Seamus Power’s long awaited return to competition proved to be something of a mixed bag for the Waterford man as he finished tied for 50th at the 59 man The Sentry at Kapalua in Hawaii.
Making just two starts since the Open Championship – both of these coming in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff series – the hip injury that curtailed his season and put a pin in his outside chances of making the European Ryder Cup team appears to be behind him and his assault on 2024 got off to a somewhat shaky start.
Three consecutive rounds of 71 for daily -2 totals actually saw Power concede ground as scoring was typically low around the picturesque Maui course, but his six-under 67 on day four saw him sign off on a positive note, posting -12 overall and earning over $57k for his troubles.
But the focus naturally was at the top of the leaderboard, where there were more than a dozen players eyeing victory, but Chris Kirk occupied pole position after round three and played near flawless golf as he added another eight birdies with no blemishes as he held of the charging pack and secured a one-stroke victroy.
Neither Xander Schauffele nor Akshay Bhatia, paired with Kirk in the final threesome, threw down the gauntlet, and it was Jordan Spieth and Sahith Theegala who emerged as the primary contenders.
Spieth’s charge hit a speedbump on the 16th, when his drive found the centre-line fairway bunker and plugged, forcing a sideways hack and lead to a bogey-five when the likelihood was that he’d need to play the final three holes in -2 to have a shot at victory.
Theegala, tied for the lead at the time, flared his second shot well right at the par-5 final hole, and after a decent chip, saw his birdie putt agonisingly lip out. At almost the same time, Kirk was putting one hand firmly on the trophy with a sublime 5-iron-approach to tap-in distance on the par-4 17th and with the luxury of knowing par was all he needed at the last, was able to take a conservative approach and secure the simplest of pars for his sixth PGA Tour victory.
He’d booked his place in the field with a win at the 2023 Honda Classic, ending an eight-year winless drought, during which time he’d struggled with alcoholism and depression, and with the new calendar-aligning season kicking off in the perfect fashion, the Tennessee-born player is almost certain to have his place in the Tour Championship and the 2025 majors locked up already.
“It’s unreal,” Kirk said in the immediate aftermath. “It’s just so unexpected. I had a great, I had a really great off-season and I got a lot of good work done and felt good about the year, but you never really expect to go shoot 29-under. Yeah, it’s unbelievable. Still kind of soaking it in.”
“I think I just love playing golf in Hawaii,” he later added. “I’ve had a lot of really great weeks at the Sony Open. I haven’t quite managed to win that one. This golf course is one that I love. It’s so fun to play. It’s just so unique, it’s so different from everywhere else that we play. Some of the crazy lies that you’re hitting off of and you hit one drive that goes 240 and the next one might go 450. It really kind of brings out the creativity in what we’re doing and it’s just a lot of fun.”
Despite defending champion Jon Rahm not being in the field following his move to LIV, and Rory McIlroy again opting to skip the event, virtually all of the other big names on the PGA Tour were present, and world number one Scottie Scheffler again found himself towards the sharp end of the leaderboard, but once again, a cold putter would prove costly as he’d again lose strokes to the field with the flatstick.
His consistency tee-to-green remains highly impressive, however, and once again, should he manage to find even marginal improvements with the shortest club it’s hard to picture leaderboards without the big Texan’s name featuring on the first page.
Power will be back in action again as the Tour moves to Honolulu and Waialae Country Club for the Sony Open in Hawaii, with Will Zalatoris set to make his first regular PGA Tour start since withdrawing the week prior to the Masters.
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