More positives than negatives for Power and Maguire despite near misses
NAPLES, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 20: Leona Maguire of Ireland plays her shot on the third hole during the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 20, 2022 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
Seamus Power took another massive step towards Ryder Cup selection when he came up just short in his bid for his second win in three starts and tied for fifth in the RSM Classic at Sea Island.
The West Waterford man and Co Cavan's Leona Maguire came up short in their bids to make it a super Sunday for Irish golf but still completed sensational years in the US. But they acquitted themselves well and took massive strides forward in their careers.
After Rory McIlroy captured his fourth Harry Vardon Trophy at the DP World Tour Championship, Maguire (27) was bidding to outgun Lydia Ko (25) for the CME GROUP Tour Championship and pocket $2 million —the biggest first prize in women's golf— at Tiburón in Naples.
But while the Co Cavan battler carded a level par 72 to Ko's 70 in blustery conditions to finish two strokes behind in second place on 15-under, she still banked the biggest cheque of her career—$550,000— to take her season's earning on the LPGA Tour to $1.81 million (€1.75m).
"It was an incredible week,” said Maguire, who shot a nine-under 63 to tie on Saturday with Ko and head into the final round five shots clear of the chasing pack.
"A really great way to finish off the season. If you had offered me second at the start of the week, I would have grabbed it with both hands.
"It would have been nice to play a little bit better today, but it was really tough out there today. The wind was strong. It was cold. Pins were tricky.
"Didn't play the way I played yesterday, but grafted really well. Had some really key up-and-downs to keep me in it and keep a little pressure on Lydia, but she played really solid all day today and she's a deserving winner."
Tied with Ko overnight, five strokes clear of the field after carding a nine-under 63 on Saturday, Maguire took the lead when the New Zealander bogeyed the par-five first.
Ko drew level with a birdie at the third, but while Maguire regained the lead with a birdie at the fourth, she bogeyed the short fifth and Ko made a 20-footer for a two at the eighth to edge one ahead.
Maguire had chances to draw level at the 12th and 13th but failed to take them, then found the penalty area at the 527-yard par-five 14th with her 241-yard approach and did well to match Ko's bogey six after the Kiwi surprisingly follower her in.
Crucially, Ko made a 10-footer for a two at the 16th to go two shots clear and while Maguire got up and down from sand for birdie at the par-five 17th to break out of a tie for second with Anna Nordqvist (earning her an extra $105,000), the New Zealander two-putted for birdie to take a two-stroke lead to the 18th and closed out her 19th LPGA win with a two-putt par.
"There's obviously a lot of money on the line," Maguire said. "Every shot is really important. I looked up on 17, and I saw that Anna had got to 14, so that was an extra incentive to try to birdie 17 and finish strong.
"But yeah, it's the last round of the season. You just want to finish it off as strongly as you can. That bogey on 14 was as good as some of the birdies I made all week. So proud of how I stayed in it and stayed patient."
It was also another great week for Power, who went into the final round of the RSM Classic tied for 13th, three shots behind leaders Patrick Rodgers and Ben Martin at Sea Island in Georgia.
He stepped on the gas on the front nine, racking up four birdies in a row from the fourth to turn in 31 and briefly hold the lead.
He parred the next six holes but had a mixed finish, three-putting the 14th from 65 feet and then following a birdie at the 15th with a shot birdie miss from six feet at the 16th.
He made a great two from six feet at the 17th to get to 16-under and headed to the last needing a birdie to match Callum Tarren in the clubhouse lead.
But he tugged his approach into sand and failed to get up and down, carding a four-under 66 that left him in a five-way tie for fifth on 15-under.
He would have had to play his last five holes in four-under rather than level par as Adam Svensson birdied the 16th and 17th and carded a six-under 64 to win his maiden title by two strokes from Tarren and American Sahith Theegala on 19-under.
Power still pocketed $277,830 and will be top of the FedEx Cup standings when the Tour arrives in Kapalua for the Sentry Tournament of Champions from January 5-8.
"Yeah, it's huge," he said of going 1st, tied third and tied fifth in his last three starts of the 2022-23 season and racking up more Ryder Cup qualifying points. "Obviously, you're hoping to get off to a good start in the season and to be able to pick up some points. Today I'll be up around 700 points or something; that's a great start to the season. A lot of good things.
"A little disappointed with my finish there, it could have been a little better, but that's golf sometimes. But overall, very pleased with the Fall, a couple of good weeks to really finish up after the win, so yeah, a lot of positives."
As for his Ryder Cup hopes, he knows he's on the radar for captain Luke Donald but insists there's a long way to go.
"I've talked to him a couple times and then I'll see him in January for the Hero it's called, the new team event. I saw him in Bermuda, just got to congratulate him on being captain, and I've talked to him a couple times since. Nothing major.
"It's nice to be at least on the radar, something obviously I wouldn't have been a couple years ago. There's a lot of golf to be played yet, but certainly off to a good start in the standings so far."
