Séamus Power visualises himself lifting the Claret Jug skyward at St Andrews Sunday and the R&A clearly see it too after handing the West Waterford man a stellar draw in The 150th Open.

After finishing tied 27th in the Masters, tied ninth in the US PGA and joint 12th in the US Open — all on his debut — the world number 37 is out with Players Championship winner Cameron Smith and four-time Major winner Brooks Koepka.

“Absolutely,” Power said when asked if he saw himself joining the immortals on Sunday. “As a player growing up in Britain and Ireland, it’s something you dream of. That’s the plan and the goal. Obviously, to go and win the 150th Open at St Andrews would be something for the ages.”

He knows it won’t be easy on a sun-baked course where the fairways are running faster than the greens.

But as a cerebral player with an analytical mind, he’s relishing the challenge of avoiding the 112 bunkers on the Old Course and the prospect of a huge mental grind with the putter on the game’s biggest and most exposed greens.

“Normally you can pick a strategy where you can take one of them out of play,” he said of the conundrum of carrying the first set of bunkers while staying short of those beyond. “It’ll definitely be a chess match in places. In practice rounds you seem to find the middle of bunkers but in the tournament you find spots and you’re coming out backwards.

“Tiger missed all the bunkers in 2000. That’s going to be the goal. But it’s going to be fun trying to figure that out.”

With long putts part and parcel of the test, he reckons strong driving and nerveless putting will decide the contest.

“I think putting is always going to be huge here,” he said. “If you’ve confidence in your putting, you can hit it to 50 feet and two putt from there. If you start struggling with putting, you can get into trouble.

“Using your head is massive. While it’s not tightest off the tee there’s a massive advantage to driving it well. If you can get it around without a three-putt, whoever leads the field in the fewest three-putts will make up ground.”