Las Vegas golfer takes advantage of status in middling season

Seamus Power is the poster child for the PGA Tour when it comes to the advantages given to top players.

By virtue of his strong 2023 season, the Las Vegas golfer finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings and earned the right to play in all eight signature events in 2024. And although his results were nothing spectacular, those big-money tournaments allowed Power to finish the 2024 season 56th in the standings.

“It was a strange season because I’ve made improvements in areas of my game that I wanted to make improvements, but then like typical golf stuff, the stuff like my strengths before kind of went a little backwards,” Power said. “Ended up with positive stats across the board, but no real like highlight stuff. It was weird.”

Power had just one top-10 finish all season — a tie for 10th at the St. Jude Championship in August. He made 21 cuts in 28 starts and played his best golf in the fall, with the exception of the Shriners Children’s Open. He missed the cut at TPC Summerlin, the course where he does most of his practice while at home.

“I haven’t had those high finishes, which has been a little disappointing,” Power said of his 2024. “It’s been very, especially in the fall, it’s been very consistent, a lot of good stuff, but not really those great weeks which can really turn your season around.”

Power knows about great weeks making a difference. He started the 2021 season on the Korn Ferry Tour, found his way into a few PGA Tour events and capitalized. A six-tournament stretch in the summer included four top-10s, nothing worse than a tie for 19th, and culminated with his first win at the Barbasol Championship.

A second win came a year later in Bermuda to cement his status as one of the better closers on the PGA Tour.

Power never got the chance to show off that ability this season. He hung around the middle of the pack most weeks.

“I was rusty early and didn’t get going with the putter,” Power said. “I felt like I lost a bit of confidence in the putter and that’s been my strength really on tour, so that was slow coming out of the gates. I played very nicely from like the middle of the summer onward.”

He’ll enter 2025 with a spot at Pebble Beach and Riviera, the first two signature events, by virtue of his top-60 finish in the standings. Getting into the rest of them will take some solid play at the start of the year.

“It’s such a big deal and we saw that this year (that) you need to be in at least some of those elevated events,” Power said. “So that top 60, getting in Pebble and LA, will be huge. It was a big goal. It really kept me very motivated in the fall.”

Chip shots

* Southern Nevada Golf Association members won three singles matches and tied four others to overtake the Southern Nevada PGA and win the Southern Nevada Cup last week at Cascata Golf Club. Rick Sepp, Preston Harris and Andrew Hawk had singles wins for the SNGA to lead the 6.5-5.5 victory.

* Winners at the SNGA Tour Series Championship at Las Vegas National included Kenny Ebalo (Championship), Brian Hurlburt (Senior), David Foggia (Silver) and George Wolf (Net).

* Painted Desert is hosting a Naughty or Nice tournament Sunday with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Cost is $89.

* Las Vegas Golf Club is hosting an ugly sweater scramble with an 8 a.m. shotgun start on Dec. 22. Cost is $150 for a two-player team.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.