Seamus Power-ing away from the field at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – the Irishman leads by five
- Matt Cooper
- 5 February 2022
Heading into the weekend on the Monterey Peninsula the field is trailing in the wake of the leader.
It's not only the field that has been decimated by Ireland's Seamus Power through the first 36 holes of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 34-year-old carded a second round 64 to total 16-under 128, not only his career-best 36 hole total. but a new tournament record and his first halfway lead on the PGA Tour.
Andrew Putnam and Tom Hoge share second on 11-under, with two of the pre-tournament favourites still in the hunt - Patrick Cantlay is tied fifth on 10-under, Jason Day tied eighth on 9-under.
They will all need help from Power over the weekend who is thus far making a mockery of a long-standing tournament trend because he has a poor event record and, moreover, a dreadful history on Poa Annua greens in California.
He's actually made just three cuts in 11 starts on the latter, while he is yet to land one top 30 in four starts at the tournament.
He looks set to break that poor run, but can he do so in the finest style? He arrived fresh off four consecutive top 15 finishes so his confidence is sky high.
Let's see what he and the other leading contenders had to say after the second round.
Seamus Power - leader on 16-under
"My wedge play was great. I had like three or four shots I hit very, very close and the way I've been putting, they were not gimmie birdie, but certainly ones you would expect to make and it just changes your whole complex of your round, of your score. So that was the most pleasing.
"Golf is, it's one of those things, you want to play with confidence but how do you get confidence without playing well? So it's one of those things I've been able to work on off the course and it's led to some improved results on it.
"I feel much more comfortable in these positions, I've putting myself there a little bit more often, so it definitely seems a little easier, but still obviously a lot of work to do over the weekend.
New 36-hole @ATTProAm record for @Power4Seamus 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/7Ql09vIbu2
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 4, 2022
"I figured out my putting early last year. I had always been a good putter and I kind of was struggling, but I changed the grip and it's solidified that for me. And then found a couple things with my swing.
"You put all that together, then I did a lot of work on my wedges. And it doesn't take much, I mean it's only a shot here and a shot there that really separates from finishing top 20 versus 40th or 50th and I've been able to tidy up some of those loose ends and it's been much better."
Andrew Putnam - tied second on 11-under
"I've been keeping the ball in the right spots. These greens are pretty tricky if you get out of position. The putter's been working pretty good. Obviously the irons are the key out there with the small greens and so if you put them in the right spots you can make a lot of birdies.
"The greens here are very similar to what I grew up on in the Pacific Northwest, so I feel really comfortable out here and I grew up on some greens with a lot of slope and a lot of speed, so these look good to my eye."
Adam Svensson - tied second on 11-under
"I was striking it well yesterday and today and just kind of kept the mojo going, made a couple more putts today. Had just one 3-putt, but other than that I hit 18 fairways, 18 greens today. So just had a lot of looks, I guess, yeah. I've just kind of got to do the same thing, fairways and greens and just kind of give myself opportunities."
Not the typical beach day. 😬 pic.twitter.com/2cpIupY8wC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 4, 2022
Patrick Cantlay - tied fifth on 10-under
"Obviously the lead is a little ways away, but there's a lot of golf left. I now get to play Pebble Beach two days in a row, which is always nice. We should get another couple days of great weather, some of the best I've seen at this tournament, so Pebble will probably be ripe for scoring.
"I'm not so worried about the sole leader, per se. I mean, I'm right there with the rest of the group of guys and it's only halftime. I still would be surprised if he continues to run away and extend that lead, so I'm just going to keep trucking along."
Jason Day - tied eighth on 9-under
"The last couple years have been a bit of a struggle with my back, so it's a real positive, not only personally, but then when I get on the golf course I feel good.
"So I'm not looking at it as like a comeback season, I'm just looking at it like every day what can I do to try to get better. And I'm super, super obsessed with the golf swing right now, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know how to take that. But I'm always talking to my coach every day and I'm always constantly working on it.
"The good thing is I need to work on my swing because if I don't then certain things can creep in and I can hurt my back again. So I got to always be cautious of that."
