Beware the injured golfer and all of that. We’ll see. Out of necessity, Séamus Power has been nipping in and out of the physiotherapy trucks since his arrival in Hoylake and, with each visit, the painful hip that forced his withdrawal from last week’s Scottish Open has eased.
“The boys in the truck are brilliant,” said Power. “I went and got an MRI done on Friday in Edinburgh and got the scans back the next day, and from there on and it was just me trying to talk to physios and see what kind of a plan for getting ready for this week.”
Power’s right hip had been bothering him for some time but he had managed to live and play with it until “something popped” on him. “I was worried, I wasn’t sure what it was going to be.”
Thankfully for him, the MRIs came back clear and the ongoing physio work has done the trick of getting him to the point where he can play in only his second Open, having missed the cut at St Andrews on his debut last year.
He added: “The treatment changed once I saw the MRI. I was probably doing some stuff that was making the injury hang around longer, it was more in the tendons than it was in the muscles. But the guys in the truck are all over it and have introduced me to new stuff. It is something that will clear up [in time].”
So, Power is good to go, as it were, in his bid to add another Irish winner to the famed trophy, and he’s not afraid to reveal that he has visualised such a scenario.
“One hundred per cent, I have. I think anyone who says they don’t, I wouldn’t believe them. That’s what you’re striving for every single day at practice, that’s why you’re out there when everyone thinks things aren’t going well and you’re trying to figure it out. It’s those moments that go down in history and you just want to make one of them yourself,” he said.
Power’s form of late has been disappointing. Of his last six tournaments, he has three missed cuts (among them the US PGA and US Open) as well as the withdrawal in Scotland; the only positive note in that spell was a tied-13th finish in the John Deere Classic.
[ Séamus Power: ‘I played okay on a golf course you have to play pretty well’Opens in new window ]
And whatever happens, he’ll have a first. He is in a group alongside Pádraig Harrington for the first time in competition.
“I played practice with Pádraig but never in competition so we’re really looking forward to it – and Talor Gooch the other member of three-ball. The last time I played with Talor he won in Sea Island. He’s a lovely ball striker, lovely player as well, but to play with Pádraig is something special, especially here at the Open, so it’s something I’ve been looking forward to,” said Power.
