While tracking down runaway leader Justin Rose was always going to be a big ask, there is a lot on the line for Séamus Power at this week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Rounds of 65 and 66 left Power in sole possession of second place going into the weekend and projected to move to the top of the Aon Swing 5 which would see him gain entry to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
Power looked a little out of sorts in the early stages, missing each of the first four fairways and only hitting two of the first five greens in regulation, but he covered the holes in level-par and then opened his birdie account thanks to some tidy short game work on the par-5 sixth.
He finally found his first fairway of the day on seven, but a poor approach left him in the greenside bunker and this time, his scrambling didn’t get him off the hook and he dropped back to level-par for the day and into a tie for second with Joel Dahmen as Rose continued to stretch his advantage having birdies four of his first seven.
Another birdie on the par-5 ninth was sandwiched by regulation pars on the par-3 eighth and par-4 10th, and when Power followed that up with one of the shots of the day, rifling a long iron to six feet on the par-3 11th and rolling in the putt, it appeared that he’d finally settled into his rhythm.
But that was his final birdie of the day, and his game deserted him on the way home. A run of four bogeys over the next five holes saw him tumble from solo second place at -15 into a three-way tie for sixth at -11, having closed out a two-over 74.
He’s now four behind Dahmen who holds solo second, two behind Si Soo Kim and Hisatsune who share third at -13, and 10 behind Rose who suffered a mid-round wobble with back-to-back bogeys on 11 and 12 after playing the first 11 in five-under.
Rose regrouped to push his way back to -21 thanks to a birdie on the last, and he’ll take a six-shot lead into the final round as he seeks to break his own record as the oldest European to win on the PGA Tour.
“Yeah, today I played well, gave myself a lot of chances,” Rose said. “In some ways, yeah, you walk off like thinking maybe it could have been lower, you know. You never want to say that after a 68 at Torrey or, you know, obviously being in the position that I’m in, but yeah I played really, really well today. Like I thought that was the round of the week from tee to green anyway.”
Despite the six-stroke advantage and with only five players less than 10 strokes behind, Rose has been around long enough to know that nothing can be taken for granted and he’s going to continue to focus on playing well and shooting another good score in Sunday’s final round.
“Yeah, there’s never going to be any complacency,” he said. “You know, I think there’s always enough respect for the game of golf in the back of your mind that you’ve got to do everything right tomorrow. You’re going to come out, have to be focused, have to play well.
Obviously somebody can always really shoot a great round and therefore you’ve got to get around this golf course in a pretty decent score.
“Yeah, that’s the mentality. I kind of have to just control what I can control from the first hole tomorrow. But I’ve enjoyed playing the golf course this week. I want to continue to enjoy the week as a whole, and yeah, it’s another great round in good weather on an awesome golf course.”
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