Matt McCarty and the Pros and Cons of Starting Early

Before the 1997 season, the Nike Tour (as the Korn Ferry Tour was then known) introduced a new rule that any participating golfer who won three times on the circuit in the same season would be promoted to the PGA Tour with immediate effect. Furthermore, all such honorees would have full membership and would be subject to just the next reshuffle for the rest of the year and free from facing them next year. The first beneficiary of this reform was Chris Smith, who that year won the Nike Upstate Classic (now the BMW Charity Pro-Am) in Upstate South Carolina and followed it up later on with consecutive wins at the Dakota Dunes Classic and the Omaha Classic. He earned his card on 10 August 1997 and went on to win the Westchester-Buick Open in 2002.

Twenty-seven years later, Matt McCarty must have sensed that this season would be a year of destiny for his career. Having come up just short last year in the KFT Final Series, the 26-year-old Santa Clara alumnus got off to a decent start before missing four cuts in the first six stateside events. Yet as late as mid-July, he was winless in his pro career, his highest finish being T3. That changed in Springfield, Missouri at the Price Cutter Classic on 21 July. McCarty's winning score of -25 was good for a three-shot win over Tommy Gainey. Three weeks later, McCarty took the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha for win No 2 and then completed the battlefield promotion on 25 August at the Finals-opening Boise Open to earn immediate promotion to the PGA Tour. Because the FedEx Cup Playoffs were going on, the first opportunity to flaunt his membership would be the Procore Championship (formerly the Fortinet Championship), which kicks off the FedEx Cup Fall.

Unless you consider a certain something in the pot of gold at the end of the KFT rainbow. You see, the top graduate (there are now thirty per year) is also eligible for all normal events and free from the reshuffle, and he gets to play both the Players Championship and the U.S. Open. For all his season-long success, McCarty led second-place Max McGreevy (who himself could get promoted immediately by winning next week's KFT Championship, having won both the Memorial Health Championship and the Magnit Championship this year) by fewer than 700 points. After consulting with his connections, McCarty opted to pursue No 1 at season's end, regardless of the costs to his chances of a PGA Tour win.

At the Simmons Bank Open in Nashville the same weekend (9-12 September) as the Procore, McCarty's points-list lead dropped from 687 to 570. This left unfinished business at the following week's Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio. McCarty would have to outscore McGreevy by thirty points and stay more than 600 ahead of both Steven Fisk and Tim Widing (the only two others capable of chasing him down). Fortunately, Widing missed the cut; Fisk was a non-factor; and McGreevy mustered a measly T23 to McCarty's T5, enabling the promotee to secure top spot, no matter what happens in Larry Bird's hometown.

Which is what led to the field announcements today. The PGA Tour announces its member circuits' fields after 5pm Eastern every Friday before a tournament. As I awaited the field announcements for both the KFT Championship and the main tour's Sanderson Farms Championship, I tried to put myself into McCarty's shoes. The temptation to have guaranteed OWGR points and prize money (which the KFT Championship offers all qualifying players, as it is now a no-cut event) could be overwhelming. Indeed, at the end of the year the top fifty players according to the world ranking get into next year's Masters, so that must've been a consideration. However, the Sanderson Farms Championship will probably offer a bigger OWGR bounty to all who make the cut (to say nothing of a guaranteed spot for the winner at Augusta, let alone Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship) and also a bigger check for any given cut-making finish. While the going can be more difficult on the PGA Tour, then, the rewards are clearly far more lucrative--even during the fall series.

Matt McCarty will make his PGA Tour membership debut at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi (PGA Tour).

As it turned out, McCarty had indeed committed to the Sanderson Farms. It will be his first start as a PGA Tour member, and he is exempt into five of the remaining six events (Black Desert, Shriners, World Wide Technology, Bermuda, RSM) as well. The only exception is the Zozo Championship in Japan, which is reserved for top-performing PGA Tour members on the FedEx Cup season as well as select Japan Golf Tour members. Good luck to Matt McCarty on the next step in his journey!

Edward the Scop

Memorial Tournament et al. Recap and Weekly Preview

Last week saw some Umcee noise...but not from the places you'd expect.

At the Memorial Tournament in the Columbus, Ohio suburb of Dublin, Scottie Scheffler won his fifth event in eight starts. Much of the drama, then, centred around how he held on to win, rather than that he won again, in that he was forced to par the last hole to prevent a playoff against Collin Morikawa. As is recent tradition, the Memorial is also an Open Qualifying Series event, awarding exempt places in the Open Championship every year. Or, this year, a place since, due to the reworking of the tournament as a signature event (in part against Jack Nicklaus' wishes, as Muirfield Village is AKA Jack's Place) there were just 73 entrants.

