Seamus Power immediately put himself again in focus for a second PGA Tour victory in brilliantly birdieing his closing four holes to finish in second place on day one of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Power posted an eight-under-par 64 at Spyglass Hill and one of three annual host venues for the famed tournament being played along the Pacific Ocean shoreline.
American Tom Hoge was at Pebble Beach and finishing one shot fewer to lead the field after his nine-under 63.
Power’s name has been a regular sight on a PGA Tour leaderboard since the opening round of 2022 in Hawaii early last month and now again, the West Waterford golfer is again knocking loudly on victory’s door.
Ireland’s in-form Seamus Power already in contention on day one of the 2022 AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Picture – Getty/PGA Tour)
Starting from the 10th hole, he birdied the 13th, 14th and 16th holes, and then birdied the 1st before his most impressive finish of four closing birdies.
“It was a great finish,” said the current World No. 50.
“It’s a funny old golf course. I hit a terrible tee shot on the par-three at my fifth hole, had a very good up-and-down to kind of stay at four-under, and then just kind of clicked coming in, really, made a couple of very nice putts and a couple of very nice shots.
“I know this place always plays the hardest but then I’ve always really enjoyed playing Spyglass, it kind of suits my eye, and my game feels in good shape, so I was like, why not
“It was one of those days I kind of left myself like the right numbers into holes and just kind of made it easier to get it closer.
“The course was as nice as I’ve seen it while the temperature was fantastic. I’m playing in a T-shirt, normally I have a sweater and other stuff on. So, it was nice, the wind was minimal. Even when you get out to two, three, four, there was a little bit of breeze, but nothing major. So it was a perfect day for scoring
“Obviously, it’s great to have a good start, but tomorrow I’m playing Pebble at 8:40, and it’s going to be a completely different course to today. So kind of makes it easier to reset, and so hopefully we can kind of keep doing the same thing tomorrow.”
Power arrived at the famed California golf location in the richest vein of form o his pro career having finished T15th on debut in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, T3rd a week later, and the Sony Open, and then T14th in eastern California at the American Express.
The Irishman is an impressive 61-under-par for his 13 rounds of 2022, and that’s an average of 67 a round.
Power’s amateur partner is fellow Irishman Dermot Desmond, a regular at Pebble Beach and with the duo tied in third place in the team format of the event.
Joining Power in the group is 23-year-old John Murphy posting a disappointing three-over 75 on his PGA Tour debut.
Murphy’s amateur partner is Gerry McManus and remarking the all-Irish four ball made for the low scores.
“It was such an enjoyable round,” said Power. “Like John, it was very cool, John’s very first PGA Tour event, that was cool. And then our partners we had a great time. And then we had a bunch of Irish people following us; it really was fun. Just kind of talk about stories and stuff from back home also makes you just feel a little more at ease.”
