Seamus Power ready for next level after achieving life’s dream

The West Waterford man might be ranked 116th in the world, but he knows he's arguably one of the most in-form players in the game, and he feels ready to win again

POWER AND GLORY: In the aftermath of his first US Tour victory in the Barbasol Championship, Seamus Power was honoured by his home club West Waterford last month, with included, Dave Condon, president; Edward Hickey captain, and Nell Supple, lady captain. Picture: Eddie O’Hare

The text message counter on Seamus Power’s phone was ticking over like the altimeter on Apollo 11.

He was amused at first but quickly flipped to airplane mode and left it to caddie Simon Keelan to watch the scoreboard as they waited to see if they’d made a play-off for the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky three weeks ago. An hour later, he was speaking to the media after winning a six-hole play-off with JT Poston to clinch a win that opens the doors to unimaginable riches over the next few years.

“The text messages number was something like 2,000,” Power said from his potential new base in Las Vegas.

“I turned it on when I was on the driving range, just to keep an eye on what was going on on the course, and the text message thing was going up like a clock ticking — bum, bum, bum. So I put it on airplane mode and just had Simon follow it. Afterwards, when I was doing the media, I had 2,100-and-something text messages and WhatsApps and phone calls. It’s unbelievable. I didn’t realise I knew that many people.”

Everyone want to share in his joy and the messages included texts from Paul McGinley and Pádraig Harrington, his compatriots on the Rio Olympics.

But having taken Harrington’s advice to heart and celebrated to the hilt after his sponsors, Power Home Remodeling, flew him home on a private jet to help celebrate a win he hopes will be just the first of many, it’s time now to get back to work.

He returns to action in the $6.4m (€5.4m) Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro this week safe in the knowledge that he’s already qualified for the first FedEx Cup Play-off event next week, the Northern Trust at Liberty National and that his card is safe until the end of 2023. But he’s not ready to rest on his laurels.

“I have never had the luxury of going into the Wyndham without the pressure,” he said. “Even the year I did finish in the top 125 in the FedEx Cup, I was a wreck at the end of it.”

Just making the play-offs is not enough for the man from Tooraneena, currently ranked 72nd in the standings, who knows that if he can make the top 70 over the next two weeks, he will be in the BMW Championship and can dream of making the Tour Championship for the top 30 at East Lake in Atlanta next month, where he can battle for the $15m (€12.7m) FedEx Cup bonus.

He’s already into all the big invitational events next year — the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, the Genesis at Riviera, the Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill, the Charles Schwab and the Memorial — not to mention the Players at Sawgrass and the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

But he knows that those who make it to East Lake have carte blanche in 2022 with the big prizes those starts in the Masters at Augusta National, the US Open at Brookline and The Open at St Andrews.

“That’s the goal, to get to the Tour Championship,” he said. “I want to get a little momentum in the Wyndham going into Liberty National where the points really go up. That’s where you want to be, East Lake; it opens up so many doors and would change my next season.”

Making the Playoffs and securing his card was Power’s big goal this year but having surpassed that by winning his first title, he is looking to move to the next level.

“The first step on the ladder was to get back and put myself in a position where I can get into events I want to be in and start making some noise in some of the bigger tournaments,” he said. “I’m not in any of the majors yet apart from PGA, so this still only gets me closer to the top tier, but it’s a nice stepping stone.

“I always believed deep down that’s where I wanted to play, and that’s where I’m going to play. A lot more work to be done, but hopefully, I’m going to get there. That’s where you want to be, and that’s why you’ve got to get another win, and get in contention again, climb the world rankings, the FedEx Cup rankings and make all those things possible.”

Power might be ranked 116th in the world, but he knows he’s arguably one of the most in-form players in the game, and he feels ready to win again.

“My game is in a spot where I’m very confident that I’m going to be right in contention multiple times coming up soon, so that’s where you want to be,” he said.

“I feel like my game’s good enough that I’m going to have a chance coming up, and then it’s just a matter of whether I can do what I need to do in those circumstances.”

The key to turning all those good weekends into a win was down to the influence of psychologist Dr Bob Rotella, who helped him put together a plan that helped him avoid the indecisiveness that had led to costly double bogeys in previous weeks.

“I just said this to (caddie) Simon (Keelan), just make sure if I am in any way indecisive, pull me off a shot,” he said. “I stuck to that even in the play-off, so knowing I don’t hit good shots when I am indecisive, I said, let’s make sure I am decisive on the thing anyway.”

As for the money — he’s won $1,484,029 (€1,263,110) this year for career earnings of $4,046,272 (€3,443,836) — he’s not planning on buying a jet and living for now in “no-tax” Las Vegas to see how it suits his lifestyle.

“It definitely helps and makes decisions a little easier,” he said of the cash. “The PGA Tour rewards are very good anyway. So even without the win, you are plodding along, making very good money.

“The biggest thing that changes for me is just that exemption, knowing I can make some decent plans for the next couple of years which I have not been able to do for a long time. Yes, the money is brilliant and stuff, and it takes a lot of pressure off. I will save for my retirement and make sure I am in a good spot, but things won’t change much.”

Fame and fortune certainly haven’t changed him, even if he did fly home in a private jet last month, much to his pals’ amusement.

“We had a couple of buddies meet us at Cork airport— Cian McNamara and Roy Clarke and Liam Deasy— and Simon was sending them a message.

And they were like, ‘What do you mean flying into Cork?’

“And Simon was like sending a message back saying: ‘It’s a G5 into Cork,’ and he looked at me and said: I never thought I’d send that message to anyone. It’s some way to travel, in fairness.”

Ten years after turning professional, Power has finally made it to the very top — the realisation only sinking in when he met Bob May at TPC Las Vegas and the man who lost to Tiger Woods in the 2000 PGA Championship play-off informed him that as a tour winner, he had free use of all TPC courses for life.

“Geez, I am a winner on the PGA Tour and knowing I have two more years at least to play on there, that’s very satisfying,” he said.

“A lot of work goes into it, and a lot of failures along the way and a lot of downs and stuff. But finally, instead of saying, I know I can win on the PGA Tour, to be able to say that I have actually done it, it’s a very cool feeling. Then to come home and see my Dad and see the pride in his face, they are probably the two things that stick out the most.”