SEAMUS HAS THE POWER... NOW HE WANTS THE GLORY
SEAMUS POWER and Rory McIlroy’s careers could have turned out completely differently.
As a youngster, McIlroy turned down a golfing scholarship from East Tennessee State University only for Irishman Power, now 35, to take the place offered.
Instead of a career as a golf phenomenon and face of the sport, 6ft 3ins blond-haired blue-eyed Power knuckled down to his studies, excelling in maths, graduating in accountancy in 2010 and dreaming of driving down Magnolia Lane, Augusta as a player.
Now the Waterford man will get his chance after rising from outside the world’s top 500 to a career-high 41st in two years.
It’s an incredible story and his old college pal and fellow pro, Gareth Shaw, says Power now has Augusta’s number.
Power and Shaw used to go to Monday practice day on US Masters week.
Two years after Power turned pro, Shaw burst on to the national scene in 2013 finishing fifth at the Irish Open, while his good friend was chosen to represent Ireland at the 2016 Olympics – but still flew under the radar of the golfing world until taking his first PGA Tour win in July last year.
Now a top coach and Moyola Park PGA pro, Shaw (right) said: “Rory obviously made the right choice and that opened the door for Seamus.
“Seamus is a really smart guy with a great caddie as well. He knows so much about Augusta and there’s so much info out there about the course, about where to hit it, so they will eat up all of that.” Power lost out to eventual winner and new world No.1 Scottie Scheffler in the quarterfinals of the WGC Match Play in Texas last week. It amounted to a tied-fifth finish and nudged him over the $2million mark in the season of his career. Now people are talking about him as a Masters dark horse. Shaw, a European amateur championship winner in 2007 alongside McIlroy and Shane Lowry, said: “Seamus had a long-term plan and had the mentality and perseverance to see it through.
“I’d back him all day long to make the cut.”