Séamus Power gave his hopes of making the FedEx Cup playoffs and securing his PGA Tour card for next season another real boost at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit as he fired a bogey-free final round of 67 to finish in a tie for eighth at 15 under par.
After securing a slot in the field as an alternate the Waterford man made the most of the chance, picking up a cheque for $211,875 in the process and moving up to 140th in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 125 after the Wyndham Championship on August 12th will secure their place in the playoffs and full playing privileges for next season.
Birdies at the third, seventh, 10th and 14th moves the 34-year-old in to the fringes of contention in Detroit where Cam Davis eventually came through to win a three-man playoff ahead of Troy Merritt and Joaquin Niemann.
A final birdie of the day at the 17th was enough for Power to secure his second top-10 finish of the season and he now heads to this week’s John Deere Classic in fine form and ready to move closer to that all important full tour card for next season. Over the course of the week Power made just one bogey in 72 holes and his latest finish makes it four top-20s in a row on the PGA Tour.
“I played very well for the four days and not making many mistakes with just the one bogey for the week,” said Power.
“I almost got something exciting going there at the end with my birdie putt on 16 hanging there right on the edge and leaving an eagle putt right in the jaws on 17.
“It could have been a little bit lower but, as I said, overall it’s been a good week with my game in a good spot and I hope I can keep it going into next week.”
In the end, five extra holes were needed to split Merritt and Davis in what was a dramatic finish which eventually saw Davis claim his first PGA Tour title.
The Australian mixed five birdies with two bogeys and an eagle on the Par 5 17th to sit atop the leaderboard following the final round after carding a 67 to reach 18 under.
Third-round leaders Merritt and Niemann each shot 68 to get to the same mark but Niemann was forced to drop out of the three-way encounter after bogeying for the first time in the week on the first extra hole — the par-four 18th — while Davis and American Merritt continued to trade shots.
The pair matched each other par-for-par through four extra holes before Merritt missed a six-foot par putt on the fifth to hand the title to Davis.
Final scores from the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club (USA unless stated, Par 72)
270 Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 68 67 67 (won at the 5th extra playoff hole), Troy Merritt 67 68 67 68, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 65 69 68 68
271 Hank Lebioda 67 70 66 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70 67 64
272 Brandon Hagy 65 71 68 68, Bubba Watson 68 73 67 64
273 Mark Anderson 70 70 67 66, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 68 69 67, Kevin Kisner 67 69 69 68, Séamus Power (Irl) 66 71 69 67
274 Chris Kirk 67 68 70 69, Jason Kokrak 69 69 67 69
275 Keegan Bradley 71 68 68 68, Jason Day (Aus) 67 73 69 66, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 67 71 70 67, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 69 67 68, Pat Perez 67 69 69 70, Cameron Tringale 71 70 68 66, Kevin Tway 71 68 67 69
276 Joel Dahmen 70 70 69 67, Maverick McNealy 68 69 72 67, Roger Sloan (Can) 65 75 68 68, Curtis Thompson 69 72 67 68
277 Lanto Griffin 68 70 69 70, Max Homa 70 65 74 68, Beau Hossler 68 69 72 68, Patton Kizzire 68 72 73 64, Tom Lewis (Eng) 65 69 71 72, Scott Stallings 68 73 66 70, Richy Werenski 68 68 69 72
278 Rickie Fowler 70 69 68 71, Doug Ghim 70 68 71 69, Bo Hoag 70 68 71 69, Sean O’Hair 70 66 71 71, Patrick Reed 69 72 70 67, J. J. Spaun 66 73 68 71
279 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 68 72 70 69, Brandt Snedeker 70 71 71 67, Robert Streb 67 71 74 67
280 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 70 69 72, Michael Gellerman 70 68 72 70, Michael Gligic (Can) 67 73 70 70, Lucas Glover 68 72 73 67, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 68 71 70 71, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 65 72 72, Nelson Ledesma (Arg) 72 68 71 69, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 70 71 68, Patrick Rodgers 70 70 72 68, Adam Schenk 72 66 72 70, Kyle Stanley 70 69 69 72
281 Scott Brown 70 71 74 66, Tyler Duncan 70 67 73 71, Chesson Hadley 69 70 72 70, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 69 71 71, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71 69 73 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 72 68 70 71
282 Chris Baker 70 70 68 74, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 71 72 71, Kramer Hickok 69 69 72 72, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 72 69 74, Matthew NeSmith 71 69 69 73, Davis Thompson 63 73 72 74, Vincent Whaley 71 68 70 73, Matthew Wolff 67 70 73 72, Josh Teater 70 71 69 72
283 Ryan Brehm 71 67 73 72, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 69 69 69 76, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 70 72 71, Danny Willett (Eng) 68 70 71 74
284 Willie Mack III 68 73 72 71, Bo Van Pelt 68 73 71 72, Jimmy Walker 69 72 73 70
285 Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 69 72 74 70, Phil Mickelson 69 72 72 72
286 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 71 70 69 76
288 Will Zalatoris 70 68 74 76
