Seamus Power kept his hopes of advancing to the knockout stages of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play alive after a clutch up and down on 18 saw him beat Canada’s Adam Hadwin 1UP in a very tight match.
It’s Power’s first point of the week and he next tees up a must-win clash with group leader Sam Burns (2pts) and should he beat the 13th seed and Adam Scott beat Hadwin then there will be a three-way playoff to progress to the last-16.
A birdie at the first saw the Waterford native go up early before Hadwin pegged him back on the next. Birdies at five and seven saw Power go 2UP before Hadwin levelled affairs at the turn meaning he had coughed up a two hole lead in Republic of Ireland fashion.
Power regained the advantage on the tenth which gave way to a back nine where only two holes were halved, including Hadwin going 1UP twice.
Both players drove short of the 18th green and Power put the pressure on by pitching to three-feet for a cast iron birdie to win the match.
“I needed that one to stay in it,” said Power who reached the quarter-final on debut last year. “I’m pretty sure Sam won right there in front of us so I knew I had to win that hole, so it was nice to sneak it in. Yeah, a lot of work to do tomorrow. Obviously Sam is a great player, so looking forward to the challenge.”
A wet and soggy Austin Country Club greeted the players on Wednesday which was far from Power’s wheelhouse and although he was unlucky to lose to Scott on 18 the blustery Thursday conditions were tailored for him. The weather is set to stay constant as the weekend approaches and the Tooraneena man is relishing the prospect.
“The wind is not going to bother me too much. Obviously we grew up playing a lot of it, but yeah, I saw there was some in the forecast tomorrow. It’s the type of course you can get away with a couple of loose ones here and there, so I think it’ll be a challenge, but I think it’ll still be fun and very birdieable in spots.”
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