Power has the power but trails by 12 in Las Vegas
Seamus Poiwer
Seamus Power slipped back to tied 64th after a one over 72 in the third round of the Shriners for Children Open but the West Waterford man has one number on his side — ball speed.
It might be a sorry reflection on the stage of the game but as Pádraig Harrington said earlier this week, those looking to make an impact on the top of the world rankings in the future must achieve a ball speed of at least 180mph.
"If you want to be world No 1, you’ve got to be like Thomas Pieters and get your ball speed up in the 180s," Harrington said. "You can come out here in the low 170s and compete...if I see somebody really crunching it on the range, then they have potential."
Power is ranked 10th for ball speed on the PGA Tour more than halfway through the first three events of the 2016-17 season with average ball speed of 179.61 mph.
That hasn't been translated into par-five scoring just yet as the West Waterford man is tied for 66th this week after making eight pars and just one birdie on the par-fives.
But he's scrambling well and will make more birdie fours when he starts hitting more fairways.
In round three he hit seven of 14 fairways and 10 greens and after taking just 29 putts, he's made 10 of 12 between four and eight feet and 47 of 52 putts inside 10 feet.
Starting at the 10th last night, Power opened with a bogey when he missed the fairway and the green.
A birdie at the 167-yard 14th, where he hit his tee shot to seven feet, got him back to level.
He then missed a birdie chance from 11 feet at the 15th but got his reward for laying up from the rough at the par-five 16th, hitting a 105-yard third to 15 feet and holing the putt to get to one under for the day and five under for the tournament.
good finish would have put him in the top half of the field but after saving par from five feet at the 17th, he played the back nine in two over 37.
it might have been worse.
A bad drive at the second went so far right the ended up having to hole a 13 footer for bogey. But he couldn't avoid a three-putt bogey from 55 feet at the par-three fifth and ended the day 12 shots off the lead.
Former US Open winner Lucas Glover shot a second successive 65 to lead by one stroke on 15 under par from Rod Pampling (71) and Brooks Koepka (70) with Russell Henley (63) and Geoff Ogilvy (66) tied for fourth on 13 under.
Scott Piercy (65), Harris English (67), Adam Hadwin (67), Charles Howell III (67), Pat Perez (69) and James Hahn (69) tied for sixth, just three shots off the lead on 12 under.
