Séamus Power is safely through to the weekend at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, but the Waterford man left it late after finding himself inside the top 10 with one hole to go in his opening round.
A three-under 67 in round one came despite a closing bogey at the par-5 ninth, and, with the already stiffish breeze picking up as he took the course in the afternoon wave in round two, it was never going to be a simple task.
That bore out over the opening seven holes where he carded three bogeys to plummet down the leaderboard, but back-to-back birdies on eight and nine got him back on track and he entered the back side with a little breathing space.
Further bogeys on 11 and 16, along with six pars, saw him standing on the final tee needing birdie or better to move from the wrong side of the cutline to the right side, and he duly delivered, finding the narrow fairway and then hitting a long iron to 20 feet before rolling in the eagle putt to make the cut with a shot to spare on -2.
Defending champion Nick Taylor and Kevin Roy went bogey-free with each making eight birdies to share the first round lead, and they remain among the names at the top, but now they’re joined by Davis Riley, S.H. Kim and Adrien Dumont de Chassart at -9.
Riley thrived in the difficult conditions in the morning, birdieing the par-5 18th for a 64 and a share of the lead.
“I think these conditions are kind of bringing it out in me a little bit because you have to be creative,” Riley said. “It’s not like you’re trying to make perfect golf swings every time. There is definitely some feel and creativity.”
Taylor looked set to have the outright 36-hole lead after sinking a 25-footer for birdie on 15 and then another 17-footer on 16, but a bogey on 17 dropped him back into the four-way tie.
“The wind was strong and with some gusts,” Taylor said. “A lot of the holes were relatively crosswind, so it was tough to get the yardages correctly. Sometimes it would hurt, sometimes it would help. Almost had to time your shots correctly and get a little bit of luck, too.”
Maverick McNealy, Takumi Kanaya, John Parry, and Chris Gotterup are in hot pursuit, one shot off the lead, with a further four players including two-time Tour winner Nick Dunlap a shot further adrift and rounding out the top 10.
62-year-old Vijay Singh sits alongside Power at -2, while Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa, Luke Clanton and Tony Finau are among the bigger names to find themselves outside the cutline and going home early.
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