Seamus Power heads into the weekend in a tie for third at the Zozo Championship in Tokyo after a scintillating second round at Narashino Country Club.
The two-time PGA Tour winner wasn’t quite fully on his game on the opening day but a pair of late birdies got him back the right side of par and after dumping a 100-yard fairway approach shot into the bunker on the opening hole on day two, it looked as though it would be another battling day. But he got up and down to save par, and opened his birdie account on the fourth by holing a 16-footer for a ‘three’.
A poor tee shot on the par-3 fifth rolled off the slope at the front of the green and from almost 60 feet, he’d have take your hand off for a par. Instead, his line was perfect and he holed it to move to -2 on the day, then reeled off two more on six and seven, the latter a tap-in birdie on the par-3, to make the turn at -4 for the day and -5 overall.
Good birdie looks came and went on 10 and 12, but he made no mistake on the par-5 14th, and followed up with two more on 15 and 16 to move to -8 for the tournament. After getting up-and-down on 17 – his third successful scramble of the day – he repeated the feat on the last, this time for birdie on the par-5 closer, and his eight-under 62 would be two strokes lower than the next best round on the day.
“Yeah, I mean obviously when you shoot 62 most things go your way,” Power said afterwards. “Yeah, it was interesting because it was kind of an unusual start. I ended up having to make a good par save on 1, 2 and 3. From there on it was a lot of good stuff, everything kind of felt pretty good. It was good yesterday, I just didn’t make the putts and today obviously was much better on the greens. Yeah, really like the golf course. It’s my first time here. I think it’s beautiful off the tee. It looks great to my eye. I just really enjoy it.”
The 62 moves him up to third on the leaderboard, one behind Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas, and three behind Nico Echavarria who holds the solo lead after 36 holes. But despite the seven-shot improvement from day one, he doesn’t feel like there was anything particularly different other than making the most of his chances.
“I felt like I hit a lot of good putts yesterday, but I was later in the draw and the greens were — with a little rain and stuff they were a little soft on top, so they’re kind of cutting up on top. Especially our front nine today we really got the best of the greens so that made a big difference. Besides that, just try to stay patient and continue to hit good putts,” he said.
It’s Power’s first time visiting Japan and he clearly likes what he sees, both on and off the golf course, and he’s already itching to get back but might leave the clubs at home next time.
“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to come anyway,” he explained. “I was planning on playing last year, but then I got an injury. It’s a place I always wanted to come to. So I’d would love to come back to be honest not for a golf tournament, but this was a nice little — we’re kind of getting our hand held this week with in terms of they bring us around.
Yeah, it’s a beautiful country with an amazing history so it’s something I’m going to come back to. Yeah, the fans are fantastic to be honest. They’re so appreciative of really good shots and it’s just very refreshing, very nice to play in front of.”
Power is chasing a high finish that would effectively wrap up his invitations to the early season Signature Events in 2025, but is also eyeing a win that would book his place in the season opening The Sentry in Hawaii and would secure his place at Augusta National in April.
But Justin Thomas could be the biggest threat to that as the rejuvenated two-time major winner followed his four-under opener with a six-under 64. He’s the bookmaker’s favourite going into the weekend, but it’s all to play for.
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