SEAMUS POWER AND Shane Lowry both made bright starts as darkness halted play at the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour.
While a handful of players were still on the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course in Palm Harbor, Florida, when play was suspended, the Irish duo had finished their opening rounds.
Power opened his weekend with a round of 70, which leaves him three shots off the lead on one-under overall. Lowry is a shot further back after his opening 71.
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Power started on the back nine, shooting a bogey on the 16th and birdie on the 17th. He also birdied on the first and fifth, before finishing with a bogey on the ninth.
The Waterford man is among 16 golfers tied for 23rd, with Xander Schauffele, Sepp Straka and Viktor Hovland for company.
Lowry, meanwhile, bookended his front nine with birdies on the first and ninth, while he had bogeys on holes five and 17.
The Offaly native is tied for 39th with 22 others, four off the lead on even par.
The lead is shared five ways, with American trio Keith Mitchell, Jacob Bridgeman and Ricky Castillo, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, Sami Valimaki of Finland at the top of the leaderboard on four-under.
Another three players in the clubhouse are three-under following a tough, windy day in which the early starters had a distinct advantage.
Mitchell, who carded seven birdies and three bogeys in a four-under par 67, says he’s still learning from his agonising last-round collapse in the event last year.
Given the conditions, he said he couldn’t be too upset to close his round with back-to-back bogeys that dropped him from six-under into a share of the lead.
He three-putted his penultimate hole, the eighth, then found the right rough off the tee on the way to a bogey at the ninth.
“All in all I kept it together,” he said. “Number eight was playing really hard today, and nine the wind just off left I couldn’t get it started far enough left and made bogeys there.
“But you take those two out of the round and sprinkle them somewhere else. I’m feeling good.”
Mitchell started last year’s final round at Innisbrook with a two-shot lead but carded a 77 that left him tied for 17th as Peter Malnati snapped a nine-year title drought.
Asked how he moved on from that, Mitchell said he didn’t.
“I still think about it,” he said. “It’s still definitely in the back of my mind and I want it to stay there, hopefully for the rest of my career to just motivate me to remember what it feels like when you let those kind of nerves get in your way.
“A round like today feels like the opposite of that,” added Mitchell, who is trying to add a second tour title to his 2019 Honda Classic crown.
Jaeger, who claimed his first title at the Houston Open last year, closed with back-to-back birdies, getting up and down from a bunker to pick up a stroke at 18 and join the leading group.
He said he was actually aiming for the bunker after his wind-whipped tee shot found the right rough.
“To be honest with you that’s the only play I had,” he said. “I knew the bunker shot wasn’t terribly difficult, but obviously making that is a bonus. I would have taken par any day of the week.”
With reporting from Emma Duffy
Terrible Game. Waste of time for everyone.
A change to the rules would eliminate blanket poop football.
Leinster is a waste of time for the dubs , they only get a proper game when it comes to the all Ireland quarters / semi finals …
Agreed but Dublin were very casual today. Leinster does Dublin no good. They develop bad habits when the games are not competitive. Bad decision making, bad wides and some very sloppy passes. Furthermore, it seems nobody is allowed tackle McCauley hard anymore. Anytime MDMA gets a hard tackle he reacts like a petulant child. His lack of discipline could cost Dublin in a more competitive match further down the line. McCauley is a fine player but he needs to check his ego ASAP.
Apart from his discipline he was the worst Dublin player in the first half, surprised he came back out at HT
It’s a waste of time for every team involved not just dublin.
Something really wrong when a team is winning their provincial Championship by an aggregate score of +59 points in 3 games.
10 Leinster titles in 11 years. It’s stroll in the (Croke) Park every single year.
Current system not doing anyone any good.
Inter-county game dying a death outside the capital. More and more players dropping out of county panels to take the summer off. Increasingly not worth it with the near professional commitment and training levels.
GAA won’t change with all the money they make off Dublin’s back. They’ll regret it when it’s too late.
The Leinster final is always going to be in Croke Park, and in fairness would it really make any difference if Dublin were playing away? I’d love to travel to away matches like in hurling but the Leinster Council aren’t going to move us anytime soon.
Emigration has a lot to do with some of the more rural counties’ lack of competitiveness, I feel. Kildare for example have lost three or four of their brightest young prospects to the likes of AFL or the States. It probably affects Dublin to a lesser extent and it’s not something the GAA can easily address.
As for Championship structures, Jim McGuinness came up with a brilliant new approach, integrating the All-Ireland series, provincial championships and the league, thereby making all three competitions relevant. Hard to see it even being debated in Congress though.
The situation regarding adult club football and hurling is a far bigger danger to the Association than the Dubs’ success, soccer and rugby combined, IMO. Who wants to hang around for three months in summer without being able to book holidays or having any matches? Having a reliable fixture calendar for club players (who make up 95% of the GAA’s membership) should be a major priority.
2_13and 16wides it’s true Dublin cannot play against a blanket.
Poor match, Dublin will be caught wanting when they play a proper team .
What a waste of GAA development money 2/3.of all the development money
going to Dublin and they have to be within 25 yards of goal to score . Dublin’s
strength is their home venue .
Westmeath had 14 men in their own 45 for 65 minutes with no effort to attack and Dublin still win by 12! Your right if they played at Parnell park they would have been better
yes it was a very poor match it’s hard to have a game when one team tried and the other tries to keep the score down but that is the result of the cancer that has set in unfortunatelythanks mickle harte you did the game a great service.
idiot
I presume your not referring to me if I am how am I an idiot please explain
If you think a 13 point win against a blanket defence is a negative you are an idiot
The biggest shock is that 48000 paid to watch a training session masquerading as a match. There were 4 qualifiers yesterday a 2 point margin a 23 point margin a 9 point margin and a 19 point margin. That paints a picture of what state the game is in. But true GAA people won’t pull their heads out of their arses long enough to see there’s a problem.
Sorry @John but thats an insult to the many supporters around the country that follow their team through thick and thin. Does one not simply bother turning up because their team is not as good as their opponent……..or the other way around. Your talking through your arse
As I said head right up your arse. I’ve no problem supporting a team through thick n thin but when it’s the same teams every single year in the thin category it wears you down. There’s only so many times you can watch a team getting slaughtered. People like you think us counties who’s teams are canon fodder year after year should be so grateful for the experience. Well f**k that.
put the Dubs into Ulster !
anto ulster is the same curcus different clowns
My point been is that Ulster is only province where you can say there is 3/4 teams that will win it. Connacht is nearly always Mayo for the last few years, Munster is either Cork or Kerry and in Leinster there is no one within an asses roar of Dublin I think they would be better off ditching the current provincial format and have a Champions league style league format that starts in March and runs to September, that ways every team is guarenteed 5/6 championship matches, home and away. The top 2 in every group ho through yo quaternary finals. Also this would mean the Dubs would have to travel for championship games and spread the weslth5
Donegal fifth final In a row very monaghan fourth out of five staggering competition up there alright.
Was Armagh and Tyrone, now Donegal and Monaghan. No walkovers. New challengers next year.
If you want to make comparisons look to Munster – Cork v Kerry forever.
Instead of putting counties who are too good for one province into another, should just scrap the provincial championship!
not making comparison Peter but the whole competitive ulster championship is a nonsense as you say yourself replace two teams with two other.
But that’s because most Munster counties are hotbeds of hurling- in which they have an extremely competitive provincial championship. You could make the same argument about Ulster- in which there’s a hurling championship dominated by one team, but the football championship is much harder to dominate.
What a game. What a weekend for Dublin! Come on you boys in blue!!!
what a game me arse
your right Lenny only one team trying not to play. instead of two no brawls (ulster intensity) and no one half killed behind a kids band
The Dubs win the Leinster title and you still manage to bring Ulster teams into it Paul. Obsessed.
It was a desperate game Sean
not obsessed Joe I said long ago ulster killed Gaelic football with the ploy of bad teams playing spoiling football. it’s time for the gaa to take action against this disease thank god the big teams are still playing the right way.
Dublin are the most likeable Dublin team in a while. Great football and no preening or posturing. Such a same to hear a portion of the crowd booing Westmeath wides etc.
These players deserve as much respect as the Dublin players.
Disappointed with Westmeath today… Such a same they decided to play the blanket defence. Shame on Donegal for ruining the game…
“Shame”
Yeah you are right, Westmeath should have played more openly, left 6 men up front and got beat by 25 points. Spirit of the game and all that….
Shame on Donegal????
