PGA Tour, Ryder CupBrian KeoghSeamus Power, Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Second win gives Power "freedom" to chase big goals

PGA Tour, Ryder CupBrian KeoghSeamus Power, Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Second win gives Power "freedom" to chase big goals

Séamus Power shows off his second PGA TOUR trophy in Hamilton, Bermuda on Sunday

Séamus Power was thrilled to notch his second PGA TOUR win in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and give himself the "freedom" to chase his golfing dreams next year.

The West Waterford man jumps from 48th to a career-high of 32nd in the world rankings, and while the win means he's exempt until the end of 2025, guaranteeing him starts in the Masters and the US PGA at Oak Hill next year, it makes him an almost certain starter in US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club and The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

He's fifth in the FedEx Cup standings, just ahead of Rory McIlroy, after the winner's cheque for $1.17m took his PGA TOUR career earnings over $8.44 million.

But with starts now also guaranteed in all the big money events next year, such as the winner's only Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January right through The American Express, The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the RBC Heritage, the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial Tournament, he will have the freedom to chase another win, a first Major title and with it the world ranking points that will make that Ryder Cup debut a formality.

"The first one was amazing but to be able to win again, it's fantastic," Power said of a second PGA TOUR win that came courtesy of a tournament record 28 birdies.

He used all his experience to take advantage of mistakes by rookie Ben Griffin, who was two ahead with seven holes to play but lost the lead on the 14th when he made a bogey, and Power made a great birdie three to go in front definitively.

“It's pretty much a three-year exemption and all the cool things that come with it. You're so proud and it's amazing to be able to do it again."

The win gives Power the ultimate in freedom, which is a feeling he noticed when he captured his maiden win in July 2021.

"When you don't have the exemption, every year is year-to-year and it's tough going," he said of the pressure to secure your card. "So an extra couple of years is fantastic. To be able to focus on practising and improving and just playing my own game and not really worrying about all that stuff."

"I noticed that last season having the winner's exemption for '21-'22, I was really able to play much more freely when you're up near the lead and I think that's a nice thing to be able to do.

"That's also a goal to be doing anyway, but sometimes it's a little harder than normal. So it's going to be great.

"It gets a lot of bonuses. I mean, one of my favourite memories in golf was in Maui last year and being able to go back there next year again and having a three-year exemption is just fantastic.

"It opens doors as you get higher in the World Rankings; all those kinds of things are just all positives. So yeah, once it sinks in, I think some of the other stuff will hit me in probably the next few days, but for now, just over the moon, just delighted to get the win."

Power played superbly all year, racking up five top-10 finishes and 13 top-25s in 26 starts.

He was tied 27th on his debut in the Masters, ninth in the PGA Championship in Tulsa, and 12th in the US Open at Brookline.

And while he missed the cut in The Open, he was still 24th in the FedEx Cup heading to the playoffs but failed to make the top 30 who qualified for the Tour Championship, and struggled for the rest of the year.

With his world ranking slipping week by week, he suddenly saw himself struggling to remain in the top 50 before the year-end cut off for the Masters and the PGA until hitting the jackpot again on Sunday.

"I didn't really pay attention to world rankings until I got into the top 100 in the world, and now it becomes very, very relevant," Power said of his jump to 32nd, which could help him make the decision to play the Hero Cup, the Ryder Cup trial event scheduled for Abu Dhabi Golf Club from January 13-15.

"Even close to the Match Play, and then obviously, the cutoff for some of the majors starts approaching. So it's nice, as you said, to be able to kind of get a bump away from that 50. It's nice, and it opens up so many doors. All of a sudden, you're looking at changing your schedule and you're going to add Maui and tournaments like that, and even knowing that you're going to be in the Playoffs and all this kind of stuff.

"It makes things a lot simpler, that's for sure. Not as if you're doing it all the time, but you're sometimes looking over your shoulder a little bit, especially because I was up maybe in the 30s (in the world rankings) and just hadn't played great since the middle of the summer.

"So, as you said, just slipping down, down. And you know the cutoff for the top 50 is coming up soon, there's not much golf left in the year, so it's nice to get away from that, for sure. It'll definitely like clear your thoughts, clear your mind going forward.”

Power is now eighth in the race for three spots on Luke Donald's European team via the World Points List and having spoken to Donald during the Pro-Am party on Wednesday about his difficulty committing to the Hero Cup, he may now be able to afford to miss a PGA TOUR event and travel to Abu Dhabi.

"We just chatted briefly," said Power, who explained that making the top 50 or not after the RSM Classic at Sea Island in Georgia in two weeks might determine his early 2023 schedule. "There's a new event; he was just telling me some details about it - the GB&I vs Europe team event and some of the options I might have.

"As I said to him before this week, how I played in (the RSM Classic) was going to affect some of my schedule, so obviously, this helps a lot, gives me more flexibility going forward. I'm going to talk to him about it again now that I have a little bit more freedom to play where I want.

"I'm going to talk to him and see what he recommends. You know, if it doesn't match up, it doesn't match up, but I certainly want to ask his opinion, and I don't want to come next September and find out if I would have done this, I would have been on it. So it's something, this certainly helps, but I'm going to talk to Luke and see what happens."

Having reached the quarter-finals of the WGC Dell Technologies Matchplay in Austin in March, eventually losing to the future Masters champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year, Scottie Scheffler, Power has come on in leaps and bounds since his last win.

He was the favourite coming into the week in Bermuda, where he has made close friends. And he confessed he felt comfortable and confident on Sunday, even though he fell two strokes behind Griffin with seven holes to go.

Admitting that winning the second time was easier than the first, he said: "It's never going to be easy, but I certainly felt very comfortable right from the get-go. My three shots on the first hole were three of my nicer shots this week and I think that showed I was in a very good place mentally.

"Certainly a little easier even down the stretch even though I didn't kind of play that way, but I felt more comfortable. So I think it's probably a little bit easier. Knowing that you've done it before just helps.

"I just kept reminding myself, I know this course well enough. I wasn't making many mistakes, and I was very confident.

"He birdied 10 and 11 to get two ahead again and I had a couple chances there that I just missed. But again, I just kept reminding myself that I could just stay in there. I knew that that stretch, there were very few people not going to drop shots there.

"I knew if I had a chance standing on 12 tee, I thought a little bit more experience having been there before, having played this tournament a few times before, I thought it would stand to me and it just about did in the end."

A two-shot swing at the 14th gave Power the lead, and while he bogeyed the 15th and 16th, a birdie at the 17th gave him a two-shot cushion and "breathing room" playing the last where he could afford another bogey and still win."

With McIlroy winning four times in the past 12 months to claim the FedEx Cup and the world No 1 crown, Shane Lowry winning the BMW PGA, Darren Clarke capturing the Senior Open and Pádraig Harrington winning three times on the PGA TOUR Champions, including the US Senior Open, Power admits success is contagious.

"Yeah, it's been great," he said. "You know, it's one of those things. Once you see like other guys win, it just gives you a little bit of a boost knowing that you can get back there yourself.

"Yeah, it's huge. Rory and Shane have played amazing golf this year. Rory's play since this summer has been incredible. And the Shane as well, he did get the win at Wentworth, but he was up there at a lot of big tournaments.

"He was high in the Masters; he played well in so many other big tournaments. So it was great that both those guys got the win. Padraig, yeah. I mean, Padraig has been absolutely smashing his way through Champions Tour there.

"It's great for Irish golf. We have Leona Maguire on the LPGA as well. It's a good time for Irish golf and hopefully, you know, you're always hoping it'll inspire some more junior golf in Ireland.”