Seamus Power, and sporting what he hopes will be lucky Irish green coloured shoelaces, was not deterred by the wet and miserable conditions to remain very much in contention heading to the weekend rounds of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Power added a second straight six-under 66 and escaped the rain by heading to the comfort of the Port Royal clubhouse then sharing fourth place at 12-under-par and only two shots from the lead.
The usually sun-splashed holiday island was more akin to wintery Ireland with steady rain late in his round saturating the course though it really was not affecting the scoring with American Ben Crane, who led at 14-under, signing for a 62 and Aussie Aaron Baddeley, who is among three at 13-under, posting a 64.
The forecast for the afternoon half of the draw didn’t look good and with many suggesting those out in the morning half of the draw as Power was, had the best of the day.
Power commenced his round from the 10th but it was a bogey start for the World No. 34 though how good rounds sometimes start with a bogey as the Irishman proceeded to produce four outward birdies and then with it still raining, he made the turn to birdie his 11th, 15th and 16th holes.
The PGA Tour radioman Doug Bell, and one of the nicest guys working the Tour, summed up the weather nicely and putting a real Irish spin on the conditions, and despite Power finding a fairway bunker with his tee shot down his final hole.
“You know it must be raining hard with Ireland’s Seamus Power pulling out an umbrella,” said Bell.
Power had just 125-yards from the bunker at his 18th ahead of seeing his 12-footer for birdie come-up short, and with Power clearly heard declaring: “Hit it! Hit it!”
And after his round it was Bell on the microphone getting the wrap on Power’s second round and particularly how he handled the conditions.
“We were playing that ninth hole and with the rain coming down, it is a completely different hole today playing it into the wind and with rain coming down, so happy to be done and now back to the hotel,” said Power.
And when it was mentioned to Power the conditions on the usually sun-splashed Atlantic Ocean holiday island were more akin to his homeland, he remarked: “You certainly learn to adapt when it’s raining back home in Ireland, and while no-one ever likes it, you just learn to deal with it.
“You just can’t wait for too many good days in Ireland and if you do, you’re going to miss playing a lot of golf, so you get used to in and get on with it but I would much prefer the sunnier weather.
“The thing is that this golf course has been designed to be played in wind and while you don’t want it to rain as it just makes the course more difficult.”
Power is this week making a fourth straight appearance in the $US 6m event and his 12-under 36-hole tally is easily his lowest opening two-round score, and putting it down to work on the practice range post his opening round.
“My game feels very good and it’s kind of interesting as I figured some stuff out from trail-and-error and what I did figure out feels pretty good, and especially if the breeze stays up,” he said.
“You need that control over the ball when the conditions are like today, and I felt like I had that control today so overall very, very pleased with my play today.
“For now, that’s it for me today as I’m heading back to the hotel to rest-up and be ready for tomorrow.”
So, what about the green shoe laces? “Yeah, yeah, they’re very cool. I should know who makes them and they look good with the white shoes,” he said smiling.
“I didn’t quite like them with the black. Yeah, they’re nice-looking laces and they come in all sorts of colours. I saw Russell Henley with the Georgia red ones last week, so it was the Irish green laces for me.”
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