Power looks to positives and Augusta after Matchplay run ends in quarters
At The K Club in Straffan, Kildare, is Seamus Power. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Seamus Power was bitterly disappointed to fall in the quarter-finals but determined to draw all the positives from his incredible debut in the WGC Dell Technologies Championship and his forthcoming Masters debut.
After hammering world number four and FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay and South Korea’s Sungjae Im 5&4 en route to topping his group, the West Waterford man was the only European to make the quarter-finals when he handed Ryder Cup star Tyrrell Hatton a 4 and 3 defeat in the last 16.
He made just four bogeys in his first four matches, but while he would make just one in 15 holes with Scheffler before he fell 3 and 2 to the American, who can become world No 1 if he beats Dustin Johnson in Sunday morning’s semi-finals and goes on to defeat beat Kevin Kisner or Canadian Corey Conners in the final.
“It was a good week,” said Power, who was two after six holes to Scheffler but fought back to level the match with wins at the eighth and ninth before the world number five pulled away, winning the 12th and 13th with birdies before pitching in from 30 yards for a winning eagle three at the 16th after Power had driven in the water.
“I played nicely on the front today, but the back nine was a bit disappointing and a little loose, but that’s golf at times, and obviously, against a good player, I wasn’t able to make it up.
“Yeah, it was a fun week. It’s my first time playing this tournament, so overall it’s been a positive appearance.”
Reflecting on what it all means for his confidence as he prepares for his Masters debut and moved up seven places to 41st in the world, he said: “My confidence is good and my confidence is high. But it’s funny - it’s disappointing to lose, but it’s still a good week, so it’s an unusual feeling.
“But it’s been a good finish in a very good field, so there is something positive in that, but then in an hour’s time, I will be able to see a lot more positives.
“In an hour’s time, I will be able to see a lot more positives”
“I will go back to Las Vegas and then go to The Masters, hopefully as it looks very good, starting the Sunday before.”
Canadian Conners beat Mexico’s Abraham Ancer 2 up and will now play matchplay special Kisner, who is looking for his second win in the event after following his defeat to Bubba Watson in the 2018 final with victory over Matt Kuchar in 2019.
Kisner beat Will Zalatoris 4 and 3, and if he beats Conners, he will face Scheffler or Dustin Johnson, who came back from two down to Brooks Koepka to win 2 up thanks to a two-putt birdie after he drove the 369 yard 18th.
In the Corales Puntacana Championship, Graeme McDowell carded a disappointing, one-over 73 to fall seven shots behind American Ben Martin heading into Sunday’s final round.
The Portrush man was just four shots behind at halfway, but after keeping pace with three birdies in his first seven holes, he bogeyed the 11th and double-bogeyed the par-five 12th, then dropped another shot at the 15th to fall back to tied 18th on seven-under.
Martin shot 70 to lead by two shots from Chad Ramey on 14-under par.
On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow leads the Irish challenge in the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol in California.
She made seven birdies in a five-under 67 to move up to tied 11th on eight under par, six strokes behind Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, who shot 69 to lead by three shots on 14-under par from rookie Na Rin An.
The last two occasions that saw the Dane with the lead after Saturday were the 2021 AIG Women’s Open and this year’s Honda LPGA Thailand.
While she wasn’t able to close on Sunday at Carnoustie, the playoff victory over Xiyu Lin has proved to open the floodgates for Nanna who finally feels like she belongs on the LPGA Tour.
“The AIG Women’s Open was really a good experience for me,” said Koerstz Madsen who finished T5 in the major championship last summer.
“I think after the AIG Women’s Open I really wanted to put myself in that position again, so I worked very hard to get there again. I do think it'll be easier going into tomorrow with a lead than it was in Thailand, but still going in with a lead you still want to win, so you still have all excitement in your body that you got control tomorrow.”
Leona Maguire is tied 20th on six- under after a third round 71.
On the DP World Tour, Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell is just four shots behind England’s Matthew Jordan and Poland’s Adrian Meronk heading into Sunday’s final round in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Caldwell shot a one-under 71 at Doha Golf Club to share 11th place on four-under-par while Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney is a shot further back in tied 19th on three-under after a 72.
On the Ladies European Tour, Olivia Mehaffey tied for 66th on 11-over after closing with a six-over 79 in the Joburg Ladies Open at Modderfontein Golf Club where Sweden’s Linn Grant shot 67 to win by five shots from Swiss Kim Metraux on 11-under-par.
