Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda make the game look easy as they dominate the world rankings.
But West Waterford’s Seamus Power feels “good things are on the horizon” after he clinched his best finish for 17 months in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head.
As Scheffler finished par-par-bogey to shoot a three-under 68 and win by three strokes from Sahith Theegala to clinch his fourth win in his last five starts, Power parred the 18th to close with a one-over 72 and tie for 12th.
After suffering a hip injury that wrecked his Ryder Cup hopes last year, the Tooraneena man (37) feels he’s close to his best again as he tries to nail down a spot in next month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla.
“I’m encouraged and frustrated,” said Power, who was seventh heading into the final round but jumps seven spots to 107th in the world – with the top 100 traditionally invited to the PGA.
The top 70 in the PGA Championship Points List also make it but Power is 738609 points behind 70th ranked Cameron Smith despite leaping 19 spots to 93rd in those standings after the RBC Heritage.
“The game’s in a good spot, but it’s just not quite going my way a couple of times. It’s really coming along, which is always a good sign, so there are good things on the horizon.”
Power is skipping this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where Rory McIlroy makes his debut in partnership with Shane Lowry.
But he still has next week’s CJ CUP Byron Nelson and the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow to win or break into the world’s top 100.
“Hopefully I can work my way in there,” Power said. “But if not, obviously, I like Dallas; I’ve played well there, and they do a great job at that tournament, and then Charlotte is a fantastic event.”
As for the hip injury that marred 2023, he feels close to swinging at full speed again.
“Almost, but it feels great, which is the nicest part,” he said. “The top-end speed isn’t quite there, but it’s pretty close. Even on a cold morning like today, it feels great.
“Over the last few weeks, it’s the first time in probably over a year it’s felt like that. That’s leading the game to come back around, so a lot of good things to come.”
Good things keep happening for Korda and Scheffler, who have nine wins between them this season.
Korda made it five wins in a row when she captured her second major, the Chevron Championship, on Sunday, while Scheffler has won four of his last five starts, with his only ‘failure’ being his runner-up finish in the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
“One of the people here asked me, like, is this turning into a competition between you and Nelly, and I was like, I don’t know, man, I think if it’s a competition, she’s got me pretty beat right now,” joked Scheffler, whose world ranking points average is now double that of world number two McIlroy.
As for his own run, he insisted he had no desire to remind people they were criticising his putting just seven weeks ago.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I told you so or anything like that because I’ve just been keeping my head down and trying to do the best I can,” he said.
“Outside of that, I’ve got the blinders on for the most part.”