Seamus Power rises 15 places in rankings while Shane Lowry hits career-high
Seamus Power is starting to find some form after he was "slow coming out of the blocks with a little injury in the off-season". Pic: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Seamus Power has risen 15 places to 110th in the world while Shane Lowry is up three places to a career-high 12th in the rankings. The moves come after they both tied for eighth at the Valspar Championship over the weekend. It was Power's first top 10 finish since last August while it was Lowry's third of the year.
Power shot up the leaderboard after carding a five-under 66 on Sunday, finishing the tournament on six-under, five shots behind winner Viktor Hovland.
"I've always really liked it," Waterford native Power said about the Copperhead Couse at the Innisbrook Resort in Florida.
"It's tough, but it's one of those tough courses that if you hit good shots, you can give yourself chances, and I think that's a nice combo. Some courses are just brutally hard and even from the fairway you can't get at pins. Here it's not particularly long, but it forces you to hit shots and you have to be on fairways and then you try to get after pins but if you miss it's big trouble. I really like the course, got it going today and almost a really good one.
"The first two days was tough because it was very difficult. The late/early draw was kind of difficult. It was just tough to get much going. Over the weekend a little bit more consistent with the wind and a little bit with warmer."
Power believes that his performance over the weekend will give him confidence for the rest of the season.
"It was slow coming out of the blocks with a little injury in the off-season, but had some good little runs," he said.
"Florida Swing has always been tougher for me, so to get some decent points here is going to be nice and a step in the right direction heading to Houston next week.
"Golf's funny like that. You get a lot of points in only a handful of your weeks, so maybe this is a start of a good run for me. Even if it isn't, it's nice to see the work you're putting in show up on the golf course, and that's also the most encouraging (thing) and can remove some of that frustration quickly."
Power's plan is to play the Houston Open this weekend and then the Valero Texas Open.
"Hopefully I can play my way into Augusta, but right now I would play the Dominican the week after Augusta and then go from there," he said.
"We'll see. Things can change fast in golf."
