Seamus Power was heading to nearby Manhattan and electing to rest a worrying hip following a round of 70 on day three of the Northern Trust in New Jersey.
It left him trailing 15 shots adrift of American Bryson DeChambeau who cut a swath through the field to open up a four shot advantage in shooting a round of 63 and moving to 16-under par.
Former PGA champ, Keegan Bradley produced the lowest score of the week in signing for a nine-under par 62 and ending the day in second place at 12-under.
Power arrived at the Ridgewood Country Club course on Tuesday buoyed in securing the 125th and last place into the lucrative FedEx Cup ‘Play-Off’ series here in retail shopping mad Paramus. But as the week has progressed Power has raised the issue of his hip.
And in meeting-up again after his round with an uncle and cousin who had journeyed from Ireland to lend their support this week, the trio were spending Saturday afternoon ‘chilling-out’ in Manhattan.
“No, I’m going to give my hip a rest just take the afternoon off ‘chilling-out’, said Power. “It’s been worrying me the more as the week has gone on so hopefully I’ll be fine for tomorrow’s round.”
Power’s mobile phone alarm went off at 4.45am earlier on Saturday in readiness to then be the first out at 7.30am on day three.
“It was good to shoot under par and the course continues not to be easy,” he said.
“I thought that in being the last to finish yesterday that it might be a bit easier being first out today but that was not the case. It was still very damp and the big plus was that the greens were superb, so to break par around a great golf course like this makes me very happy.”
“I didn’t get anything going so here’s hoping I can over the final round and go out there and shoot a low one.”
“I’m confident there is a low score in my bag as all it is going take is one better iron shot, hole one or two more putts and I could shoot four-under because four-under around here would make some waves.”
Power heads into the fourth day of the $US 9m event sharing 58th place but projected to move just one place to 124th on the FedEx Cup standings. However, he is just four shots from a top-40, five from a top-30 and six strokes from being inside the top-20.
And while Bradley shot a round of 62, DeChambeau a 63 and others have shot 64 already this week, Power’s lowest round on Tour is two scores of 64 during his maiden 2017 season.
Power will tee-off on day four at 2.20pm Irish time Sunday in the company of Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
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