A horrid triple-bogey seven on his opening hole destroyed any aspirations Séamus Power held of a breakthrough PGA Tour win as 40-year-old Pat Perez – who has endured anger management issues throughout his career and only returned to tour play following shoulder surgery – claimed the OHL Classic at Mayakoba on the PGA Tour.
Waterford man Power, in his rookie season on the main tour, started out in tied-fourth but his quest for glory evaporated with an errant opening tee shot which required a penalty drop into heavy rough and he ran up a seven that effectively ended his race as soon as it started. Power shot a closing round 76 for 10-under-par 274, which left him in tied-28th.
Graeme McDowell, the defending champion, finished with a 68 for 273, in tied-24th that featured an outward run of 33 strokes – with birdies on the fourth, fifth and eighth – only for the Northern Irishman, who teams up with Shane Lowry representing Ireland in the World Cup in a fortnight, to run out of steam on the homeward run.
Power’s struggles in a disappointing final round came from the get-go, with his struggles on the first leading to a triple bogey that was compounded by bogeys on the fourth, 14th and 18th with a lone birdie coming on the Par 5 seventh. Power’s finish moved him to 82nd in the latest FedEx Cup standings.
A graduate of the Web.Com Tour, Power though has successfully made the cut in three of his four opening events on the PGA Tour. “I guess I feel a little more comfortable than I thought I would this early. I’ve seen a lot of the guys between college golf, Web.com, that sort of thing, so I know some of the guys out here. I have kind of an inner belief I can play,” said Power.
Perez, nine years on from his previous tour win, underwent career threatening shoulder injury back in March and felt that a refocused attitude contributed to his victory. "I've got this aggressive type attitude, but just had a lot of confidence when I came back from surgery. I just didn't think it would happen so fast," said Perez, who closed with a final round 67 for 263, 21-under-par, for a two shot winning margin over overnight leader Gary Woodland with Scotland's Russell Knox alone in third.
