Golf

Séamus Power makes strong start to Valspar Championship

Waterford man shot a three-under-par 68, just two shots adrift of the early clubhouse leader

Séamus Power of Ireland on the seventh green during the first round of the Valspar Championship. Photograph: Julio Aguilar/Getty

Philip Reid
Thu Mar 21 2024 - 20:32

Séamus Power has found consistency since his return from injury, making seven of eight cuts so far this season, and – it seemed – the 37-year-old Waterford player also added some firepower to his game in finishing with two birdies in his closing four holes for an opening round of three-under-par 68 in the Valspar Championship on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook resort in Tampa, Florida.

Power’s strong finish moved him just two shots adrift of early clubhouse leader Adam Svensson, after the Canadian – who has one career win on the PGA Tour, the 2022 RSM Classic – had six birdies and a solitary bogey in an opening round 66.

For Power – currently 82nd on the season’s FedEx Cup standings – there was much encouragement to take from a round that featured four birdies and a bogey, on the 13th where he missed the green left.

Having rolled in a nine-footer for birdie on the first hole, Power added a further birdie on the ninth, from 20 feet, and recovered from that dropped shot on 13 with a tee shot to 10 feet on the par 3 15th. Then, on the 17th, another par 3, his tee shot finished 45 feet from the flag and he holed the birdie putt for a good start to his tournament, which has an $8.4 million purse ($1.5 million to the winner).

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Power’s solid round on a course known for its tough finish – the closing three holes stretch has earned the moniker of the “Snake Pit” – was showcased by finding 15 greens in regulation.

Svensson, meanwhile, somehow found form. After a horrid Florida Swing which saw him miss the cut in his last three tournaments – the Cognizant Classic, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players – he got back his rhythm and got his driver, irons and putter working in unison for an impressive opening round.

“It’s been a rough couple weeks but it seems like the ball striking came around and I hit it pretty good, [also] made some nice putts ... [on this course] you have to do everything well. You got to hit your irons on the par 3s; off the tee, [if] you miss the fairway the rough is pretty deep. Overall, the whole game has to be working,” said Svensson of the challenge presented by the Copperhead course.

Of his attitude coming in given his traditional poor play over the years in the Florida Swing, he responded: “You just got to have a positive attitude towards it and just say, ‘all right, well, next year I’m going to try and change, and just do little things to get better’. I don’t know, I grew up on bent grass, so this is Bermuda, so it’s a little different, but you just got to work through it.”

Svensson’s solid all-round game gave him the early clubhouse lead, a shot clear of Brendon Todd, Keith Mitchell and Aussie Aaron Baddeley who has shown glimpses of his old self of late.

Justin Thomas opened with a 68 to sit alongside Power. “I salvaged and scrambled really well, I felt like. I just kind of just tried to make it as easy on myself as possible, especially around here. But until you get into a little bit of a rhythm, I feel like once you start trying to push it a little out here you can start kind of making a lot of bogeys and big numbers. I just tried to stay really patient all day.

“Hit a lot of really good putts that just burned the edge and didn’t go in, so it was nice to get the last two and see the patience pay off,” said Thomas, looking to bounce back from a missed cut in Sawgrass last week.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times

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