Ireland to Pebble, by way of East Tennessee State

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Rory McIlroy deserves some credit, in a rather convoluted way.

Rory signed a letter of intent to play golf at East Tennessee State but turned pro instead. So the State coach, Fred Warren, went about recruiting other Irish players.

Which is how Seamus Power ended up at East Tennessee, and in a way how Power on Friday ended up with the second-round lead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

An enormous lead, in relation to par if not the actual scoring totals, because two of the courses, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill are 72, Monterey Peninsula 71.

A lead of five, equaling the biggest for 36 holes, in the history of this tournament, now in its 76th year. Bob Rosburg was five ahead at the 36-hole mark in 1958 and Charlie Wi in 2012. Neither won.

Power had an 8-under 64 Friday at Pebble, the same as Thursday at Spyglass Hill, a 128 total and 16 under.

First-round leader Tom Hoge, Andrew Putnam and Adam Svenson are 11 under. After his 63 Thursday at Pebble, Hoge shot 69 Friday at Monterey Peninsula.

“I was a little shaky at the start,” said Hoge, the man from Fargo, N.D.

Power is the man from Waterford, the community famous for its crystal. But the only kind of glass he cares about is the type cut into golf trophies.

Hoping to get to a school in the U.S., Power was at a European junior event in Italy. So was Warren, the East Tennessee coach, still seeking someone who might be as talented as McIlroy. OK, there wasn’t anyone, but a coach needs to keep looking.

Along came Power.

“He had an American-style game,” Warren told Michael Arkush of the New York Times. “A long hitter, aggressive, trying to make birdies. I was real impressed with him.”

Warren would offer Power a partial scholarship if Power were willing to wait a year. Power agreed.

“No problem,“ wrote Arkush. “Power had written letters to other colleges in the United States but did not receive encouraging responses. In fact, if it had not been for the interest from East Tennessee State, he would have followed through on another plan: Take an accounting course at a university in Ireland.”

Counting numbers is familiar to a golfer. In fact, another Irishman of some fame, PGA championship and Open Championship winner (and Euro Ryder Cup captain) Padraig Harrington has an accounting degree.

After leaving East Tennessee, Power struggled, not unusual for almost all young golfers, playing the Buy.com Tour and something called the eTour, going from tournament to tournament in an old Toyota.

Finally, in 2019 he qualified for the PGA Tour, and in 2021 he won the Barbasol Open. That would have been fantastic except because it was the same week as the Open Championship, the British Open, it didn’t get him in a first Masters. 

It could be corrected with a victory here, of course. Power, who will be 35 in March, has paid his dues.

“That's certainly part of it,” said Power. “I've always loved playing golf. I have fond memories of playing those tours. Obviously, it's not where you want to be, but I mean any time you get to play golf for a living, like you're in a pretty good spot.

“So it's obviously satisfying, but, I mean, guys have gotten here a lot of different ways and it doesn't matter once you're here, it's how is your game going to hold up. That's kind of the fun part, trying to improve and just see where you can kind of put yourself.”

At Pebble this week, with great weather, where he puts himself could be in a special place.