Power left to rue "sloppy swings" as Smith leads Rahm, Cantlay and Berger in Hawaii
Seamus Power
Seamus Power paid for a few "sloppy swings" but declared himself happy with an opening two-under 71 that left him in the middle of the pack on his debut in the $8.2 million Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The West Waterford star made six birdies on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, but poor tee shots at the eighth, 12th and 18th cost him four shots, and he finished the day tied for 25th, six shots off the lead.
Australian Cameron Smith made two eagles and five birdies in an eight-under 65 to top the 38-man, winners-only field by a shot from FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, world No. 1 Jon Rahm and US Ryder Cup star Daniel Berger.
"Yeah, I had a couple of bad swings on the back and kind of misjudged the wind on the front, which cost me, but it wasn't bad considering I haven't played a tournament round for a while," said Power, who avoided any COVID-related travel hiccups by spending Christmas at his new Las Vegas base rather than returning home to Waterford.
"It was quite an interesting day. I didn't really feel rusty, to be honest. I did a lot of good practice during the break, but it's different to just get back into your processes and routines on the course and overall, I made a couple of sloppy swings on the back and that kind of cost me."
Playing alongside South African Erik van Rooyen, who shot a bogey-free, six-under 67 to share fifth with Kevin Na and Sungjae Im, Power could not have asked for a better start to 2022.
The world No. 73, who can make the world's top 50 and caress a Masters invitation with a top-three finish this week, blasted a 352-yard drive down the middle of the first fairway, then fired a 150-yard approach to six feet and made the birdie putt.
He parred his way to the 515-yard fifth, where he two-putted from 34 feet for birdie but ran up a double-bogey five after finishing up against the deep grass after missing the green left at the 191-yard eighth.
Out in level par, he made an 18 footer at the 10th to get back into the red, but while he bogeyed the 12th after being forced to take a penalty drop from trouble on the left after another poor drive, he rallied well.
The Tooraneena man (34) got up and down from sand for birdie at the driveable 14th, two-putted the par-five 15th for birdie from long range, then knocked in a 12 footer for another birdie at the 16th to move to tied 10th.
He then missed a birdie chance from 12 feet at the 17th before he was forced to take another penalty drop after hitting his tee shot left into trouble at the downhill, 675-yard 18th, leading to a closing bogey six at the third easiest hole on the course yesterday.
Power is massively excited about the year ahead despite his ups and downs last night.
"Very much so," said Power, whose excellent start to the 2021-22 season has left him 25th in the FedExCup standings. "It's not the start I was looking for today, but it's something to build on over the next few days."
As for his debut on a course that has received 27 inches of rain over the past three weeks, forcing officials to allow placing, he was impressed.
"I don't have a lot to compare it to because it is soft, but I am guessing just the way it is designed that it's meant to play a lot firmer," Power said.
"We had to play with ball in hand today, which shows how soft it is, but the greens are in great condition and while there was a little breeze, it was nothing too bad, so it was very nice out there."
After missing Christmas at home, he plans to play six of the first seven events before heading back to Waterford after the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in mid-February.
"It was disappointing not to be able to get home for Christmas, but that's just the world we're living in now," he said. "Every time you think of travelling, someone tests positive for Covid in the circle you'd be in, so I decided I didn't want to risk the start of my season here, and I just ended up staying in Vegas."
As for the battle for the world No. 1 spot, Rahm does not appear to be in any hurry to hand the crown to the chasing Collin Morikawa, who is tied for eighth with South Africa's Garrick Higgo, Joel Dahmen, Brooks Koepka and Talor Gooch after a five-under 68.
The Spaniard carded a bogey-free, seven-under 66 in his first start for 12 weeks.
"I mean, you can always expect a little bit of rust," Rahm said. "But, again, I took time off, but I wasn't on the couch, right, doing nothing. I was still working out. I was still practising as if I was still in the season.
"I took maybe three weeks off of golf, which were very needed. But even though I was home, I was practising. And, again, not that I'm surprised that I played good, but it's really good to come out and start the year off the right way."
