Power and Lowry make fast starts in Abu Dhabi
Seamus Power
Seamus Power fired a bogey-free 66 and Shane Lowry a solid 67 to keep European Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald in their sights in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.
World number 29 Power looks a likely member of Donald’s team for Rome and after impressing in last week’s Hero Cup despite winning just one point from four, he showed his class when he followed eight straight pars with five birdies in six scintillating holes before adding a sixth birdie at the par-three eighth.
Power’s 66 left him solo fourth in the clubhouse, just two shots behind Donald, who reeled off nine birdies in an eight-under 64 to lead by a shot from Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and Australia’s Jason Scrivener.
“I just find that visually, that stretch kind of suits me a little bit better,” Power said of birdies at the 18th, first, second, fourth and fifth having started on the back nine.
“Some of those holes, I'm a fader, so 16, 15, a couple of those holes are visually a little tougher for me. So once I got to 18 tee, I thought I might have a chance.
“It's one of those courses though with the greens, you just have to stay patient. You can hit pretty good shots and then not end up that close to the hole, and that happened to me a couple times on the back side.”Power also had chances at the seventh and ninth and he credits his hot form over the last 18 months to his work with mental coach Dr Bob Rotella.
“It's huge,” he said. “Kind of simplified some of the things and reinforces some of the things that you always kind of heard. But to put them into practice is the biggest thing.
“To do that today, eight straight pars, wasn't going particularly well, nothing really happened. “But kind of keep doing the same kind of things over and over knowing they are the right things, and good things will eventually happen.”
Lowry confessed it was important not to lose confidence after going pointless in the Hero Cup and he bounced back in style, making three birdies and an eagle three from 23 feet at the par-five second in a 67 that left him tied fifth in the clubhouse.
“I'm pretty happy to be honest,” Lowry said. “I obviously played The Hero Cup last week, and I didn't play as well or make as many points as I would have liked.
“You're coming out here, first round of the year with a scorecard in your pocket; you don't really know how it's going to go. Good to get out and play some good golf, and to hole some putts toward the end was nice.”
Lowry does not want to assume he’ll be in the Ryder Cup team and he found the Hero scup a good reminder of the things he needs to keep in mind for Rome.
“Obviously I played the last Ryder Cup, and that was a great learning experience and great experience for me.
“Being part of The Hero Cup last week, even playing fourballs and foursomes again, I didn't play foursomes the last Ryder Cup, so I got to play last week.
“You just learn things maybe in myself and Tommy and in our fourball match, we were a little too aggressive and need to keep balls in play. Little things that might help new September if I'm there.
“Learned a lot about myself and learned a lot about the team environment again. It was a great week. I thought the Tour did a great job, and I thought Hero put on a great tournament. “I was pretty happy what I got from the week apart from the result. I said at the end of the week, everything was great apart from the result obviously.”
As for his confidence, he believes he’s right back on track after today’s round.
“I think so,” he said. “I look back on Sunday against Fran (Molinari), he just outscored me.
“Felt like I played pretty well and put him under a lot of pressure when I needed to, and he just holed a couple of good putts at the right time.
“And before you know it, you're a couple down with a couple to play and you're behind the 8-ball.
“It was important not to lose too much confidence from last week, and it's important to get this year off to a good start. I feel like I did that today.”
Donald was not altogether surprised by his good play but he’s not expecting to be a contender for a place on his own team.
“Just playing here the last couple days, I felt like there was some low scores out here as long as the wind didn't blow too hard,” the Englishman said. “Just kind of suits my eye. It's not too tight off the tee. I think you have to pick some good lines.
“It's not totally surprising that I shot 64 today. I went out there, again, last couple days, I've been hitting it nicely, swinging well, and it was nice to carry that on today.”
