A major Power fade leaves the home hopefuls needing a miracle at Mount Juliet in the final round of the Horizon Irish Open.
Seamus Power began his Irish Open third round in promising shape for a Sunday charge at the Kilkenny venue - and a crack at being the first home winner since Shane Lowry in 2009.
But the 35-year-old carded a five over par 77 - the second worst round of the day - to leave himself 11 shots adrift of leader Adrian Meronk of Poland on 13-under.
READ MORE: Shane Lowry shoots a 68 to move into contention on moving day at the Irish Open
However Power confessed that he struggled to get into his rhythm after a 10 minute-plus delay on his first hole caused by a medical emergency in the crowd.
DP World Tour officials put the 35-year-old and playing partner Jack Senior on the clock and Power said: "We waited for 10 to 15 minutes and we were on the clock. It was kind of scary.
"I never had that happen before. I hope the guy is OK. Golf is just golf.
"It's such an unusual situation, I'm sure it's not in the rulebook but we don't feel comfortable playing...we were waiting for medics and we weren't sure what was happening.
"There were kind of panicked people there and I hit that bad shot on three (he found water on the par-three third) so we're obviously behind.
"But that's part of competitive golf, you never like being on the clock but if you lose time it's on you to make it back up.
"To be honest I felt bad for Jack because I was playing so poorly, it was hard to make up time because I was all over the place."
In fact England's Senior shrugged off the delay to post a 67 to leave himself in joint second place with Fabricio Zanotti of Italy.
"That's your own responsibility, you’ve got to learn to deal with that," said Power, commenting on the difference in how Senior played.
"That’s part of the game. You’ve only a certain amount of time to get around. No excuses - one of those days when just everything was poor. Lots of bad swings."
Power also insisted that carrying the hopes of the massive home crowd had not affected him.
"Definitely not," he said. "I felt very comfortable out there. I just hit some poor shots.
"At the third, with a back right pin to hit it in the water is unheard of. That’s golf. Just got a little bit out of office at the start and never able to recover.
"It’s one of those days. It happens a couple of times a season. You’d prefer it to be when you’re 60th going into round three.
"You’ve got to tighten up a couple of things. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow."
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