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In windy conditions that must have reminded the 35-year-old Irishman of home, Seamus Power earned his second PGA Tour title.
As the top-ranked player in the field at No. 48 in the world, Seamus Power played with the knowledge that he was the favorite in a PGA Tour field for the first time. It didn’t bother him one bit.
Power poured in a 25-foot downhill birdie putt at No. 14 and withstood a couple of late bogeys to notch a one-stroke victory at the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
“I knew it was going to be really hard coming in and it was,” Power said. “I made hard work of it at the end but delighted to get it done.”
Power, the 54-hole co-leader, set a tournament record with 28 birdies for the week, including five in the final round. He closed with a 1-under 70 on Sunday at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, for a 72-hole total of 19-under 265 to beat Belgium’s Thomas Detry (67).
In windy conditions that must have reminded the 35-year-old Irishman of home, Power earned his second Tour title by making three birdies in his first seven holes and hanging on as the conditions worsened.
“It was a challenge on every putt, every tee shot,” said Detry, who holed a bunker shot at the last for birdie to secure solo second. “It was a commitment out there.”
Ben Griffin, who just 21 months ago had quit the game and had been working as a mortgage officer, made six birdies on his first 11 holes to stake himself to a two-stroke lead before his game unraveled. Port Royal is the shortest course on the Tour, but the wind is the major hazard a golfer must contend with and it howled to 35 miles per hour. The second nine is more exposed to the wind and Griffin’s game was blown away by the frisky gusts that nudged balls in all directions and the growing pressure of trying to close out his first win. He made four bogeys and a double bogey in a five-hole span to shoot 1-over 72 and tumble into a three-way tie for third. (On the bright side, it marks his best career result in eight Tour starts.)
Seamus Power hits his first shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on Oct. 30, 2022 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
“I had a couple shots get loose in the wind and you’ve got to be a little bit better, more precise when it gets windy like that or else you can kind of grind for pars and bogeys quick. That happened to me,” Griffin said. “It’s a learning experience and I’m just happy to be out here competing. I know my time will come soon.”
Power can relate to how hard it is to win. Fifteen times in his Tour career, Power had been in the top 10 heading into Sunday and only once had he improved his position, which was his victory in a six-hole playoff at the Barbasol Championship last summer. This time, Power believed in himself and his birdie putt at the par-4 14th hugged its line. It proved to be the turning point just after Griffin hooked his tee shot into trouble and made bogey. That two-stroke swing gave Power the lead and he never let go of it.
“They talk about trying to win for the first time or the second time, usually the guys who’ve been there before when the door is open, they smell it,” Golf Channel’s Curt Byrum said. “They stand there and they walk right through that opening.”
An imposing sequence of finishing holes test not only the skills but the nerves of a player. Bothered by a whipping west wind, Power gave a stroke back at 15, then took three putts from 70 feet at 16, but bounced back with a birdie at 17 and needed the cushion because he bogeyed the last.
“Completely different feeling but just as special,” Power said of validating his first win, which is expected to lift him to a career-best No. 32 in the world. “To be able to win again, it’s fantastic.”
Contenders include golfers looking to end droughts or win for the first time.
The wind picked up Saturday at Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda on Saturday, but it didn’t affect everyone from going low.
Moving day lived up to its mantra during the third round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Plenty of golfers made big moves up the leaderboard, including leaders Seamus Power and Ben Griffin, while others faded.
In fact, by getting to 18 under, Power and Griffin each set the 54-hole tournament record.
In the first of two straight PGA Tour events outside of the United States, there are numerous golfers looking to find their way back into the winner’s circle while others are looking to hoist a trophy for the first time.
Here are some takeaways from the third round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Port Royal Golf Course is short on the scorecard at a mere 6,828 yards but long on demands for precision shotmaking.
What a long, strange trip it has been for Lucas Glover.
Winning the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black has become the signature victory of four PGA Tour titles since turning pro out of Clemson in 2001. Among the spoils at the time for Glover was a berth in the Grand Slam of Golf at Port Royal Golf Course on the western tip of Bermuda.
Glover returns this week to Southampton, Bermuda, to compete in the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, where he’ll be the only player in the 132-man field with a plaque on the course: “Man, I’ve never been so nervous on a shot.”