(USA Today/PGA Tour)

Only one of the limited field's threescore and a baker's dozen was an Umcee. Tom Hoge, who qualified for every signature event this year by virtue of reaching last year's BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, started out brightly, but he collapsed during the weekend, struggling to avoid needing 300 strokes on the par-72 course (+10/298) over four days. He finished T45, but he at least cracked the top sixty--hell, the top forty-five--for the first time at Jack's Place, albeit against a reduced field.

And with Hoge's endeavours, the Memorial had an Umcee make the cut. The same can't be said of the Korn Ferry Tour's BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina. Given the format, scoring was bound to be low, and this reflected in a cutline of -5/138 after two days on two courses--one par-72, the other par-71. It was an eminently forgettable week for both Umcees involved, to say the least. With Frankie Capan III taking the week off to prep for the U.S. Open, AKA the masochist's major, a wipeout might have been expected. Sure enough, Van Holmgren missed the cut by five strokes (even par), but Andre Metzger, who is prominent on the Dakotas Tour, was far worse. He went +9/152 in his two rounds! That does NOT cut it at a pro-am tournament, regardless of the level of competition!!!

Add to this O.J. Farrell (former Wisconsin Badger) MCing on the Clutch Pro Tour in England and heading into Saturday, it didn't look good for any big time moving up by Umcees anywhere in the world. That changed when Kim Kaufman started to kick ass at the Firecrackers Casino-Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, AKA the home of Kellogg's cereals, on the Epson Tour. Kaufman was a modest even-par 72 heading to Saturday, which wasn't going to move her up in the Race for the Card, period. But then she went under par in the difficult conditions and was T15 heading to the final round Sunday. She then matched her -1/71 from the day before and moved up to T8 at the last for a check of $4379. Moreover, the R4C points she earned moved her to fifth on the list. It increasingly looks like a return to the LPGA Tour in 2025 awaits Kaufman.

This week, of course, is dominated by the U.S. Open. In addition to Hoge, who qualified by a top-60 placement in the world rankings after the PGA Championship last month, former Minnesota Gopher Erik van Rooyen was automatically exempt as one of the top five "leftovers," according to the FedEx Cup. Furthermore, three other Umcees qualified for the event on their own. As mentioned in the post I linked, Capan qualified as the Durham, North Carolina medallist, while Carson Schaake earned his way via Springfield, Ohio. Finally, Gunnar Broin, who will be a grad student at Kansas in the fall, held on to a place via a 4-for-3 playoff. Though as it turns out, he would've been granted a place if he'd been the odd one out, as this week's OWGR top sixty added just two--Bob MacIntyre of Scotland, who won the Canadian Open earlier this month, and Australia's Adam Scott, whose 92nd successive major appearance should come with an apology to the loved ones of Grayson Murray. This left four places for alternates, and the Columbus first alternate got in. There are currently twenty alternates on the USGA's master list, eight of whom are first alternates. The remaining twelve, of course, are all the second alternates except for Springfield, Ohio. That's because Maxwell Moldovan moved into first alternate after Scott's exemption, allowing him relative dibs.

Among other events, the Wichita Open once more sees Metzger take on a field of 156, and Iowa native Charles Jahn will be there, too. However, Holmgren will sit this one out. The Epson Tour also rolls on into Columbus, Indiana, home of the Otter Creek Championship. Kaufman and Kate Smith-Stroh, who missed last week's cut by two strokes, will tee it up as of Monday night, while Emily Lauterbach, coming off a failed attempt to qualify for a second LPGA Tour start this year, is fourth alternate. Over in England, Farrell will try to pick up the pieces from another missed cut at the Manor House on the Clutch Tour.

Lastly, the final Q-school session for the PGA Tour Americas' North American segment tees off tomorrow. Former Gopher Angus Flanagan will try to get back his status on the pyramid, and he'll be joined by Ben Sigel, the Minnetonka High School alumnus who preceded Broin at KU. The top nine finishers (no ties, which must be broken by playoffs if needed) will be exempt, and the rest of the top 25 and ties will be conditionally exempt in a rotation among the six sites and the finishers on the Latin American segment outside the top sixty.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 2 June 2024

 For the first time since adding the televote for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week on my YouTube channel, we have a tie in the results. Of the votes that were submitted, half went to Erik van Rooyen based on his T42 performance at the RBC Canadian Open and half to Kim Kaufman for her T58 at the U.S. Women's Open, the second major of the women's golf year. In the end, the jury (me) has decided to break the tie, and the winner by decision is...

