Seamus Power fired an opening three-under par round of 68 on his second PGA Tour start since the restart at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
The West Waterford professional drove the ball extremely well and gave himself lots of chances, taking four of them and dropping just the one shot when missing the green at the par-3 fourth.
Five events and four weeks remain until the start of the FedExCup Playoffs. For Power, the now 33-year old delivered a season’s best performance a fortnight ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic but needs to take advantage of every start he’s given now.
Power finds himself in 179th in the FedEx rankings and needs a late surge towards the top-125 in the FedEx Cup standings to proceed to this year’s play-offs.
The man to catch is Richy Werenski who made a short birdie putt on the par-5 18th for an 8-under 63 to take the first-round lead.
The 24-year-old Werenski is winless on the Tour but broke a tie with Michael Thompson with his ninth and last birdie on the warm, windy afternoon at the TPC Twin Cities.
Defending champion Matthew Wolff, Tony Finau, Nick Watney, Ryan Moore, Xinjun Zhang and Max Homa were tied for third at 65.
Dustin Johnson withdrew because of a back injury after a 78. His victory at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, remains an outlier in an overall poor list of showings of late for the former world number one.
After posting back-to-back 80s last week at the Memorial Tournament for the highest 36-hole score of his pro career, Johnson’s first appearance at the 3M Open north of Minneapolis lasted just one round.
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