The 16th tee at Port Royal Golf Club in Bermuda. (Mark Williams/PGA Tour)
The marker recognizes Glover’s victory in the now-defunct event, which consisted of that season’s four major winners. It sits on the back tee box of the infamous 235-yard par-3 16th hole, which demands a tee shot to a spit of land that practically hangs over the water. Until Tuesday, Glover had only seen the plaque in photos that friends had sent him. He explained that his quote was less about the difficulty of the shot at the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design than teeing off steps away from the South Shore cliff and fearing the potential plunge.
“It’s good to be back. It’s always good to come back to a place where you have had success,” said Glover, whose caddie this week is Steve Lambert Jr., moonlighting from his regular job as the head golf professional at Port Royal. “It’s 13 years ago, so it doesn’t even matter anymore, but it’s always nice to be where you’ve had some success.”
Glover, 42, ended a decade-long victory drought at the 2021 John Deere Classic and last season snuck into the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where he had his best result of the year to date at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, finishing tied for third.
“I had a good playoffs, let’s put it that way. It wasn’t a great year leading up to it, but took advantage of being in Memphis,” he said last week at the CJ Cup in South Carolina. “Yeah, I still feel like I can play out here.”
He returns to a course that is short on the scorecard – at a mere 6,828 yards it is the shortest course of those used for Tour events – but long on demands for precision shotmaking. Its winding fairways are banked by blooming oleander and whispering casuarina pines and its hilltop greens afford stunning views of turquoise sea, craggy coral rock formations, swaying palm trees and white-roofed, pastel cottages.
The back nine is considered more attractive – with views of Hamilton Harbor from Nos. 11 and 12 – as well as more challenging because the wind frequently blows from the west. Describing it as a triumph of design over distance, Seamus Power, who finished T-12 last year and is one of 10 players to make the cut in all three editions of this event, said the fickle wind off the ocean makes up for a lack of length.
“The course is kind of designed for it, which I like. It kind of helps you picture some of the shots with wind directions,” said Power, noting he’s hit both sand wedge and 3-wood for his second shot at the 517-yard par-5, seventh hole. “I’ve seen it in all different winds at this point and it’s just fun, all sorts of different shots here, uphill and down, makes it fun to play, makes it challenging, but it’s kind of enjoyable.”
The field lacks star power – at No. 48 in the world, Power is the top-ranked player in the field with just four more players inside the top 100. Also missing is defending champion Lucas Herbert, who opted to attend a wedding back home in Australia.
But a win here comes with plenty of perks and as a standalone event for the third straight year, it dishes out 500 FedEx Cup points to the champion. European Tour Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, hungry Korn Ferry Tour grads such as Taylor Montgomery and S.H. Kim, who already have proven they belong in the big leagues, 56-year-old fan favorite John Daly and 18-year-old future star Caleb Surratt, a freshman at Tennessee, are all in the field.
Should they ever decide to add a plaque at Port Royal for Power, the 35-year-old Irishman happily would take it at another of the course’s postcard par-3 holes.
“You walk back to 8 tee and then you turn back around, it’s really our first time seeing the ocean on the course,” he said. “I always think that moment is gorgeous there. You’re just seeing the sunshine off the water and it’s spectacular.”
It was in 2017 that the ex-Stanford golfer “packed up everything I owned” and moved to Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS — TPC Summerlin opened in 1991 and has been the sole location for the PGA Tour’s Vegas stop since 2008. The private course closed in April of this year for a massive re-sodding of all the tee boxes, fairways and greens.
It stayed closed till Monday of tournament week for the Shriners Children’s Open and not a ball was struck for five months, according to tournament director Patrick Lindsey, until Harry Hall on the 1st hole and Maverick McNealy on the 10th sent their shots flying early that morning.
“I wanted to be the first guy out at least on one of the nines and take the first divot, so I was here at 6:30 ready to tee off,” said McNealy, who has lived in the area since 2017.
He grew up in Northern California and played his college golf at Stanford. Five years ago, when he first played in Vegas, he decided he needed a change of address.
