Séamus Power struggled for momentum at the Sedgefield Country Club as the Waterford man finished his weekend four-under-par in T44, meaning the 38-year-old ends his regular season 130th in the FedEx Cup rankings and out of the playoffs.
Power had to win this weekend to have any chance of making it to the playoffs, which would have been against all the odd’s considering he has managed just two wins since joining the PGA tour in 2017 and has had significant injury struggles in recent times.
Power’s fourth and final round was the tale of his weekend – very consistent off the tee and accurate with his irons but lacked confidence with the putter. If the ball had dropped for Power across the tournament days, he would have been well amongst the top of the pack.
The two-time PGA Tour winner began his final round with two early bogeys, but he fought well to claw back three birdies before closing out the front nine. The birdie run didn’t bring momentum though as Power saw three more bogeys on the back nine, carding a one-over-par final day.
It hasn’t been a great season for Power as inconsistency has been an issue in the Waterford man’s game – for example, Power managed a superb T8 finish at the Valspar in March this year but followed it up with back-to-back missed cuts. 10 missed cuts have proved to be costly for the 38-year-old.
At the top of the leaderboard, after seven runners-up finishes we can now no longer call Cameron Young a nearly man as he finally got his hands on a PGA Tour win, making the Sedgefield Country Club look like a walk in the park, winning by six strokes at 22-under-par.
Becoming the 1000th player to win on the PGA tour, Young didn’t let an early bogey affect his final round by following it up with five birdies on the bounce.
“I’ve been waiting for it for a while… I never thought I’d be that emotional about it. But it’s the end of my fourth season. I’ve had my chances, and I wasn’t going to let it get away from me,” said Young with tears in his eyes.
Young’s maiden win sees him take home a whopping $1.4 million as this victory could not have come at a better time with the Ryder Cup picks due at the end of August.
“We’ve worked a little bit harder on the mental side of the game, which has helped. I think it allows me to be me more often and play the golf that I feel like I can. I think some of it is just grinding through tougher times and finding better ones,” added Young.
Nico Echavarria, who was in the final pairing with Young had a day to forget as back-to-back double bogeys early on the back nine completely threw him out of contention as he dropped from second place to T19.
26-year-old Mac Meissner finished the weekend in second place, but round of the day goes to third place finisher Mark Hubbard who climbed 10 places to sit in T3 after a seven-under-par final round.
“That was the best maybe I’ve ever felt with my tempo, which is something that I struggle with from time to time. I don’t know what happened or what I did to make that feel so good. I’m going to think long and hard about it because I want to replicate that as often as I can,” said Hubbard.
Amateur Jackson Koivun finished his weekend in a tie for fifth place, carding a final round 67 which will qualify him for the next PGA Tour event in September. Koivun has deferred his PGA Tour card from the University Accelerated Program until next year.
‘(I) Didn’t really have my best stuff today, but really, really scrambled and managed well and I’m really happy with the finish,” said the 20-year-old.
All eyes now are now on the playoffs next week, as the FedEx St. Jude Championship begins on August 10th.
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