Players invite a major boost for Séamus Power

 Seamus Power of Ireland. Pic: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

The expression “easy as 1-2-3” certainly didn’t feel that way the last couple of weeks for Séamus Power.

The magic number this week at the Players Championship was 123 – a boost of three spots from the new reduced field size of 120 in the PGA Tour’s flagship event. 

But since LIV defector Brooks Koepka was invited for the first time since 2022, the tour vowed not to take a spot away from anyone and would add two more bodies to the field to make an additional threesome.

Power and Patton Kizzire ended up being the two beneficiaries of Koepka’s inclusion. All Power was worried about was Koepka withdrawing before noon on Monday when the official tee times were posted and the field size locked.

“So they posted a field like last Monday, and I was 123 and literally never moved,” said Power, who watched anxiously to see if a previously unqualified winner at Puerto Rico or the Arnold Palmer Invitational would bump him out.

“Ricky Castillo won (in Puerto Rico) and he was already in this field, so that worked,” Power said. “I mean, I was following that pretty closely, because there was other guys up around that who weren’t in and they would have pushed me out. So when he won, you’re assuming that Brooks is not going to withdraw. So it’s just a weird thing. But 123 of 123 , it was nice. Because at least that settles a week, because otherwise you’re kind of trying to prepare, but the same time you’re kind of looking at the (alternate) list. You’re following this Rory (McIlroy back injury) thing like crazy, and you don’t want to wish injuries on anyone.” 

Getting a bonus invitation to the Players is a big lift for Power, who is navigating the new reality of a shrinking PGA Tour. Not only was the pool of fully exempt players trimmed from 125 to 100 in 2026, the field sizes have decreased across the board.

Power finished 117th in the final 2025 FedEx Cup standings, which left him with only conditional status this season. That cost him a chance to play in Phoenix at the beginning of February and has limited to six starts so far. 

a top-10 finish this week at TPC Sawgrass to guarantees him a spot in next week’s Valspar Championship field, he’s staring at the potential for a relatively idle stretch over the next couple months unless he Monday qualifies his way into one of the next three tour events before the Masters.

“This year is gonna be weird for me, but good,” Power said. “So this next stretch is going to be crap for me. But after that, once I get to the Zurich (Classic), I’m going to play the same schedule as I did last year, because all the fields go to 144 after that and a lot of the top guys don’t play a lot of those ones in summer.

“So this was a nice bonus. Maybe I can play well and do something there into next week, Houston and Valero will be little dicey. We’ll see. Maybe, hopefully, get lucky and get one of those. I think there’s five elevated events and majors in six weeks. Obviously, I knew that was coming.” 

Other than a missed cut last week in Puerto Rico, Power has played some decent golf and sits 88th in the current FedEx Cup standings – the mark that made the difference in getting him into this week’s field. 

“Game’s in great shape, so that’s kind of cool,” said the 39-year-old Waterford man.

Considering his current conditional status among the tour’s rank and file, Power will be particularly keen to her new tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s thoughts Wednesday on future ideas for the PGA Tour. 

Nothing definitive is expected to be announced, but ideas getting floated about include even more reduced opportunities for the non-elite players to compete and lift themselves into the upper strata of the tour’s hierarchy.

“I mean, I am and I’m not (interested),” Power said. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be. Like, at one point I was trying to keep up, but like, I mean, he seems like he knows what he’s doing. … I haven’t studied the financials of all this stuff, so I’m trusting they’re going to make decisions are best for the tour. And the thing is, they might not be decisions that suit me the best.

“So, it’s always tough because everyone’s got their own agenda. We all understand that top guys drive the tour and some decisions are gonna look like it suits those guys, which it needs to. But everyone’s kind of looking out for their own. I mean, like last year, if I finished in the top 100 – ‘Oh, this is brilliant.’ But at 117, you’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t know about this new rule.’” 

All Power can worry about is what’s in front of him and the opportunity this week presents. He has a mixed history with Sawgrass, making three cuts and missing two others in six career Players starts. 

But teeing off at the tail end of the morning wave with Kizzire and Johnny Keefer gives him a chance to get a good jump.

“I think this is the best layout we play,” Power said. “I think it’s a great condition. So four good rounds. I’m reasonably early on Thursday, so put something on the board and we’ll see.”