Power goes down fighting in semis at The Amateur
Mark Power in action during day four of The Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale. Credit: The R&A/Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Kilkenny’s Mark Power confessed he was “gutted” to lose 3&2 to England’s Joe Harvey in the semi-finals fo The 125th Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Bidding to become the third Irish winner of The Amateur at the great Southport links following Jimmy Bruen in 1946 and Brian McElhinney in 2005, Power (20) beat Royal Lytham and St Annes’ Callan Barrow 3&1 in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning.
But he ran out of steam in the afternoon as Harvey (23), who plays out of The Kendleshire, won the first two holes, then took the sixth with an eagle three to go three up and went on to close out a win that sets up an all English, 36-hole final with Joe Long, a regular practice partner at the same venue in Bristol.
Power won the seventh with a par but lost the eighth to a bogey to go three down before a bogey at the 10th left him four down and in dire straits.
He won the 12th in par to get back to three down, but while he lost the 13th to Harvey’s birdie three and was four down with four to play, he did not go down without a fight.
Thanks to the @RandA and @royalbirkdale_ for an amazing event this week at The Amateur Championship. Gutted to lose in the semi final this afternoon but thanks to everyone for their support and kind messages. pic.twitter.com/H2KzQKQNbq
— Mark Power (@MarkPower68) August 29, 2020
Power won the par-five 15th with a birdie to cut the gap to three holes but Harvey, who advanced past Victor H. Sidal Svendsen of Denmark in the quarter-final 4&3,
Having left winning putts short on both the 14th and 15th holes, Harvey got up and down par from the left greenside bunker at the 16th to clinch a 3&2 win.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Harvey, who is 897th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking. “I’m overwhelmed with emotion right now. I played great out there today. He (Power) had a go at the end when I went four up, and I nearly messed it up. But I got a good up and down on 16 to halve the hole and win.
“Mark is a great guy, it’s the first time I’ve met him. All the lads speak about how good he is. Obviously, he has been in form so I knew I was going to have to play well. I know I am capable of playing good golf and making birdies, so I went out there with that attitude and it paid off.
“By far, this is the greatest achievement of my golfing career, by a good stretch. I know I have still got 36 holes tomorrow and it’s going to be a massive grind but I’m capable of winning, so I’ve just got to go out there and play well and make birdies.
“It’s awesome to be an all-English final. I know Joe well. Because there are going to be no spectators, it’s probably going to be the most relaxed Amateur final. Everyone knows what is on the line so it’s going to be a tough game. It will just be amazing. I’m just looking forward to it. I can’t wait.”
World No 102 Long (23) was equally impressive in the last four, defeating Englishman Jake Bolton 2&1 after earlier jettisoning the hopes of another Englishman Barclay Brown in a convincing 6&5 victory.
It’s the first all-England final since 1999 when Graeme Storm defeated Aran Wainwright 7&6 at Royal County Down.
Usually practice partners at The Kendleshire, the pair will now go head-to-head over 36 holes to become the first English champion since Harry Ellis triumphed at Royal St George’s in 2017.
Ahead of the biggest opportunity in their amateur careers, the winner secures exemptions into The 149th Open at Royal St George’s next year and, by tradition, an invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and an exemption into the US Open.
Long was evenly matched with Bolton early on before his opponent took the first advantage going one-up with a birdie at the 4th. A bogey to follow returned the match to all square before Bolton conceded the 6th to see Long go one-up for the first time in the match, a lead he didn’t relinquish for the remainder of the tie.
Keeping his composure, Long closed out the match on the 17th hole with a par after Bolton failed to roll in his seven-foot birdie putt.
“I’m over the moon with it,” Long said. “I just stayed in the present, all day, all week with it and tried to make that my goal. And now I’m in the final – it’s just crazy really.
“Jake was playing quite nicely, he had a birdie putt on the 4th and I just kept it in play. I missed a few putts but I didn’t let that get to me because I committed to the shot. I just kept on trying to hit it in the fairway and trying to make pars. That was the main thing. I had a few birdie chances which I missed but, overall, I just stuck with it really. I battled hard. That’s what you have to do.”
Describing the climax, he said: “I was first on the tee so I knew I just had to get a drive away. I hit a pretty good tee shot just on the right fairway. I laid up, I had quite a long shot in, had about a 60-yard pitch that I didn’t get to the back. I hit a good shot but the wind was cold out there and it didn’t travel as far as it thought and then I hit a good pace putt from gimme range. Jake just missed his seven-footer for birdie, so I was expecting him to hole it but that’s match play for you.
“A couple of weeks ago we (Long and Harvey) were actually just playing in a midweek medal together. So, we’ve known each other for a while and we are really good mates. This is going to be played in great spirits and we’ve got to both go out there and enjoy it really. Enjoy the experience and enjoy the challenge.
“There’s just you, your playing partner, the ref and a few cameras out there so it doesn’t actually feel as big as it actually is but it doesn’t change anything. We’ve just still got to go out there and just play as well as we can really.”
The 36-hole final takes place from 8.30 am on Sunday with Harvey and Long seeking to emulate last year’s champion, Mallow’s James Sugrue.
Other past champions include major winners José María Olazábal and Sergio Garcia, the current Great Britain and Ireland men’s team captain Stuart Wilson and, more recently, Matteo Manassero and Romain Langasque.
Live scoring, news and video can be followed here.
