Séamus Power’s bid to push his way into the top 100 of the FedEx Cup Fall Rankings and secure a full PGA Tour card for 2026 is running out of time, and a one-under opening round at the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort left him tied for 63rd when play was suspended for darkness.
The Waterford man came into the week ranked 140th and needing to produce close to his best over the final four events, and he took care of both the par-5s on the opening nine to make the turn at -2.
Another birdie on the par-4 10th moved him inside the early top 10, but despite continuing to drive the ball really well, three bogeys over the following four holes proved costly as his short game and putter deserted him.
A neat up-and-down from short of the par-5 closing hole got him into the clubhouse in red figures and just five back of the leading quartet, but the heavily bunched leaderboard means he’s also straddling the cutline.
Thorbjørn Olesen is among those who grabbed a share of the lead at -6. Ranked 116th coming in, Olesen, like Power, has his mind on securing his card but admitted that his stellar opening round play came as something of a surprise given that he’d just returned from a stint on the DP World Tour and spent a lot of time in the air.
“I would say my expectations were pretty low this morning,” Olesen said. “But did some recovery work the last few days and just tried to get the body ready for today.”
Austin Cook, who shares the lead with Olesen, Jesper Svensson and David Lipsky, is the only one of the quartet who didn’t complete his opening round as growing darkness, combined with the glacial pace of play, called a halt to the day’s proceedings with Cook facing a birdie putt on the 14th green.
He had few complaints, however, as a slew of withdrawals took him from well down the alternate list and straight into the event without having to navigate the Monday qualifier which he’d planned to play in.
“Saturday got all the way down to first alternate. I felt like I was going to get in so I helped drive everybody home on Sunday and flew out Monday and on the plane I got a text,” he said. Cook replaced Erik van Rooyen, who had withdrawn.
A further seven players – all American – share fifth place on -5, while Alex Noren’s rich vein of form is showing no signs of subsiding and the Swede is among the nine players sharing 12th at -4.
FULL SCORING
