West Waterford golfer Séamus Power looks to have cemented his place at the Augusta Masters having comprehensive defeated the world number four, Patrick Cantlay at the WGC Matchplay in Austin, Texas this evening.
The Touraneena native went into the game knowing a victory would essentially guarantee the prospect of making his major tournament debut come April 7th, having defeated Sungjae Im 4 & 5 last night, which included a run of four consecutive birdies from the 11th to the 14th.
Power made the perfect start to his showdown with Cantlay, who had halved his contest with Keith Mitchell a day prior, by making par while the American could only settle for bogey at the opening hole.
The 35-year-old then holed an impressive saving putt to salvage par at the second, before sinking a 15-foot effort at the third to halve the hole and maintain the early advantage.
The pair two-putted in tandem at the fourth, before Cantlay found himself in a spot of bother at the fifth, while Séamus made his way safely to the green.
The Barbasol Championship winner calmly stroked home another par, but Cantlay could not do the same from 11 feet, and it was a two hole cushion for Power.
The world number four showed why he is ranked so highly in glimpses, cutting the deficit back to just one hole with an impressive up and down at the sixth, before the pair shared the spoils at the seventh.
Power missed a 20-foot putt to take the eighth, settling for the halve, but just like the night prior against Im, Séamus made his move going into the turn; taking the ninth and tenth to move three to the good with just eight holes left to play.
Remarkably, despite being three holes ahead shortly after the turn, it was at the 11th where the Irishman carded his first birdie of the day, but it mattered for nothing as Cantlay impressively chipped in to salvage a share.
At the twelfth, Cantlay found the water while the West Waterford clubman safely laid up on the green, and suddenly it was a case of four up with little time left for Cantlay to mount a comeback.
It looked as if another halved hole on the 14th made it 4 up with 4 to play, but Cantlay summed up his evening with a miss from three feet to secure another 5 & 4 win for the world number 48.
Having defeated the world number 21 and world number 4 in the space of 24 hours, it seems increasingly likely that the projected OGR world rankings will see Power comfortably inside the top 50 by Monday March 28th, meaning the invitation to Augusta will be arriving in the post.
Pack your bags Waterford, we’re off to the Masters.
