Advertisement
Seamus Power. SIPA USA/PA Images
power down

Late fade sees Seamus Power fall from contention at AT&T Byron Nelson

The Waterford man rose to second place but a double bogey-bogey run on the back nine saw him finish in a tie for ninth.

A DOUBLE BOGEY-BOGEY run on his back nine cost Seamus Power contention at the weather-interrupted final day at the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas. The Irishman ultimately finished in a tie for ninth, seven shots behind maiden PGA Tour winner Lee Kyoung-hoon. 

The risk of thunderstorms saw the start of the final day brought forward to earlier in the day, but play was eventually suspended for almost two-and-a-half hours, with  the final pair on the 15th hole. 

Power trailed leader Sam Burns by four shots overnight, and the Waterford native started superbly by birdieing both of his opening holes. Further birdies on five, seven, and eight saw Power rise to second and position himself as the main challenger to new leader Lee Kyoung-hoon. 

However, all went awry for Power on the 13th hole, when he took a double-bogey six. That was compounded with a bogey on the following hole, and he ultimately finished alongside Jordan Spieth in a tie for ninth place, picking up a cheque worth approximately $200,000. 

South Korean Kyoung-hoon defied rain, wind and a weather delay to fire a six-under par 66 to win PGA Tour by three strokes and book a PGA Championship berth.

Lee had eight birdies in his six-under effort at TPC Craig Ranch in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, Texas, his 25-under par total of 263 putting him three clear of American Sam Burns.

“I can’t believe it,” said Lee, who has four professional wins on the Japan Tour and AsiaOne tour, but whose previous best finish on the US tour was his share of second at the Phoenix Open earlier this year.

The victory saw him grab the final spot in next week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, the second men’s major championship of 2021.

Lee started the day one stroke behind Burns, who was gunning for a second tour title after winning the Valspar Championship two weeks ago.

As Burns struggled to build momentum — playing the front nine in even par with two bogeys and two birdies — Lee surged to the top of the leaderboard with birdies at the second, third and fourth.

Lee spun a wedge in to four feet for birdie at the sixth and stuck his approach within three feet for birdie at the ninth before an errant tee shot led to a bogey at the ninth.

He added a four-foot birdie at the 12th and had a three-shot lead when lightning halted play on a day that had already seen the field slog through often heavy rain and blustery winds.

When play resumed more than two hours later, Lee was facing a 16-foot par putt at the 16th. He ended up with a bogey, but he birdied the last two holes to seal the victory.

“Very hard conditions for everybody today,” said Lee, who rolled in a four-foot birdie putt at the par-three 17th and reached the green of the par-five 18th in two.

“I tried to stay patient and keep playing positive. I didn’t want to look at the leaderboard, just tried to (play) my golf.”

After he rolled his eagle attempt from 39 feet to within a foot of the cup and tapped in for his closing birdie, Lee got a congratulatory hug from South Korean golf icon KJ Choi and a hug from his wife.

“So excited,” said Lee, who said he had often imagined how he would celebrate a longed-for US PGA Tour victory but said that when the time came he “almost forgot everything.”

- ‘Awesome’ Lee -

Burns captured solo second with his four-foot birdie at 18, capping a two-under par 70 for a 22-under total of 266.

“I think the biggest thing for me is just knowing my game is in a good place,” Burns said. “It’s in a good spot enough to where I can contend. So that’s cool for me, just to see some results for some of the stuff I been working on back home.”

He called Lee’s performance in the difficult conditions “awesome.”

“When it was tough he hung in there and he got off to a great start,” Burns said. “It was kind of gettable in the beginning. (Lee) got off to a really fast start, and then kind of midway through got tough for everybody, and he kept hitting one shot after the next and never gave anybody a chance.”

South African Charl Schwartzel, who played in the final group alongside Lee and Burns, got up and down for birdie from a greenside bunker at 18 to cap his 68 and join a group sharing third on 267 that also included Americans Patton Kizzire, Daniel Berger and Scott Stallings.

- additional reporting from © – AFP, 2021

Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel