<p>Séamus Power chats with the media following his third round 63 at El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba</p>
Seamus Power rocketed into contention for back-to-back wins when he made a hole-in-one and an eagle two in a nine-under 63 to snatch the early clubhouse lead in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
While he won his second tour title by capturing the Butterfield Bermuda Championship on Sunday, the West Waterford man insisted he's bursting with energy after taking five weeks off after the FedEx Cup Playoffs this summer to get the "fun" back into his game.
"It was a great day out there," said the Waterford man (35), who set the early clubhouse target at 15-under par, two shots better than Belgium's Thomas Detry, who shot 64, and defending champion Viktor Hovland, who posted a 66.
"I actually feel great after last week. You know, I think sometimes it's easy to overplay as a player. I think the thing that's helping me right now is I took five weeks off after the Playoffs finished in Delaware.
"It was a long summer, and I needed to get the energy levels and the fun of the game back in there. I did that, and I feel like I'm in a great spot right now.
"Obviously, today I got some great breaks, played some really nice golf. It's obviously a bonus to hole out some of those shots, but it was one of those days. I was burning the edges all over the place with putts, so it's kind of weird a couple of wedge shots went in. That's golf sometimes, and hopefully, I can get some of the putts to drop tomorrow."
He certainly had fun in the third round as he soared from tied 28th overnight, nine shots behind Russell Henley, and into the early 54-hole lead with a nine-under round.
He followed a birdie at the first with five pars before catching fire and blitzing the last 12 holes in seven-under-par.
After making another birdie at the par-five seventh, he holed a 138-yard gap wedge for a hole-in-one at the eighth, then zipped a lob wedge back into the hole for an eagle two at the 360-yard 11th.
He looked set to bogey the 14th when he bunkered his approach short left but holed out from around 30 yards for an unlikely birdie three before brushing in a six-footer for another birdie at the 17th.
"It was a very similar number and a very similar wind to the first round, so I knew it was going to be spot on for a club," he said of his ace at the eighth. "I hit it to maybe four feet on Thursday, very same numbers, very same winds, so I hit the same shot and obviously landed a foot long left and spun back in.
"Then kind of funny enough, on 11 I hit a wedge shot in there to a very similar pin to maybe like 10 inches yesterday and today it just fell in. I had a couple of good visuals for those shots, which helps, but obviously, you need a lot of luck for those to actually fall in."
Now ranked 32nd in the world, Power knows he has a long way to go to qualify for Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup team, but a third win would put him in a strong position.
"That's going to be huge, and it's obviously a long ways away," he said when asked what it would mean to make that team for Rome. "That's hopefully going to be the reward at the end of a lot of good golf.
"It's another 10 months of golf and there are a lot of good young players showing up in Europe, so we will see. There is a long way to go, but any time you have good rounds, it's going to help you along the way."
With so much golf to play, he's looking to make hay in his last two events before Christmas and a busy January, which will begin a return trip to the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
"That five weeks was huge just to get the fun back into the game," said Power, who could leap to 23rd in the world and to the top of the FedEx Cup standings with another win. "Just to get the energy levels back up and the desire to just be out there on the golf course. So I was able to do that and I feel great right now."
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington started with a triple bogey eight before holing a bunker shot for his second eagle three of the day at the 18th as he carded a five-under 67 in the TimberTech Championship in Florida.
The Dubliner (51) goes into the final round tied for ninth on five-under and six shots behind Bernhard Langer.
Darren Clarke is just five behind Langer after a 66, tied for fourth with Charles Schwab Cup points leader Steven Alker, who heads Harrington by over 700,000 points with only next week's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship to play.
Langer shot 63 to head Paul Goydos by a shot on 11-under at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton.
Article Link: Recharged Power fires 63 to contend for back-to-back wins after getting "fun" back into his game - News - Irish Golf Desk