Do your research, this was around before Jim McGuinness figured out how to use it right. Also, remember, the only puke football game was the semi in 2011 against Dublin. After that attack was mixed with defence. Look at the 2014 semi against Dublin. And the games in between. Donegal perfected both parts of the game. Teams like westmeath and derry etc play blanket defence with no ability to attack. That’s the difference and that’s why you should have a proper look at things rather than incorrectly taking a cheap shot at Donegal. It’s getting old at this stage. And, while I’m at it, where does it say in the rules a particular style of play is required? Nowhere, that’s where. Stupid arguements everywhere about this. If westmeath employed some of the proposed rule changes people on here claim will fix GAA forever, they’d have been hockeyed by about 30 points by Dublin today.
I would of enjoyed that more anyway….
You’d have preferred to watch a non-competitive 30 point mauling ?
Tyrone ruined it Donegal took it to a new level sadly.
See Paul, that’s the common misconception. They may well have but Donegal games don’t rememble what we saw this afternoon. Donegal perfected the almost perfect defensive system and supplemented it by devastating counter attacking. If people remembered all of that there’d be less of the short-sighted comments about Donegal ruining football. Donegal should be appreciated for how they actually play the game. They inspired teams like Derry etc who can’t do it right and now get the blame for their shortcomings. That annoys me.
* …with devastating…..
I wouldn’t bother with Paul Tom. He’s staunchly anti ulster football so regardless of how effective Donegals counter attacking football is you’ll hear no praise from him. He doesn’t understand what competitive means as he’s proved time and time again. You don’t have to like the style of football but anyone who thinks it’s not competitive and that nearly every game isn’t up for grabs hasn’t a clue about sport in general.
so everyone outside ulster who looks on that style of football with discust are all suffering a misconception tom.
But Donegal have a healthy sprinkling of players who would get into any team in the country- thinking of Mark McHugh and Colm McFadden (on 2012 form), Neil Gallagher, Frank McGlynn, Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, the McGees. They have a deadly full-forward line, so it makes sense to play that way, leaving lots of space for their inside forwards and support runners.
The likes of Derry, Cavan, Westmeath just don’t have the same players to execute a counter-attacking system like Donegal did. They won’t win an All-Ireland, but they generally become much more competitive under such a system, as goals are very hard to come by against massed defences. So they will continue to play defensively until there are either rule changes or someone figures out how to defeat it (as Eamon Fitzmaurice did last September).
I see that there’s a challenge game coming up under the Brolly rules (having a minimum/maximum number of players in certain parts of the field at all times) which will be interesting to observe.
The #GAA might eventually realise that allowing teams to empty the opposition half to defend might not be good for the game. A simple rule like a ‘A team must maintain at least 4 (or maybe even 6) players in the opposition half at all times. It could be policed by linesmen or a ref in the sky with radio communication to referee!
As much as how bad that looked, it would have looked a hell of a lot worse if those rules were introduced. The problem is with Leinster not the game itself.
Im just delighted to see the Dubs lift the trophy again. There are obvious problems in the provincial set up but you cant blame Dublin.
Dublin have thousands more playing at every level. The smaller counties are nearly done with GAA. Only teams who concentrate on either football or hurling are serious contenders for All Irelands- your Donegals KK’s etc.
As for Westmeath’s tactics and Donegals puke- the solution:
1. The 6 forwards cannot enter their own half. 2 Midfielders can roam as the see fit.
2. No. hand passes limited to 1 per move.
According to the last GAA annual report there are 3 counties with higher participation rates than Dublin
@Wayne really? Wouldn’t have thought that. They have great facilities etc on top of numbers.
A change to the rules is painfully needed.
Kildare, and cork have more participants can’t remember the other. Remember a large part of Dublin’s population is from other counties.
Hep Dublin are winning we need to change the rules
dougal turkeys don’t vote for Christmas Dublin and Kerry are thegaa in football the rest are a sideshow.
Steady lads- i’m not having a go at Dublin, i prefer watching them and Kerry than any other teams.
It’s football that loses as the old saying goes. Dublin and other proper footballing teams would clean up with Doogle Rules !
was not worth the entrance money.
A farce as is the whole GAA football game, same old merry go round every year. Skill? None. Only kids could be exited by such a pathetic sight as today. As for adults dressed in football shirts. Jesus!
Imagine that! Adults in football shirts at a football game.. Whatever next! Obviously none of your fellow Fulham Supporters (yes people, you read that right, he sports Fulham!) wear football shirts?!
Touché!
David put firmly back in his box
Corporate box?
If Meath were der they would of won it
But they weren’t, as Westmeath made history in finally beating them. ;) Still a proud Westmeath fan!