Kim Kaufman.

She won't get Upper Midwest Connection of the Month honours, but she had her best finish in a women's major in seven years to earn weekly plaudits. As I mentioned in my weekly recap Tuesday, her payout of over $23 000 was about half of what she's earned on the Epson Tour, which is the women's equivalent of the Korn Ferry Tour. She also cracked the top 500 of the Rolex Rankings, the women's version of the OWGR. Making the cut at the Tartarus that was Lancaster Country Club will give Kaufman confidence as she seeks a return to the LPGA Tour in 2025, either via the Epson Tour Race for the Card or LPGA Q-Series. (Too bad that U.S. Women's Open performance doesn't count toward the Race for the Card, as far as I know, unlike the men's version counting toward KFT graduation progress.)

This week is the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, AKA Jack's Place. Only one Umcee, Tom Hoge, made the event, and he has an opportunity to seal a trip to the Open via the Open Qualifying Series. In contrast to previous years, when multiple tickets were punched at the event, the signature status of this year's edition means a reduced field (73 at last count) and, with it, a reduction of exemptions to one.

On the developmental tours, the Korn Ferry Tour holds its BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina. Although Frankie Capan III is taking the week off, the field still includes two Umcees in Van Holmgren and Andre Metzger. Lastly, the Epson Tour holds an event for the first time since Memorial Day weekend, as the Firekeepers Hotel-Casino Championship takes over Battle Creek, Michigan. Unlike most early-season events on that tour, the field size is sufficient such that Emily Lauterbach of Hartfield, Wisconsin is able to join the fray, which also Kate Smith-Stroh. Smith-Stroh has struggled this year generally, so a good result here could kickstart her season. However, Kaufman is taking a well-deserved break after making the cut as mentioned above.

One more note: The Clutch Pro Tour, which feeds into the Challenge Tour--the DP World Tour's developmental arm--is underway in its second season but first with OWGR points. One of its regulars is former Wisconsin Badger O.J. Farrell, who made European Q-School finals last year but missed the 72-hole cut. So far, he ranks 33rd on the Clutch Order of Merit.

Edward the Scop

Q-School Sneak Peek 2024

 Yesterday, 4 June, the application for PGA Tour Q-School dropped. As in previous years (including 2013-19, 2021 and 2022, when Q-school only granted Korn Ferry Tour privileges at best), there are set criteria for byes to the last three stages. This post concerns differences between this year's exemption criteria and last year's, as well as changes to the incentives for various finishes at Q-school. While most of them stayed the same, there were some differences enacted this year.

PGA Tour University

As with last year, four of the top five college seniors (excluding No 1 Christo Lamprecht of Georgia Tech, who is exempt on the PGA Tour through next year on that count, a la Ludvig Aberg a year ago) according to this program's rankings will be exempt to Final Stage, again held at the Sawgrass golf complex in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida near PGA Tour headquarters. The difference lies in Second Stage, where an additional six college graduates will participate if not exempt to Final Stage otherwise. Those six are Nos 21-25 on the final ranking and the NCAA Division II Jack Nicklaus Award winner. Last year, only Nos 6-20 were exempt to Second Stage, no matter what. The two years before at KFT Q-School, spots were limited to Nos 6-15, and the top finisher was only awarded KFT membership for the rest of the year and Final Stage exemption if needed. This evolution, to me, represents the growing importance of college golf. Surely my interest has grown!

PGA Tour Americas

This tour, of course, represents the merger of the PGA Tour pyramid's two lesser developmental circuits after last year. Instead of the top five on each circuit being exempt to Q-school finals and the rest of both top 25s being exempt to Second Stage, the top two on the Latin American segment (Canada's Matthew Anderson and New Zealand's Harry Hillier) will join with the top three on the North American segment in being exempt to Final Stage. Of course, those who finish in the top ten are promoted to the Korn Ferry Tour for 2025, whereas their high-finishing predecessors only received conditional KFT status without Q-school. The remaining top ten from each segment will be exempt to Second Stage, but only the combined list of top-25 finishers on the year will be used for the tour's remaining Second Stage exemptions. In the last two years of KFT Q-School, the top ten on each of the two tours that combined to form the PGA Tour Americas this year got into Final Stage. I guess restoring PGA Tour cards had consequences down the pyramid. Speaking of which...

