Golf

Séamus Power’s good form down to change in mental approach

Waterford golfer has gone from 11 missed cuts to 101st position in FedEx Cup standings

Séamus Power of Ireland plays a shot from a bunker on the 13th hole during the third round of the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Philip Reid's face
Philip Reid
Tue May 7 2019 - 10:51

As costly as that old tormentor, the 18th hole at Quail Hollow proved to be, Séamus Power – whose two double bogeys there contributed to the Par 4’s reputation as again one of the toughest finishing holes on the PGA Tour, averaging 4.27 in the latest incarnation of the Wells Fargo Championship, and also cost him some greenbacks – can adopt the glass half-full philosophy rather than mulling over why it is half-empty.

A change in Power’s mental demeanour has contributed to the 32-year-old Waterford player’s best run of form on the PGA Tour, which has seen him move into 101st on the updated FedEx Cup standings after a formline that runs 6th-5th-13th in his last three events at the RBC Heritage, Zurich Classic and Wells Fargo.

Power will again be in action at this week’s tour stop in the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas, where Pádraig Harrington will also be in action ahead of next week’s US PGA at Bethpage Black. Power isn’t in the field for the PGA but his recent form has seen him make upward moves in both the world rankings and the FedEx Cup, something he attributes to “a change of mentality.”

As he put it, “this game doesn’t seem all that hard.”

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Power, who parted ways with swing coach Nick Bradley back in March, has gone from missing 11 cuts in his first 15 tournaments to contending in his last three: that tied-6th finish at the Heritage was followed by a tied-5th (in partnership with Canadian David Hearn) in the Zurich and a latest finish of tied-13th in the Wells Fargo, which added a further $143,780 to his bank balance.

The top-5 didn’t in the Zurich didn’t actually give Power any world ranking points (because it was a pairs event) but his take from the Hilton Head and Quail Hollow has seen him move to 263rd in the latest world rankings (having been as low as 432nd when missing the cut at the Honda Classic in March), while his move to 101st in the FedEx Cup standings has strengthened his position of again making the end-of-season playoffs and, with it, retaining his card.

Having soldiered with Max Homa on the web.com tour, though, Power must also believe that the cherished breakthrough PGA Tour isn’t that far away. The glass is very much half full.