Power on the march again with super 65 in Kentucky
Seamus Power
Seamus Power continued his sensational run of form when he birdied three of his last four holes and opened with a seven-under 65 to lie just a shot off the lead in the weather-delayed Barbasol Championship in Kentucky.
The West Waterford ace (34) is an incredible 53-under par for his last 17 rounds and lies in a 12-man logjam for second place behind clubhouse leader Brian Stuard at Keene Trace Golf Club.
The Tooraneena man has a maximum of three events remaining after this week to make the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings who will qualify for the first Playoff event and guarantee themselves full playing rights for the 2021-22 season.
After racking up five top-20 finishes in his last five events and making a career-best eight cuts in a row, Power has leapt from 210th to 123rd and now has another excellent chance to move further up the list and even contend for that maiden win.
On a day marred by two weather delays, he parred the first four holes but then birdied the par-five fifth, made a 24 footer for another birdie at the sixth and chipped to four feet at the par-five eighth to move quickly to three-under-par.
Play was suspended for 80 minutes due to the threat of lightning, but he returned and birdied the 12 from nine feet, and while the players were then hauled off the course for another 74 minutes, he returned and picked up three birdies in his last four holes.
After knocking in a six-footer at the 15th, he made a 20 footer from the fringe at the 17th, then hit a wedge to 15 feet at the last and made the putt for his 11th sub-70 score in his last 17 rounds.
Stuard's eight-under 64 gave him the slimmest of leads over Power, Scott Harrington, J.T. Poston, Vaughn Taylor, Joseph Bramlett, Taylor Pendrith, Luke List, David Lingmerth and Ryan Armour with Patrick Rodgers (16 holes), Stephen Stallings Jr (16 holes) and Will Grimmer (15 holes) still to complete the opening rounds today.
Power had elbow surgery last year and took advantage of his downtime to consult mental coach Dr Bob Rotella, who he credits with his resurgence in form.
"I struggled last year with my short game and putting, which I've never really done before," he said. "Like every golfer, I have read loads of Dr Bob's books, and Padraig (Harrington) has talked about him over the years.
“Just about every golfer has worked with him at some point, so I just wanted to go and see him.
"He wasn't too far away in Virginia, so I went up there for a couple of days, and he was just brilliant, simplifying and clarifying and getting me back on the right track.
"Sometimes in golf, you think you are the first person through certain things, and then you realise that just about every golfer that has been successful has gone through moments like that.”
