Seamus Power’s chances of winning the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Tokyo effectively ended with two double bogey-sevens in his final five holes on moving day at Narashino Country Club.
After shooting a best-of-the-day 62 on Friday, the Waterford man found himself just three back and in fourth place heading into Saturday, and birdies on the second and fourth holes were an ideal start and saw him get within one shot of the lead.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got and he closed out the front nine with a bogey on the par-4 ninth and now found himself five back. A wayward tee shot led to another bogey on 11, but a 321-yard tee shot straight down the middle on the long par-5 14th looked as though it could spark a revival. He came up just short with his lengthy approach, then overshot the green with his pitch and the horrors continued as he couldn’t hold the green with his next chip and took three more to get down for a ‘seven’.
It should’ve knocked the wind out of his sails entirely, but he bounced back in impressive fashion and clawed his way back to level-par for the day with back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17, but another disaster lurked at the par-5 18th. This time he found the rough off the tee and was only able to advance it 80 feet. It would take three further swipes to reach the green and he two-putted for a closing seven and a two-over total for the day and he dropped back to T16.
With darkness descending, Power made his way to the scoring tent and just behind, Nico Echavarria stuffed his second shot to tap-in range for a closing eagle that saw him take a two-stroke lead over Justin Thomas into the final round.
The Colombian won his first PGA Tour title at the Puerto Rico Open in 2023, but found himself in the 36-hole lead at a non-opposite field PGA Tour event for the first time this week. He got off to a rather slow start with three pars and a bogey, while playing partner Thomas came out hot and birdied the opening two to take sole possession of the lead.
Finding himself behind seemed to calm Echavarria’s nerves, and he responded with four birdies in the remaining five holes on the front while Thomas’ early momentum stalled and he followed the two birdies with seven pars. The two-time PGA Championship winner edged back in front with birdies on 10, 11 and 14, while Echavarria dropped a shot on 11. The Colombian birdied 16 to take a share once more, but it was the grandstand finish coupled with Thomas missing a short birdie putt of his own that sees Echavarria take a two-stroke lead into the final round.
“It was very special,” Echavarria said of his closing eagle. “It was very hard to see out there at the end. It was dark, it was gloomy, so I couldn’t tell how close it was. I heard the roar, but when I got there and it was almost tap-in, it was very good.
“Obviously this is a better field than the one in Puerto Rico, there’s better players out here, but a win is a win. I’m going to rely on that and keep doing what I’m doing, trying to have fun and see where we go.”
Max Greyserman is one shot behind Thomas in solo third, with a three-stroke gap back to the trio of Nate Lashley, Kevin Yu and Rickie Fowler who are tied for fourth.
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