A stiff, swirling breeze was once again prevalent as the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course continued to provide a stern test for each of the 77 players who made the cut, and Seamus Power began the day one off the lead after rounds of three- and two-under respectively on days one and to.
He was reasonably slow out of the traps on moving day, making par on each of the first five which included two par-5s, but there was no need to worry. He sprang to life on the sixth, finding the fairway of the par-4 and knocking a 170-yard approach stiff to open his birdie account, and then repeated the process on seven, this time wedging to three feet for back-to-back threes and he moved back to within a shot of the lead.
The par-4 ninth, playing straight into the wind, was the toughest hole on the course in round three, and after finding the bunker off the tee, he was forced to layup well back and left his 15-foot par putt on the lip to drop back to -6 at the halfway mark.
He’d get that shot back with a routine up-and-down on the par-5 11th, and looked poised to tie the lead when he hit a delightful 52-yard approach to leave five feet for birdie on the 14th. He’d fall victim to the commentator’s curse, however, as NBC’s anchor lauded the upturn in his flatstick performance only for his downhill slider to horseshoe out.
Golf is a strange game, however, and he’d drain a 26-footer on the first of the ‘Snakepit’ holes to take a share at the top, and covered the remaining three in par to reach the clubhouse at -8. Having hit the front on 15 and covered the treacherous closing four in one-under, unfortunately, the dying wind took some of the ‘Snakepit’s’ venom and not only did he not take the clubhouse lead, he wasn’t even one behind as Keith Mitchell, playing two groups ahead, finished birdie, birdie, eagle to hit -10.
Coming behind, Mackenzie Hughes, who’d reached nine-under when he sank a 40-footer on 16, dropped a shot at the last and none of the rest could improve on Power’s score, so he’ll join Mitchell in Sunday’s final group as he goes in search of a third PGA Tour win and a ticket to Augusta National in just over a fortnight’s time.
“Did everything pretty well today, to be honest,” Power reflected after the round. “Very pleased. It’s a tough golf course, tricky conditions. It wasn’t the quickest start. Didn’t birdie 1 or didn’t birdie 5, but was able to hang in there, hit some good shots. Eventually holed a good putt there on 15 to kind of feel a little better. But, yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.”
“I think it’s everything,” he replied when asked what makes Copperhead such a challenge. “I think that’s what makes it such a good golf course. You got to drive it well, it’s difficult when you’re not in the fairways. And if you hit the greens, they’re grainy and they’re tricky and they’re slopey. You got to hit it in the right spots and try to make some putts on greens like that. I think it tests all aspects of the game. I think that’s why it’s such a good golf course.”
The 77 who saw weekend action were only separated by six shots after round two, and though Mitchell has opened a bit of clear ground ahead of him, Power is expecting heavy traffic at the business end of the leaderboard on the final day.
“I would imagine so,” he responded when asked if it would be more of the same on Sunday. “I haven’t really seen much of a leaderboard, don’t watch too much of ’em, but it is tough to get a low one out there. No matter how well you played, it was going to be tough to get much better than 4-, 5-under, I thought. It’s tough to get away from the pack, so it’s going to be some guys in with a chance. I think they’re going two balls tomorrow, so maybe some guys that get out early will have a chance to post something. So we’ll see. Anything can happen, depends on conditions obviously as well.”
Alongside Power in a tie for second are Hughes and Peter Malnati, with Chandler Philips, Cameron Young and Brendon Todd one further adrift in tied fifth.
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