Power play propels Seamus into PGA's top 125

Strong Sunday finish catapults Waterford man from 205th to 123rd

Mon, 12 Jul, 2021 - 09:27

Tony Leen and Agencies

ANOTHER €153,000 banked and more importantly a top 125 spot in the FedEx ranking combined to make it another productive PGA Tour weekend for West Waterford's Seamus Power at the John Deere Classic in Illinois.
Power came homein 32 shots (four under) to finish tied eighth behind winner Lucas Glover, meaning in his last five Tour events, the 34 year old Irish man has had three ten tens and a pair of top 20s.

The strong Sunday finish propelled him from 205th to 123rd in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 after next month’s Wyndham Championship making the playoffs and securing their PGA Tour card for next season.

“I had a lot of ground to make up, and I’m kind of working on it still. But any time you get a decent finish out here, you’ve got to play well, you’ve got to work hard," he said.

“There’s still golf going on all around the world here in the next few weeks, so it’s nice to get some points under my belt and have something to build on.

"My game is in a good spot at the moment, so it helps the mind be a little bit more relaxed. But I've still got a lot of work to do to get at least in the Top 125 to get in the Playoffs. That's going to be my main goal for now, and I think I've got the next two weeks coming up, so we start again on Tuesday." said Power.

Power didn't finish high enough to secure a late invite to the Open Championship at Royal St George's, so heads instead this week to the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Glover was in log jam that at one pointed featured 25 players separated by three shots. Someone had to emerge, and it turned out to be him.

It started with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole. He hit his approach into 4 feet and 7 feet on the next two holes, and then flushed a 7-iron to 3 feet on the 15th hole to take the lead.

Glover finished his run with a 12-foot birdie on the par-5 17th, and a 6-foot putt to save par from the bunker on the 18th that he figured would come in handy.

It never got to that. No one could catch him. He finished at 19-under 265 for his fourth career PGA Tour victory.

Kevin Na tried to make a run with three birdies in four holes until he was slowed by a bogey on the 15th and couldn’t make up enough ground. He shot a 68. Ryan Moore also closed with a 68 for a runner-up finish.

Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, hit a shank from an awkward stance with the ball above his feet on the first hole. He made bogey and it was a sign of struggles to come. He closed with a 71 and tied for fourth, three shots back.

“Took me three holes to readjust from that, and then did a good job from there,” Munoz said.

Also finishing three shots behind were Adam Schenk (67), Luke List (68) and Scott Brown (69).

The victory at the 50th edition of the John Deere Classic makes Glover exempt on the PGA Tour through 2023, significant for a 41-year-old who had to go through the Web.com Tour Finals in 2015 just to get his full card back.

“It’s been a long 10 years. There’s been some struggles,” Glover said. “I knew it was in there. I had to clean up my brain a little bit and just hit some shots, just play golf. I never lost sight of believing I could do this and win again. It’s always nice to prove yourself right.”

Glover already was in the Open from having reached the Tour Championship in 2019 (the 2020 British Open was cancelled by the pandemic). Moore earned the lone spot at Royal St. George’s, though it was unclear he was going to take it.