You can see the physical side of it. The power drives, and the exquisite recovery shots. The putts that roll in to find the bottom of the thin cup but remain unheard to all except those closest, the player and perhaps his caddie.
But there is also the mental aspect of competing in the Majors, the ability to stay in the moment and to retain focus. To grind it out.
For a player who took a convoluted route to golf’s greatest championships, Séamus Power – with a top-30 in the Masters and a top-10 in the US PGA – has made a strong start to his US Open debut.
In producing a well-crafted second round 70 to add to his opening 71, the K Club-attached Waterford man reached the halfway stage on 141, one over par, and ready to target another strong weekend showing.
This was a round that showed Power’s strengths, with his putter – again – proving to be a strong part of his armoury.
But there was grit too, an ability to rescue shots, as exemplified by a wonderful par save from a greenside bunker on the ninth, his closing hole, which briefly and tantalisingly looked as it if might actually pop into the hole.
“It is tough going out there. It is so penal for even an average shot and that’s the difference I think for this week [compared to regular tour events]. This is not as extreme I am sure as some of the US Opens but it is still punishing for a poor shot.
“It is fun to play, you have got to really manage your way around it but the second you miss a fairway or a green it is all hands on deck to see what you can muster up.”
The day was one to keep the mind on the task at hand. The wind which swept across the Brookline composite championship course made player and caddie work out club selection with scientific attention, and then for the player to commit to the formula worked out.
“Look, it’s tough. There’s a breeze and it was moving around. There was a lot of conversation with Simon [Keelan, his caddie]. If you really get the wind a little bit off, it can end up in spots where you have no chance. You have to make good decisions and to pick the wind right and the right landing spot. It’s a full-on team effort nearly all the way around,” admitted Power, adding:
“You just learn your own tendencies and learn what you make a habit of. Simon is great for keeping me in the present and stuff, you use everything you can, all the tricks you learn over the years to kind of get you around the course.”
On that front, Power did extremely well in assessing each challenge as it came to him on what was a slow round – touching five and a half hours – in producing a round of four birdies and four bogeys and yet where some of the pars were as important as the birdies.
“My attitude? I think you are always working on it. You still get frustrated and all that but the thing with the Majors is you have got to snap out of it pretty fast because you can turn one mistake into two dropped shots pretty quickly.
“I have been smart when I have got out of position and I think that’s huge. I didn’t get any doubles. It is hard to get shots back, so avoiding those [big numbers] so far has been key. It is about trying to make smart decisions all the time but especially when you get out of position.”
And keep in the game Power did, while his memory from as recent as last month’s US PGA at Southern Hills – where he finished tied-ninth – will serve him well.
“The scoring is so bunched it is looking like it could be the same here [as the PGA]. If you can just hang in there, and get hot for maybe nine holes over the weekend, it could be all that it is going to take.
“If I can be not more than five or six back going into the weekend, kind of hang around, hopefully that putter can stay hot and add in a couple of good shots and you just don’t know … so hopefully this is in a decent spot going into the weekend.”
