Séamus Power holds strong at US Open after four-putt shock to the system

The West Waterford man knew he had to take advantage of an early start and a course that was not yet impossible.

He was at a steady level after eight holes, but after four-putting the 18th (his ninth) from just 30 feet for a double-bogey six, and dropping another shot at the second to be within three, he made three birdies in a row from the third to avoid counting standing in the first round.

“I don’t think anyone will get too far away, and even still, guys are going to go back,” said Power, who made a “big putt” from six feet at his 10th to avoid having seven putts in the space of two holes.

“I said that to (my caddy) Simon when I birdied the 11th, my second hole, ‘Damn, if I play the next 70 holes even, I have a good chance of winning this thing ‘” Power joked. “I think it’s going to be like this.

“Tomorrow there will be a record. It’s going to be hot. It’s getting drier and drier and I guess they won’t mind too many pins.

“It’s going to be difficult to constantly make decisions. I don’t think it’s unfair, just harsh.

Power’s 71 left him six shots behind Patrick Cantlay, who shot a five-under 65 to lead Swede Ludvig Aberg by one shot.

As the domed greens play half their actual size due to myriad runoff, players live in constant fear. But even when the challenge seems simple, the course can still jump and bite, as Power discovered on his ninth hole.

“That was probably one of the best birdie chances I had all day,” he said of a 30-footer at the 18th that he missed by nine feet. “There wasn’t much of a break, straight up the hill, but as soon as it passes, all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Oh, shit.’

“Even the putt coming back down, if you don’t give it any speed, it’s going to break, so you give it a fraction too much and you just miss it along the top edge and then you miss it again.

“It just happens in golf, and hopefully this is the last time it happens to me this week, and we’ll see what we can do.

“It was a shame because there aren’t many putts you think you can take a chance on outside of here, and I thought this was one of them. I guess that wasn’t the case.

Inevitably, Power left a 30-footer to seven feet at the very next green, the first, but saved par. “That one almost got me too,” Power confessed.

But after dropping another shot at the second after sand issues, he hit a five-footer at the third after an aggressive tee shot, then nailed a smooth 20-footer with a five-foot break at the fourth before rolling in a 12-footer at the par-five fifth for his third consecutive birdie.

“Yeah, it was definitely the first time I did that at the US Open,” he said of his birdie hat-trick, which he followed with a sand save of 15 feet to the sixth. I hit some really good shots there. . . so it was a nice little run there just when I needed it.

As for the constant stress of a U.S. Open and the chances of a chip coming back at you or spinning across the green, he stressed the importance of the short game.

“What really sums it up is the advanced statistics we’re getting,” he said. “One of the recommendations was to try not to make two shots in a row in short games.

“And that’s kind of how you feel here because you have a shot, and you’re like, I can try to make a really good shot, or I can be a little conservative and hit it six or seven feet away. But obviously, if those putts start missing, it’s tough.

“So it’s great not to be out of it. If you have three or four points this morning, you really won’t be able to do what you think you need to do this week.

That’s the situation facing Holywood’s Tom McKibbin (21), who matched 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods by shooting a four-over 74 on his Major debut.

His moment of arrival came on the par-three sixth hole when there was a wait on the tee and Woods suddenly appeared a few yards away on the adjacent fourth tee.

“That was the first time I saw him make a shot,” McKibbin beamed. “It was pretty cool and then the crowds that came with it. Amazing. I waited a bit and watched him leave. It’s just cool to see him around and some of the guys.

“I’ve never seen crowds like this, don’t get it home, so it was cool to hear the applause, but you never really know how good the shot is until that the ball finally stops There was some applause to say that you were just praying that the ball would stay.

One under after five holes, he flew onto the green and made a double bogey at the 15th (his sixth) and mixed in other bogeys at the 17th, first and eighth with superb par-saving putts at the 16th, fifth and sixth.

“Obviously it’s a very tough, very tricky golf course, but overall it went well,” McKibbin said of a performance that could have resulted in a below-par score during a regular DP World Tour event.

“You can hit so many good shots that don’t even come close to hitting the green, so that’s the difficulty. It’s definitely the hardest course I’ve played, definitely the hardest with the greens and the hardest challenge.

“I really only hit one bad shot in the first, and it connected into the left bunker, so I literally had no chance of hitting the green from there. On top of that, I left them all in reasonable places. I was quite happy with it. Life can be tough around the greens.