On a day when the leading players wobbled, the Waterford native was rock-steady.
71, 69, 67. It keeps getting better for Seamus Power.
The 35-year-old may have taken a while to get his first taste of the majors – debuting at The Masters in April – but he is lapping it up now.
After more than holding his own at Augusta National, Power is right in the mix at Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Power teed off almost two hours before overnight leaders Will Zalatoris and Mito Pereira, at the 2022 US PGA Championship. When he bogeyed the third hole, he was 10 shots off frontrunner Zalatoris. Business soon picked up, though.
The current world No.42 birdied four and five to get himself going. He gave those two shots back, around the turn, but his closing stretch was mightily impressive.
There were birdies on 12, 13 and 15 as Power started to hole testing putts. Power was up to -2 and he decided to drive for the green on the 296-yard 17th. This is how close he came to an albatross:
Seamus Power went THIS close to an albatross on the 17th
Finished -3 and is right in this one pic.twitter.com/C3VTzg2y0v
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) May 21, 2022
Seamus Power finishes strong
That Seamus Power drive scooted by the hole, on 17, just inches from the flag before settling 15 feet off the green. He chipped close to the hole and sank his birdie putt to go -3.
The Déise man got a par on the testing 18th to card a third round of 69. At that stage, he was only three behind Zalatoris and Pereira who, both having blips, had dropped back to -6. They did find birdies over the closing stretch, but Power is not out of this yet.
The same could not be said for Shane Lowry, who could not get any real momentum together and carded a 71 to finish out on +3.
Earlier in the week, Power posed with Irish major winners Lowry, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy after a foursomes practice round. If Sunday goes his way, and he improves his score again, he could join them in the major-winners circle.
“Obviously I’ll go out a little before any of the leaders,” he reflected. “If I can get a couple birdies on the card, it can make the world of difference. Every hole here is pretty tough. You have no holes off. You have no easy shots, especially if it’s going to blow last week today again.
“For me, it’s a lot of the same, and then you need a couple breaks to go your way. Obviously you’re hoping no one is going to run away from you today, and then tomorrow just kind of maybe make one of those 35-, 40-footers or maybe a little chip-in, and that can be the difference sometimes.”
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