Ireland’s Seamus Power bettered his opening two rounds at his first Masters in 2022 by three shots as he finished at 1-over par for his opening two rounds this time around.
Power, like Shane Lowry, had to return to the course early on Saturday morning to complete his second round and, playing in the group behind Lowry, the claxon to halt play on Friday had sounded just after he hit his approach to the par-5 13th into Rae’s Creek but on his return on Saturday morning he managed to get up-and-down for par.
“I did. It wasn’t bad there. That was one of the reasons yesterday we were going for it is that it’s a pretty easy chip if you do hit it in the water. Probably shouldn’t have yesterday with the — it was right around that time that gusting was going on — but I just hit such a good drive I couldn’t get away from it. But, yeah, I got a good up-and-down there.
A superb approach shot followed on the par-4 14th and left him with a 15 footer for birdie before he parred 15, 16 and 17th. He carded an unfortunate bogey on 18 though after his 4-iron approach found the front bunker from where he didn’t quite cover the distance and caught the slope, trickling down towards the front of the green and he two-putted and he’s just happy to have the second round in the bag.
“Great birdie on 14. And then a good chance on 15. Hit some really good iron shots, to be honest. A little unlucky on 18. I thought it was on the right side of the green. But overall nice to get it in, especially with we weren’t sure what was going to happen here this morning.
“If we play this afternoon it’s not going to be pleasant. So it’s going to be tough for everyone.
“So if you can get out there and maybe get it under par and, you know, who knows here, especially if you can get it to like 13 tee under par, maybe pick up a few more and you can make up a lot of ground. So we’ll see what happens. Obviously depends on what’s going to happen from out of the sky.”
A lot is being made of the weather and it is undoubtedly playing its part and while Power would be well used to it from Waterford it’s a far cry from his current Arizona abode climate.
“No, this is very different. It’s just tough. I hit a really good tee shot on 18 and I, with the adjustment, 207, you’re trying to hit a 4-iron and it’s not a nice shot. Like you’re in the middle of the fairway and you don’t even realise when you’re that far back that you’re blocked out by that tree. It’s just a tough hole.
“Even 17, you’re not, you’re not quite getting to the top of the hill, which is like, you know, from what I’ve seen last couple years, unheard of.
“And then even 15, I mean, I hit a really good tee shot and you’re not even sniffing thinking about going for it. So it was unusual. Like it was unusual and it’s going to play tough and long this afternoon again. So got to get some rest and get ready.”
We have all by now seen the footage of the tree that came down yesterday and Power was pretty close to it at the time, admitting that he thought it was a grandstand and that he was impressed with how it had been dealt with on the grounds although he was still able to see the dent in the ground from the tree today!
“Oh, yeah, we were walking up 13 fairway and we heard like the screams and it sounded like a grandstand to us, which was really strange. But yeah everyone saw those videos last night, I mean, it’s so — I’m just so happy that everyone was okay and unhurt, which was a shocking. I mean, you saw the mark on ground even across 17 there, it was, yeah, amazing that mainly that everyone’s okay.
“It was like the mark, where the trees had come up were pretty well covered, but it was obviously a dent in the ground going right across. But like it was pretty impressive the lack of, whatever you call it, imprint that was there (on Saturday). But it was, yeah it’s amazing. I’m glad everyone’s okay.”
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