Séamus Power arrived at the RSM Classic with a mammoth task ahead of him, but the Waterford man is off to an excellent start after shooting a six-under 64 to keep his PGA Tour chances alive.
The two-time PGA Tour winner likely needs to finish inside the top three in the final event of 2025 to climb into the top 100 in the FedEx Fall Rankings and earn full playing rights for 2026, but with the strongest field of any PGA Tour Fall series event since the Procore Championship which featured 10 of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup players assembling, it’s a tough ask.
With play split across the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course, Power was tackling the traditionally tougher par-70 Seaside Course in round one, and got off to a slow start, bogeying the par-4 10th – his first – after a wayward drive forced a penalty drop. That was his only dropped shot of the day, however, and he almost holed his second shot on the 11th for eagle, but tapped in from six inches for birdie to get back to level-par.
He added further birdies on 14, 15 and 17 and made the turn at three-under, and then birdied the first to kickstart the front nine. A run of five pars followed on the toughest stretch on the course, but he got back on the birdie train on the par-5 seventh and followed it up with a pinpoint wedge to the short, but tricky eighth and rolled in another six-footer to get to -6.
A good lag putt from almost 50 feet on the last allowed him to tap in for par, and get into the clubhouse at six-under, where he’d eventually finish the day tied for 15th with scoring low on both courses, but particularly the Plantation Course where 11 of the 14 lowest rounds were recorded.
“It was a good day,” Power said afterwards. “I mean, obviously it’s perfect conditions out there. I mean, probably some of the best greens we putt all year so you know you have to make a lot of birdies today, so I was able to do that. Obviously not the start I wanted on 10, but overall not bad. I’d probably like to hit it a little better off the tee the next few days, but irons felt good and putter felt good, so ended up making seven birdies.”
Power has performed well at the RSM Classic in the past, finishing tied for fourth in 2022 and tied for fifth the year prior, but the stakes are much higher this time. He is, however, rounding into form nicely and playing injury-free which has helped him get the game back into what he feels is a “good spot.
“Actually really good now, kind of a little later than I would have wanted,” he replied when asked how his game felt. “No, it feels great. Had some injury issues the start of the year into the summer. Everything was kind of like one step forward, two steps back. So just kind of feeling great again and now the game is getting in a good spot. It’s amazing, just a little bit of confidence coming back, this game seems so much easier.”
Of the leading trio, only Doug Ghim was playing on the Seaside Course, and he faced a 20-footer for a magical 59 on his final green but watched it slide by. He carded 10 birdies in a bogey-free round, and joined Davis Thompson and Rico Hoey at the top, both of whom shot 62s on the Plantation Course.
They lead Andrew Putnam and Andrew Novak by one, with a further five players on eight-under, two back.
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