Kilkenny’s Mark Power left Saudi Arabia convinced he has the game to compete at the highest level despite agonisingly missing the day-two cut by one stroke in the LIV Golf Promotions Event.
The former Walker Cup star (24) fired a 66 on day one to make the top 20 who joined the exempt players on day two at Riyadh Golf Club, where all scores were reset as players battle for just one lucrative spot on a LIV Golf team in 2025.
Only the top 20 made it through to today’s 36-hole shootout for that team place with the top 10 guaranteed a spot in the six-event £11.5m International Series on the Asian Tour.
Power made two birdies and two bogeys to be level par for the day with six holes to play before he chipped in for an eagle three at the 15th and rapped in a 10-footer for birdie at the 16th leap into a tie for the 14th.
Chasing the birdie he needed to secure at least a Play-Off chance, he attacked a 20-footer for birdie at the 17th but raced it three feet past and missed the return.
In the end, he couldn’t convert a long-range birdie putt at the 18th and a two-under 69 left him a shot outside a six-man playoff for 20th spot.
“I had a nice chip in on 15 followed by a birdie on 16, which put me in a nice spot,” Power said.
“There are plenty of positives from the week. I had an ice-cold putter today and still almost qualified for the final-day shootout.
“So I know my game is good enough to compete with top-quality players, but I’m bitterly disappointed to miss out as I would have fancied my chances tomorrow given how I was feeling.”
At the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, Tom McKibbin made four birdies and five bogeys in a 73 to go into the weekend nine strokes behind leader Marcus Kinhult.
The Swede shot a four-under 68 at Leopard Creek to lead by three shots on 11-under from South Africa’s Dean Burmester, England’s Dale Whitnell and Italy’s Andrea Pavan. Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell was left to rue his opening 75 and five second-round bogeys as he made two eagles and two birdies in a 71 to miss the cut by three shots.