At the End of the Q-School Rainbow

An additional $6000 will be distributed to each of Nos 41-45 at the end of Final Stage, ostensibly due to the fact that at least 45 will earn PGA Tour or KFT membership. Last year, only forty top finishers were to be paid, although 41 earned a check for their efforts. Of the more substantive rewards, PGA Tour cards are still limited to the top five and ties. The next forty and ties will still receive KFT starts, and these will still be broken down such that the top 25 and ties among those receive two reprieves from the reshuffle and the rest one. The remaining participants at Final Stage who post 72 holes' scores will earn some PGA Tour Americas membership.

The main difference is, again, in Second Stage. Again, all medallists at Second Stage (including ties) will receive KFT membership with one reprieve from the reshuffle. But those who come oh-so-close but fall short of Final Stage still have some reason to hope for starts on the PGA Tour Americas, as the top ten and ties among those not advancing to Final Stage from each site will receive conditional status on the Latin American segment in 2025. Of course, with fifty or more such consolations, it may be difficult for some to be allotted starts, especially with First Stage medallists having full exemption to the segment.

I hope this post helps you understand the evolution of Q-school from last year to this year. Who knows what next year's Q-school will look like?

Edward the Scop

Umcee Success Stories on the Longest Day of Golf

 As mentioned in my last post, the "Longest Day in Golf" went down yesterday. Ten of the thirteen final qualifying sites, each a 36-hole test sending a given number of top finishers to the U.S. Open, contributed 44 places in this year's event at Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina. Among those trying their luck at a spot were numerous Umcees. While not all qualified or earned alternate places (each site designates two), three earned their way into the season's penultimate men's major and its most masochistic, just as last week's women's edition was for women's golf. Below, I provide a recap of the three.

Frankie Capan III won his U.S. Open qualifier (St Paul Pioneer Press).

Frankie Capan III (Duke University Golf Club, Durham, NC, medallist, -6/134)

Capan was the most impressive of the three Umcees who qualified via open qualifying (as opposed to exemptions). He was already exempt from local qualifying due to his top-500 OWGR standing at the time of application that he has maintained. FCIII beat Brian Campbell and former U.S. Amateur Sam Bennett to win the medal by one stroke, and Chesson Hadley and Webb Simpson qualified without any questions as well. That left two places to be determined among seven players, along with both alternate places, in a sudden-death playoff. Carter Jenkins and Harry Higgs--the latter of whom beat Capan in another playoff at the Korn Ferry Tour's Visit Knoxville Open--prevailed, while Spencer Oxendine and Matt McCarty were first and second alternates, respectively.

Gunnar Broin (amateur, Ohio State University Golf Club, Scarlet Course, Columbus, OH, 4-way T3 and won in odd-one-out playoff, -9/133)

The sole amateur on the list, Broin just completed his fourth year at the University of Kansas and is intending to play one more season of college golf before turning pro. He missed out on the medallist honours by one stroke, as Justin Lower and Seamus Power shared them at -10. Since there were only five places available and he was in a four-way tie for third, Broin had to undergo a playoff, whose loser would be first alternate. As it turned out, he did just enough to make Pinehurst, along with Brendon Todd and Chris Naegel, while Otto Black missed out. In a separate, seven-way playoff, Joshua Lee won second-alternate status.

Carson Schaake (Springfield Country Club, Springfield, OH, T2, -8/132)

The third and final Umcee to qualify tied for second with Beau Hossler. Only Zac Blair beat them, finishing -9. Schaake sealed his trip to Pinehurst with a birdie on No 17, enabling him to avoid a playoff with Aussie stars Cam Davis and Adam Scott. (Even now, I can't believe that neither has qualified his way into the U.S. Open!) As it is, both went to one, and it made headlines. Scott failed to match Davis' second playoff hole birdie, putting his streak of 91 straight major appearances in jeopardy. Equally heartbreaking--even more so from an Upper Midwest perspective--though not totally unexpected was Troy Merritt's loss to Maxwell Moldovan of Ohio St in a playoff for second alternate. Otherwise, I would have given Merritt an honourable mention.

One more thing: Speaking of qualifiers, PGA Tour Q-School applications dropped today, so in a post later this week, I will be examining the differences (if any) between Q-school last year and this year. For now, look for me to announce the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week tomorrow (5 June).

Canadian Open et al. Recap

 I was going to post yesterday about this past weekend's tour action, as well as about the U.S. