Power breaks into world's top 100 as Irish golf battles for tour status
Seamus Power
Seamus Power became just the 16th Irish player to break into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking following his tie for 21st in the Shriners Children's Open.
The Barbasol Championship winner has moved up 336 places to 100th this year alone and looks set to threaten to break into the all-important top 50 in 2022 as he eyes his maiden Major appearance in the PGA Championship and starts in all the big invitational events.
But while Rory McIlroy (32) and Shane Lowry (34) remain the top dogs, there is a generation gap forming with Kinsale’s John Murphy (23) the first young Irish player to make a major impact in a European Tour event since the COVID-19 outbreak.
While Power (34) is third reserve for this week’s limited, 78-man CJ Cup in Las Vegas, where world No 14 McIlroy and No 41 Lowry return to action for the first time since the Ryder Cup, he’s now clearly Ireland’s third best golfer ahead of world No 157 Pádraig Harrington.
As Power tied for 21st in the Shriners Children’s Open, Europe’s defeated Ryder Cup captain (50) made a discreet debut on the PGA Tour Champions in Jacksonville last week, finishing tied 55th, 17 strokes behind Phil Mickelson on two-over-par in the Constellation Furyk & Friends.
The three-time Major winner will be looking for better in his second Seniors outing in this week’s SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in North Carolina.
In terms of world ranking points won this year, Power ranks third to McIlroy and Lowry, who are effectively playing like the world No 19 and 33 respectively in terms of ranking points accrued in 2021 with the West Waterford man the equivalent of 84th.
That Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell, who broke through to win the Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika in June, is the fifth-highest ranked Irishman at 287th in the world speaks volumes about Ireland’s weak presence on tour.
He’s ranked ahead of Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney, who is one spot outside the top 124 in the Race to Dubai who will have full European Tour cards next season.
Frustratingly for Kearney, he has not played since the Dutch Open three weeks ago and is 75th reserve for this week’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters at Real Club Valderrama, where Caldwell is the only Irish player in the field.
That Irish golf’s seventh-best player this year is 42-year old Michael Hoey says it all about the struggles Irish players are having making the transition from the amateur ranks to tour golf.
Cormac Sharvin, fifth reserve for Valderrama, has made just one of his last 10 cuts while his 2015 Walker Cup teammate Paul Dunne, though showing signs of improvement in the Alfred Dunhil Links, has not picked up any world ranking points since injuring his hand in 2019 and fallen from 65th in the world to 1747th.
On the plus side, 32nd-ranked Hoey has an outside chance of winning one of 20 cards via the Challenge Tour rankings where 88th ranked Murphy returns this week after two superb performances in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (T9) and the Spanish Open (T24).
Murphy plays back-to-back Challenge Tour events at Empordà Golf in Girona over the next two weeks, looking to move into the top 45 in the Road to Mallorca rankings who will contest the crucial Rolex Grand Final where a victory could catapult him onto the European Tour.
World ranking - Name - Ranking Points 2021
14 Rory McIlroy 185.88
41 Shane Lowry 118.13
100 Seamus Power 58.12
175 Padraig Harrington 39.21
287 Jonathan Caldwell 25.34
407 Niall Kearney 15.64
494 Michael Hoey 11.65
547 Dermot McElroy 10.24
244 Graeme McDowell 9.33
565 John Murphy 9.30
801 Cormac Sharvin 4.65
879 Simon Thornton 4.00
1089 Paul McBride 2.80
1063 David Carey 2.50
1117 Tom McKibbin 2.47
1297 Gary Hurley 1.40