“Sam Ryder, he and I on the 1st hole [today], we were talking about the first time we played together five years ago. It was 2017 when we played this tournament. We were paired together. It felt like yesterday, but it also feels like forever ago,” McNealy said. “That was the week that I packed up everything I owned in my mom’s old Ford Explorer and drove to Las Vegas and moved here.”
He wasted no time fitting in to his new surroundings.
“I’ve been a proud resident for five years, a hockey fan and lucky to get to play a golf course like this, TPC Summerlin. Right next door, TPC Las Vegas, The Summit, Shadow Creek. There’s a lot of great golf courses out here.”
On Thursday, McNealy, who estimated he’s played TPC Summerlin as many as 150 times, shot a bogey-free, 7-under 64 to start his week. It’s his lowest tournament round in 11 outings at the Shriners.
Going low is the name of the game in golf and that’s especially true at a course that yields a lot of birdies. Avoiding bogey is also key, as golfers can’t afford to go backwards on this fast track.
Of the 180 holes played by the top 10 on the leaderboard of early-wave golfers Thursday, there were only five bogeys recorded.
Scenic views at the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images)
And if birdies are good, eagles are great. Tom Hoge had two of them on his way to posting an 8-under 63 to take the outright clubhouse lead. It’s the second time he’s had two eagles in the same round. On Thursday, he made eagle two different ways, first holing out from 109 yards with a 52-degree wedge on No. 7, then pouring in a 30-foot putt on No. 16.
“It’s always nice to hole a wedge shot like that because it’s been a while since I’ve done it,” Hoge said. “Shoot, I’m trying to think of the last. I can’t even remember.”
It’s the ninth 18-hole lead for Hoge in his career.
Tied with McNealy in second at 7 under is Si Woo Kim, who had one of those five bogeys but he also tacked on eight birdies.
Kim was grouped with Presidents Cup teammate Tom Kim and Presidents Cup rival Max Homa. The U.S. vs. Internationals battle was a frequent topic of discussion for the group for more than four hours Thursday.
“We still have good memories there,” Si Woo Kim said. “We still talk about the Presidents Cup, like some holes. Then I finish a hole, and Tom came over on 18 and I said, ‘If you make that one, I got to ask you to go throw the hat like the last hole Saturday,'” he quipped.
Tom Kim is also in the mix at the Shriners. He, too, shot a bogey-free round of 6-under 65. Defending champ Sungjae Im, Sam Ryder, Keith Mitchell, Will Gordon, Thomas Detry and Tyler Duncan also all posted 65s.
For McNealy, having a home-course advantage and a strong cheering section can only help.
“It’s a really fun week because I have probably 15 to 20 people out watching on a given day. If I get to the weekend, it will be a big crowd,” he said.
And there are no second thoughts about his move to Vegas.
“It’s been awesome. My three brothers now live with me. We’re all living in the same house together. Joseph Bramlett lives with me. He’s also on Tour. And my parents are 15 minutes down the street. Really put my roots down here.”
Other scores of note on Thursday include Jason Day (5-under 66), Max Homa and Patrick Cantlay (4-under 67), Gary Woodland (3-under 68) and Rickie Fowler (1-under 70).
The first round was suspended due to darkness at 6:29 p.m. local time (9:39 p.m. ET) with three golfers still on the course, all of them on their last hole: Scott Harrington and Philip Knowles on No. 9, Eric Cole on No. 18.
Betting odds, field notes and more for this week’s PGA Tour stop.
A few days after Matt Fitzpatrick’s stellar U.S. Open win at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, the players have traveled just down the road to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship.
And the field is loaded.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy are in Hartford, Connecticut. In total, five of the world’s top-10 players will be teeing it up this week.
As it stands now, Brooks Koepka is also in the field. However, it was reported Tuesday morning that the four-time major champion is leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. We’ll have to wait and see if he actually plays on the U.S. circuit this week.
Golf course
TPC River Highlands | Par 70 | 6,852 yards
The 15th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. (Photo: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)
Key statistics
Even though this is a short golf course, distance isn’t king around here. A variety of different styles can win at River Highlands, just look at the last three winners: Harris English, Dustin Johnson and Chez Reavie. With that being said, driving accuracy will be key this week as the rough is long and very penal. The winning score will be somewhere in the mid to high teens, so running into a hot putter will be important, as well.
