A struggling, Seamus Power superbly produced his lowest round all season with a five-under par 67 to join Rory McIlroy in playing all four rounds of the Players Championship at Ponte Vedre in FloridaThe West Waterford golfer leap-frogged 65 places to move into a share of 39th place at three-under, two shots inside the one-under par cut-off mark.
Power is contesting the event for a first occasion and it is the richest event he’s played, but after an opening two over par 74 he needed something special to be assured of playing all four rounds.
It didn’t start well for him though after he carded a double-bogey ‘6’ on his opening hole, where he sent his opening tee shot at the 10th hole, his first, well right into trees. It looked odds-on then that the very affable Irishman may be headed for a ninth missed cut in 11 events in this his rookie PGA Tour full season.
However, Power lived-up to his surname, birding four of the next seven holes, with none better than holing a six-footer at the famed par-3 17th.
Power stormed into his back nine birdieing both the first and second holes, including landing his 101-yard wedge shot at his 10th to just five inches for the easiest of birdies.
He moved to five-under for the round in holing a monster 37-footer at the par-4 fifth that Power was playing as his 14th.
A bogey followed at the next but Power was not to be denied and ended a brilliant display in sending a 90-yard third shot wedge at his last hole, the par-5 ninth to just four-feet for his round of 67.
The 32-year old had played just 27 rounds in his 11 events this 2018/19 wraparound season and only twice broken 70, with two 68s in finishing T11t in last October’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Now Power is competing over the weekend in one of the richest tournaments in golf and staring also at the possibility of the biggest prize cheque in his career.
Sadly, Shane Lowry headed home early after missing the cut with scores of 73 and 74 for a three-over total Lowry was even par for his round heading to the last where he found the water off the tee in taking a double-bogey ‘6’. After the euphoria of winning his first event of the New Year in Abu Dhabi, Lowry has now missed the cut in three of four events Stateside.
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