to a round of 65.
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