Séamus Power faces another cutline battle at the Valspar Championship after he opened with a one-over 72.
Power, who was eighth at Innisbrook Resort last year, endured a rollercoaster round where he mixed four birdies and five bogeys to lie in a share of 66th position.
As has been the case for much of the season so far, the West Waterford man is struggling with his long game but some short game magic has given him a fighting chance of earning some weekend golf again.
Power ranks 61st in strokes gained off the tee and 121st in approach but some wizardry around the greens has him in 17th in that category.
Starting on the back nine, Power dropped a shot on the par-3 15th but looked to have found his groove with three birdies in a row on 17, 18 and 1. But the wind was taken out of his sails with three bogeys in a row from the 2nd.
A birdie on the par-5 5th was a brief reprieve as he handed the shot back on the 7th.
Sungjae Im leads by the minimum after a sparking seven-under 64 put him just about in front of veteran Brandt Snedeker.
He also holed eagle putts of 18 feet on the par-5 11th and 35 feet on the par-5 first after making the turn. Only a pair of bogeys over the last four holes slowed him.
“I had a very good start. I was able to go birdie, eagle, birdie. I did not have very good starts the last few months. After last week I really felt like I had to refine some techniques and I was able to focus on specific techniques, and I refined it and for this weekend I feel like that’s a really good outcome.”
The surprise was the 45-year-old Snedeker, the U.S. captain for the Presidents Cup, who received a sponsor exemption. He had a bogey-free round at Innisbrook for the first time in 14 years, running off three straight birdies to start the back nine in his round of 65.
Snedeker hasn’t won in eight years and had only two top 10s in the last year. But he switched to a mallet putter a few weeks ago and is starting to see some putts go in, particularly some long ones.
“Playing perfect the way we want to see it play, firms and fast,” Snedeker said. “Had a really good game plan – just relied on my putter. I putted great today, made a bunch of footage of putts, and put myself in position off the tee hit a lot of fairways and greens and made it stress-free which was nice. So really excited about how it started, but a long way to go from here.”
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