- Seamus Power.
Seamus Power was back where he’d been just a week earlier, atop the leaderboard after 36 holes, and he sure didn’t want to experience the same finish that saw him plummet down among the also-rans. The Waterford golfer fed off the previous week’s bad experience to win the eGolf Tour’s River Run Classic at River Run Country Club in Davidson, N.C. by two strokes over Cam Burke.
Power reached the front of the 54-hole tournament with rounds of 64 and 66 that featured 15 birdies and just one bogey. That put him two strokes in front of Burke, with whom he played in the third and final round.
That lead vanished after three holes, due to a Burke birdie at the first hole and a Power bogey at the third. In fact, there would be two more bogeys from Power before he reached the clubhouse, but he stuffed his card with enough birdies (4), while Burke idled in neutral. Burke’s eagle-3 at 18 was too little, too late, and Power, who shot 70 for an aggregate 200, had his first victory on this feeder circuit.
“I consider myself to be a fast learner, and I learned a lot from last week,” Power said of his debacle at Irish Creek. “I started trying to force some putts at Irish Creek, and did a poor job of just letting things happen. This week, I just tried to stay in the present and let it happen, as opposed to forcing the issue.”
The $15,000 first prize moves Power to seventh on the Tour’s money list. The top 20 at season’s end have their PGA Tour Q-School fees fully paid for. He also earned a one-year, fully paid membership to River Run.
“It’s fantastic,” Power said. “I live about 10 minutes from here, and can’t wait to come out and use the facility as a member. Just to be able to come out here and putt on some of the best greens around is huge. Add to that the full membership, and it’s a fantastic situation.”
PGA TOUR
While Rory McIlroy continued his preparations for this week’s Masters in private, the three other Irish aspirants chose to hone their game at the Shell Houston Open at Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Tex. The results were inauspicious, at best.
Graeme McDowell had only four names below his on the leaderboard at the conclusion of play. He finished in joint-63rd place, having shot 1-over-par 289 (70-69-73-77). The final round was gory; six bogeys and a double bogey, offset by only three birdies.
Padraig Harrington actually made the cut, but didn’t play the fourth and final round, as the Tour instituted its prerogative of limiting the number of players on the course for the final round. He shot even-par 216 (69-73-74) for 54 holes. His final round also featured six bogeys, minus the double that McDowell tacked on. Four birdies helped stanch the bleeding.
A triple-bogey 7 at 18 in the first round went a long way in keeping Darren Clarke off the course over the weekend. He missed the cut by a stroke after shooting 1-under-par 143 (72-71). His triple came three holes after an eagle-3 at the 15th hole. He then bogeyed 15 on Friday.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Shane Lowry continues knocking on the door. He finished joint-sixth in the Sicilian Open at the Verdura Resort with a 10-under-par 278 (67-70-74-67) that left him five strokes behind maiden winner Thorbjorn Olesen.
The finishing hole proved Lowry’s biggest impediment, as he bogeyed 18 on three of the four days. Ironically, he carded birdie there the day he shot his highest score (Saturday, 74).
Gareth Maybin made strides up the leaderboard, where he cozied in for a share of 11th place. He just did clear the cut line with not a stroke to spare before going out to enjoy a weekend that included a bogey-free round on Sunday. His 280 (68-73-70-69) matched the scores of seven others, including major winners Rich Beem and John Daly.
On the face of it, the 19th-place tie recorded by Peter Lawrie looks fine, but pales when viewed in the context of Lawrie’s first-round 64, which placed him atop the leaderboard. He put nine birdies on his card that day, against a single bogey.
Lawrie didn’t exceed that number of birdies over the remaining 54 holes, although there were eight bogeys in that span, plus a double-bogey 7 on the back nine on Sunday. He finished at 281 (64-72-72-73).
