Seamus Power appears to have regained a semblance of form with his finish at joint-18th in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina, his fourth top 20 of 2023, but only his first since February. At 7-under-par 277 (69-70-67-71), he was too far back to pose a threat to the contenders (Wyndham Clark won at 19-under), although he displayed a consistency that has been in scant evidence since the Tour’s West Coast swing.
Save for his third round, where he threw five birdies onto his card (including three straight to close out the front nine), Power never really got on a run that would have made a difference. For that matter, he avoided big mistakes that would have seen him take up residence farther down the leaderboard.
The leadup to the tournament focused on how this might serve as a springboard for Rory McIlroy to put the last month’s travails behind him, especially since he’d won this event three times before and the Tour’s top names were taking the week off. Such was not to be.
McIlroy tied for 47th place at even-par 284, 19 strokes off Clark’s winning number. A first-round 68 was inspiring but subsequent rolls of the dice yielded 73, 71 and 72.
That 68 was nicked by just a single bogey. Four dropped shots, including three in a row on the front nine on Friday, put McIlroy in a position where he needed a birdie at 14 to stagger across the cut line and get to play the weekend. He alternated brilliance with befuddlement over the weekend as he continues to find his way out of the fog in which he’s been mired now for the last month.
Rory McIlroy. [Inpho/Treacy Morgan]
Rounds of 72 kept Shane Lowry from making the cut. There was nothing terrible about either round but, then, there was nothing especially positive about them, either. He missed the cut by a stroke.
Power will try to maintain his form in this week’s Byron Nelson Classic in Texas, while McIlroy and Lowry prepare for next week’s PGA Championship at their own pace.
