Eagle finish boosts Power in Hawaii
Seamus Power
Seamus Power showed his class on and around the greens when he bounced back from two early bogeys with three birdies and a closing eagle three to move into the top 40 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The 29-year old West Waterford star birdied four of his last six holes on Friday to make the cut with ease at Waialae Country Club to go into the weekend tied for 48th.
Now he’s tied 38th on eight under par after he added a three under 67 to rounds of 71 and 66.
Justin Thomas, seeking to win for the second week running in Hawaii following last week’s victory in the SBS Tournament of Champions, carded a five under par 65 to lead by seven strokes on 22 under par from Zach Johnson (65) with Justin Rose (66), Gary Woodland (68) and Hudson Swafford (66) eight shots off the pace in tied third.
Power is 14 strokes behind 23-year old Thomas, who is seeking his fourth win since he broke through to win the CIMB Classic last season.
But the Waterford native is also just three strokes outside the top 10 and within striking distance of a good pay day.
His round started more slowly that he would have wished but ranked 10th in the field around the greens, he recovered from bogeys at the 208-yard 11th (three putts from 39 feet) and 12th, where he overshot the green from the left rough and failed to give himself a putt for par.
After chipping to three feet to set up a birdie at the 420 yard 14th following a 367-yard drive, he rolled in a 15 footer for a two at the 190-yard 17th to turn in level par.
He the came home in three under 32 to boost his chances of a good haul of FedEx Cup points tonight, book-ending his back nine with in a chip-in birdie at the first and an eight footer for an eagle three at the easiest hole on the course, the 500-yard ninth.
While he’d like to have hit the ball closer during the first three rounds, he’s ranked 30th for putting and 10th around the greens having scrambled for pars 10 times out of 14 so far.
