A timely two birdies on his final two holes helped turn Séamus Power’s fortunes around on day one of the PGA Tour’s CJ CUP Byron Nelson, and propelled the Waterford man into the top half of the field going into round two.
With scoring expected to be low in Texas, a bogey on the third was far from an ideal start, but he replied by eagling the fifth, rifling a fairway wood from 277 yards to five feet, but he couldn’t gain any momentum over the next 11 holes as a cold putter continued to refuse to adequately reward his excellent approach play.
Finally, having stuffed his tee shot to three feet on the par-3 17th, he opened his birdie account and then took the pressure off his flatstick again on the par-5 18th, chipping to tap-in range to move to -3 where he’d end the day sharing 59th but thinking what might have been had he not ranked 123rd of 156 in Strokes Gained: Putting.
But the round of the day belonged to world number one, Scottie Scheffler, who shot his lowest number of the season thus far, taking just 61 blows on his way to a bogey-free 10-under par round that was good for a two-stroke lead at the end of day one, placing him in pole position to capture his first PGA Tour win of 2025.
The highlight of Scheffler’s round came on the par-5 ninth, where from 244 yards away, he decided to choke down on a 3-wood and rifled one to just four feet to set up an eagle that saw him go out in seven-under with just 29 shots played.
He took three more shots on the back, making three birdies including back-to-back red numbers on 17 and 18, but he was more than satisfied with his day’s work.
“Feel good. I played nice today,” Scheffler said. “Had the good front nine and was able to put together a solid back nine as well.
“Overall, very pleased with the results of today.”
Although it’s his low round of the season, it’s neither his lowest ever – that’s the 59 he shot on day two of the 2020 FedEx St. Jude Championship – nor the course record which sits at 60, but it was the consistency of his ball striking that was most impressive.
“I hit some good shots to start the round, gave myself some looks, and was able to capitalise with a good iron shot on three and hit another iron shot on four. I kept hitting fairways and greens,” Scheffler said. “Hit that nice pitch into six, good pitch into five as well. Was able to take advantage of the holes I needed to on the front nine.”
He leads Rico Hoey of the Phillipines and Venezuelan Jhonnatan Vegas by two, with a further seven players one further back at -7; a group that includes Stephan Jaeger, Cameron Champ and Eric Cole.
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