Power failure in Florida
Seamus Power in the college days with ETSUSeamus Power’s PGA Tour dream will have to wait for at least another year after the West Waterford man fell at the penultimate stage of the dreaded Q-School for the second year running.
The 25-year old Charlotte resident was tied for 16th place going into the final round at Plantation Preserve Golf Course & Club (scores) near Fort Lauderdale in Florida - bang on the qualifying mark for the top 19 and ties.
A trip to La Quinta in California later this month was there for the taking but Power, who would have been guaranteed status on the second tier Web.com Tour at the very least had he made it, closed with a level par 71 to miss out by two strokes in joint 28th on eight under par.
Exactly 19 players made it on 10 under or better with Orlando’s Rob Oppenheim topping the qualifiers by four shots from South Korea’s Meen Whee Kim after rounds of 63, 67, 66 and 67 left him sitting pretty on 21 under.
England’s Ross Fisher, a Ryder Cup winner at Celtic Manor in 2010, tied for 13th to make it with a shot to spare on 11 under while compatriot Ollie Fisher, who became the youngest Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup player in 2005, finish right on the qualifying mark thanks to birdies at the 17th and par-five 18th.
What Power would have given for that finish in the last Q-School that will give players direct access to the PGA Tour itself.
Instead the Team Ireland sponsored player was left wondering what might have been.
Twelve months ago, he was tied for seventh place with a round to play and three shots inside the top 20 and ties who would progress.
But after rounds of 72, 66 and 71, the ETSU graduate could only manage a three-over 75 on the Members Course at Redstone in Texas, finishing a shot outside the qualifiers.
Three under par after opening rounds of 70 and 69, the former Irish Youths champion fired a super 66 on Thursday to sneak inside the top 19 with a round to play.
As it turned out a 69 would have been good enough but he was trampled in the final round stampede as his level par 71 bettered by 50 players in the 74 man field.
He started well with a birdie four at the first but bogeyed the 178-yard third, a hole he had birdied on the previous two days, before getting that shot back at the 335-yard ninth.
He knew he would need to come home in red figures to have any chance of making it to the finals but instead carded a one over 37 with a bogey at the 207-yard 15th and a dispiriting par-five at the last.
Power wasn’t the only player wondering what might have been.
Paraguay’s Carlos Franco, a four-time PGA Tour winner, missed out by a solitary stroke despite closing with a brace of 66s.
And Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, a former Ryder Cup player with 14 professional wins, came up seven shots shy as he finished tied 59th with Tiger Woods’ former college buddy Notah Begay, another four-time PGA Tour winner.
Power can take solace from the fact that he has won as a professional this year, claiming two titles and more than $59,000 in winnings on the eGolf Professional Tour, a mini tour based in North and South Carolina.