Data Golf Information
Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. TPC Potomac, 2. East Lake, 3. TPC Twin Cities
Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Scottie Scheffler (7.9 percent), 2. Rory McIlroy (7.7 percent), 3. Patrick Cantlay (6.2 percent)
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There’s still one more automatic invite to the Masters on the line this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The field for the Masters has swelled by five.
Thomas Pieters (No. 34), Harold Varner III (40), Seamus Power (41), Russell Henley (42) and Cameron Young (47) are the latest to punch their ticket down Magnolia Lane to play in the first men’s major next week. That stretches the smallest field of the four majors to 91 players, and still includes Tiger Woods on the list of past champions planning to play.
Pieters and Varner didn’t have to sweat it out last week at the Dell Technologies Match Play as they had become virtual locks thanks in part to their respective victories in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia earlier this year. For Varner, 31, it will be his first appearance in the Masters.
The same can be said for Power, who won last summer and has continued a meteoric rise this season that included making the quarterfinals in Austin. Young, 24, is a graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour and used strong performances at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October and a runner-up finish at the Genesis Invitational to surge into the top 50.
Henley, who last won on Tour in 2017, is making his fifth Masters start after climbing inside the top 50 on the back of losing a sudden-death playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The hard-luck losers are Cameron Tringale (No. 52), Richard Bland (53) and Alex Noren (57), who were left on the outside looking in. Bland, who lost to Dustin Johnson in the Round of 16 at the Match Play, tweeted his disappointment.
Unfortunately 3 places short 😏 #53. Need a win this week at The Texas Valero or Augusta to look on me kindly 🙏🏻 #masters
There’s still one more automatic invite to the Masters on the line this week. The winner of the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, if not already qualified, will be the last man in the field. The Masters begins April 7.
Only three of the top seven seeds captured a point in their matches Thursday at Austin Country Club.
AUSTIN, Texas — As is often the case at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play — an event that can produce similar chaos to its NCAA basketball counterparts that run in the same month — the second round of action busted quite a few brackets and put some others on notice.
Bryson DeChambeau, making his return from an injury, was quickly eliminated after two erratic and uneven performances. Local favorites Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler were thumped by Englishmen Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, respectively, and will likely need to win on Friday to advance.
And the hottest player and current Cinderella is a relative unknown, 42-seeded Irishman Seamus Power, who followed up Wednesday’s thrashing of Sungjae Im by unloading on World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, taking a second consecutive match 5 and 4.
It all sets up for an interesting final day of pool play when action resumes Friday at Austin Country Club.
Justin Rose shakes hands with Jordan Spieth after winning their match during the second day of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. (Photo: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports)
Brooks Koepka is also circling after a pair of victories in the opening two rounds, beating Harold Varner III 2 and 1 on Thursday after topping Erik van Rooyen on Wednesday.
Koepka never trailed to Varner, using a string of three consecutive birdies on the front nine to get ahead for good. Although he has two points, Koepka could still fail to reach the Round of 16 if he loses Friday, then falls in a playoff.
Either way, the four-time major champ insisted he won’t coast, even though his name comfortably sits atop his pool.
“I don’t ever have expectations. I show up and I want to win. I feel like I can. But I think that’s where guys screw up, they start thinking ahead. That’s where nerves come into play,” Koepka said. “You start thinking about, well, if I could just par these last two, I can get in the clubhouse and win or whatever, and that’s usually when guys make mistakes, instead of just finishing off the round and play exactly like you would, they change up the game plan.
“I never get ahead of myself. It’s just whatever shot is in front of me, I just worry about that one, I could care less what I’ve got in front, two holes, a hole, whatever, it doesn’t make a difference.”
Top-seeded Jon Rahm was victorious, but only three of the top seven seeds captured a point in their matches Thursday as Collin Morikawa tied Sergio Garcia while Cantlay, fifth-seeded Scheffler and Xander Schauffele (No. 7) all lost.
Reigning champ Billy Horschel posted a 3-and-2 victory over Tom Hoge, giving him seven consecutive victories in the event — his last five matches last year to win the title and the first two this year — which leaves him six short of matching Tiger Woods, who holds the record with 13 consecutive wins in the Match Play from 2003-05. Woods also is the only player to win back-to-back Match Play titles.
