Dynamic duo
Séamus Power has one tournament under his belt — a tied-25th finish in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, after which he retained his number one position on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings — and the Waterford man will be joined for this week’s Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi by Shane Lowry, who is kickstarting his year’s work in the Middle East.
Lowry is lined up for a three-week stretch that takes in this week’s Hero Cup match — similar to the old Seve Trophy, pitting a team made up of British and Irish players against a team from continental Europe — but he hopes that playing alongside Power will act as a precursor to the Ryder Cup in Rome later this year.
“I want to play with Séamus because I feel like the reason Europe needs the Hero Cup is because the Americans have the Presidents Cup every odd year. The Americans will arrive in Rome with at least three pairings that are guaranteed to play with each other. I think we’ll arrive as Europeans where we’ll be like, ‘Who’s going to play with who?’ Maybe Luke [Donald] has a different plan but I feel like won’t really know until the heat of the moment. There’s no natural pairings as such like there used to be.
“I feel me and Séamus can click. I know the Hero Cup is not the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. But it’s team golf and you’re out there playing with each other and you see how you get on. I’d like to play with Séamus and I’d like to play with Tyrrell Hatton as well, because we got on well the last time.
Sports Books of the Year: Conor Niland’s The Racket the best in a year dominated by autobiographies
Manchester City approach the surreal as they head for Liverpool
Mark Ella was ‘the fulcrum ... the genius’ of Australia’s trailblazing tour of 1984
Patrick Reed returns to winning ways despite worst warm-up
“Just because me and Séamus are Irish doesn’t mean we should play together or have to play together. But it’s a natural thing. Because I know Séamus quite well and he knows me quite well. And I think we will play a game together. He is a great player, isn’t he?”
There has been one enforced late change to the continental team with Rasmus Hojgaard forced to withdraw, to be replaced by his brother Nicolai.
Fighting weight
A meat-dominated diet, that’s what Keegan Bradley has attributed his slimmed-down body and improved performances to!
Ranked 87th in the world rankings this time 12 months ago, the former US PGA champion — ranked 25th — has lost 13kg (29lbs) in weight, dropping from over 15½ stone (99kg) to his new weight of 13½ stone (86kg).
“I did a lot of fruit as well. So, I’d have eggs in the morning, maybe chicken or ground beef and then steak at night. All grass-fed meat is the key, and no condiments and no sides.”
Word of Mouth
“It sucks. You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots, and [it] kind of added up really quickly. Don’t know what I’m going to learn this week, but it doesn’t seem like it was that far off. It really wasn’t. Yeah, it sucks” — Collin Morikawa on losing a six-stroke lead going into the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, ultimately shooting a closing 74 to Jon Rahm’s 63 to finish two shots behind the Spaniard. Rahm had started the final round seven shots behind.
By the Numbers
1-2: In a quite superb achievement, Galway Golf Club’s Liam Nolan — who is one of six Irish players on the R&A’s 19-man initial squad for the Curtis Cup which will be played at St Andrews later this year — put down an early marker for selection with victory on Sunday in the South American Amateur Championship at Quito Golf Club in Ecuador. Nolan shot rounds of 73-70-70-68 for a total of seven under par 281 in the international tournament, a shot clear of fellow Irish man Max Kennedy, from Royal Dublin and on scholarship to the University of Louisville.
On this day ... January 10th, 1999
David Duval had ended the 1998 PGA Tour season in sensational form — where he won four times en route to collecting the Vardon Trophy for lowest stroke average — and he brought that momentum with him into the season-opening Mercedes Championship at Kapalua where he was a runaway winner.
Duval shot rounds of 67-63-68-68 for a winning total of 26 under par 266, nine strokes clear of runners-up Mark O’Meara and Billy Mayfair. The win earned Duval a pay cheque for $468,000 along with a new Mercedes SL500.
“He’s right up there with Tiger … right now, he has surpassed Tiger,” claimed Tom Watson of Duval’s dominance. “The way it’s going for him was the same with me. Winning begets winnings. You feel you can win every time you play, not that you’re going to win (all the time), but that you can be around the lead or in the lead all the time.”
Even Woods felt the need to tip his cap to Duval’s form. “What you want to do out here is to prove you’re better than any other player. David has been doing that.”
Twitter Twaddle
The perfect start to the year — well done @JonRahmpga — all great rounds start with a bogey — Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald a happy man.
Pretty stoked on tied 3rd this week considering how the first two rounds went. Congrats to @JonRahmpga on the dub he is a machine. Also shoutout to my kid who made his first trip this week. He pooped, peed and screamed just like normal so I felt right at home! — New dad Max Homa
It’s official! Pretty cool to come home from holiday and have this in the letterbox waiting. It really is a dream come true to play my first @TheMasters #foxtracker #nevertooold — Ryan Fox on getting his Masters invitation in the mail.
Know the Rules
Q: A player’s ball is found by another player two minutes and 50 seconds after she began searching for the ball. It takes the player 30 seconds to get to her ball and identify it as hers. As the ball was identified after the three-minute search time had finished, the ball is considered lost. True or false?
A: False. If a ball is found within three minutes of the player or her caddie starting to search for it, the player is allowed a reasonable time to identify the ball, even if that happens after the three-minute search has ended.
In the bag
Jon Rahm - Sentry Tournament of Champions
Driver – Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
3-wood – Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (16 degrees)
5-wood – Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (18 degrees)
Irons – Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW)
Wedges – Callaway JAWS Raw (52, 56 and 60 degrees)
Putter – Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S
Ball – Callaway Chrome Soft X