Among those with two points after two rounds of play are Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Corey Conners, Alex Noren and Lucas Herbert, who holed out a putt on the 18th hole to defeat Schauffele.
The 20th-seeded Fitzpatrick was ecstatic to be in an advantageous position after he topped fellow English countryman Ian Poulter, 4 and 2.
“This is a miracle,” he said. “This is the closest I’ve gotten to getting out of the group. I’m happy with the start. The good thing is it’s in my hands, so if I go out and win tomorrow, I’ll go through.”
The third round of pool play is Friday. After that, the field will be trimmed to 16 players and single elimination will begin Saturday.
“It’s a great start for the tournament, but it’s only halfway.”
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Seamus Power set one tournament record and tied another Friday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Yet he wasn’t jolted by the news.
“It’s a nice thing to have, but does anyone know who had the 5-shot lead? They’re only going to remember who won,” Power said when asked about tying the record for the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history in relation to par. To answer his question, Power joined Bob Rosburg (1958) and Charlie Wi (2012) in the record books for the largest 36-hole advantage.
With a second consecutive 64, this one at sparkling Pebble Beach, Power moved to 16 under and in prime position to win his second PGA Tour title.
“It’s a great start for the tournament, but it’s only halfway,” Power said. “There’s a long way to go and there’s a lot of good players in the field that I’m sure are going to make a lot of birdies over the weekend. So I’m going to have to keep going and see what happens on Sunday.”
Power was more energized by his 128 total, the lowest 36-hole tally in tournament history; the previous record of 129 was held by Phil Mickelson (2005) and Nick Taylor (2020). The total is testament to Power’s continued fine form and staggering emergence in professional golf.
On another picturesque, soothing day on the Monterey Peninsula, Power recorded his seventh round of 65 or better in the 14 he’s played this year. The man who was 463rd in the world rankings last March is well on his way to his 13th top-20 finish in his last 18 starts on the PGA Tour. He’s is presently ranked 50th.
His superb stretch included his first PGA Tour title in the Barbasol Championship, which he said was “massive,” for it not only confirmed his belief he could win out here, but it allowed him to set his own schedule with basically unlimited starts.
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“It’s night and day, to be honest,” Power said of his confidence level now compared to last March. “It’s one of those things, you want to play with confidence but how do you get confidence without playing well? So it’s one of those things I’ve been able to work on off the course and it’s led to some improved results on it. But I just feel much more comfortable in these positions.”
Power is clear of three players at 11 under – Andrew Putnam shot 67 at Spyglass, overnight leader Tom Hoge shot 69 at Monterey Peninsula, and Adam Svensson shot 63 at Monterey Peninsula.
Three players are at 10 under, including Patrick Cantlay, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 4. Cantlay, who has two wins and two other top 10s in his last four starts, shot 68 at Spyglass. He moves to Pebble Beach for the third round.
“Obviously the lead’s a little ways away, but there’s a lot of golf left, it’s only halftime?” Cantlay said. “Pebble Beach two days in a row, which is always nice. We should get another couple days of great weather, some of the best I’ve seen at this tournament, so Pebble will probably be ripe for scoring.
“I’m not so worried about the sole leader, per se. I’m right there with the rest of the group of guys and like I said it’s only halftime. I still would be surprised if he continues to run away and extend that lead. I’m just going to keep trucking along.”
Cantlay was joined at 10 under by Austin Smotherman, who shot 68 at Monterey Peninsula, and Matthias Schwab, who shot 62 at Pebble Beach.
Jason Day of Australia plays a shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course on February 04, 2022, in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
A large collection of players are at 9 under, including Jason Day, who has eight top-7 finishes in the event without winning it.
They are all chasing Power. After a sluggish start, Power flipped the switch with birdies on six and seven and then birdied nine, 10, 11 and 12, one of the toughest stretches in golf, the ninth and 10th, for instance, hug the coastline. Three of those birdies came on putts inside 8 feet, the other from 20 feet.
“That’s not always the stretch that you’re thinking you’re going to get,” he said. “But sometimes you’re just on and you just got to roll with it.”
His roll ended with three birdies in his last five holes, including a wedge to inside 5 feet on the par-5 18th.
“My wedge play was great,” he said. “I had like three or four shots I hit very, very close and the way I’ve been putting, they were not gimmie birdies, but certainly ones you would expect to make, and it just changes your whole complex of your round, of your score.”
Power has been putting much better since switching to the claw grip.
“I figured out my putting early last year and I had always been a good putter and I kind of was struggling, but I changed the grip and it’s solidified that for me,” he said. “And then found a couple things with my swing. It doesn’t take much. I mean it’s only a shot here and a shot there that really separates from finishing top 20 versus 40th or 50th and I’ve been able to tidy up some of those loose ends and it’s been much better.”
But one name popped from the leaderboard in Thursday’s first round.
And it’s a name that should be remembered. Power, Seamus Power.
On a bright, calm day by the sea, the Irishman with the dynamic surname, who was ranked 438th in the world last April and facing the prospect of losing his playing status on the PGA Tour, continued his fine form with a bogey-free, 8-under-par 64 at Spyglass, which included four consecutive birdies to finish the round.
“I know this place always plays the hardest,” Power said. “I’ve always really enjoyed playing Spyglass, it kind of suits my eye and game feels in good shape so I was like, why not? I hit a horrible tee shot on the par-3 5th, had a very good up-and-down to kind of stay at 4 (under) and then just kind of clicked coming in, really, made a couple of very nice putts and a couple of very nice shots.”
Power trails only Tom Hoge, who finished runner-up two weeks ago in the American Express and grabbed the first-round lead with a bogey-free, 9-under-par 63 at Pebble Beach. Hoge, who made six consecutive birdies on his incoming nine, is another player on the rise; he has risen from 114th in the world rankings to 68th since the start of the season.
“It’s hard to be in a bad mood out here,” said Hoge, who is looking for his first PGA Tour title. “I mean, Pebble Beach and perfect weather is about as good as it gets. So it was a lot of fun. I feel like I’ve been playing well. I’ve been excited to get out here on the golf course and feel like Pebble Beach is a golf course that suits me well, so I was excited to get out here this week.
“I made some putts. I switched putters this week (after missing the cut in the Famers Insurance Open). To see one go in right off the bat today on the first hole was huge for me. I felt like I made a lot of good putts out there today, but I felt like I was very close last week, just a very hard golf course (the South at Torrey Pines) out there. I drove it in the rough a few too many times and just didn’t make enough putts. But the margins are so small between missing a cut and being in contention, so you just try to keep a positive attitude and just keep plugging away.”
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Jonas Blixt, who won Tour titles in 2012 and 2013 but has fallen to No. 1,219 in the world rankings, shot 7-under-par 64 on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula. Rookie Austin Smotherman, who tied for 11th last week in the Farmers Insurance Open, made two eagles and shot 65 at Pebble Beach.
The biggest name on the first page of the leaderboard was Patrick Cantlay, the reigning FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour player of the year. The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 4, who has two wins and two other top-10s in his most recent four starts, birdied his last three holes to shoot 65 on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula.
“I started off strong and had a weird middle of the round, definitely gave a few away. And then closed really strong. So finishing with three in a row on this golf course is a really nice finish and I’m happy with my start for the week,” he said. “I really like it up here. It’s just so beautiful. And when we get a week like this with good weather it’s the best.”
Also at 65 at Monterey Peninsula was Andrew Putnam.
“I mean this course is incredible. I feel like you could sleep on the fairways, they’re like just perfect,” Putnam said.
Former world No. 1 Jason Day, who has eight top-7 finishes without a victory in the tournament, shot 68 at Pebble.
Jordan Spieth, the three-time major winner who won this event in 2017, shot 68 at Monterey Peninsula.
Power’s emergence began when he strung together five consecutive top-20 finishes beginning last May, then won the Barbasol Championship in July. In his last seven starts on the PGA Tour, he has six top-15 results, including three in as many starts this year. He is now ranked 50th in the world.
“It’s always funny with the three courses,” he said. “Obviously it’s great to have a good start but you’re on to a completely different challenge. (Friday) I’m playing Pebble at 8:40 and it’s going to be a completely different course to today.
“So kind of makes it easier to reset and so hopefully we can kind of keep doing the same thing tomorrow.”
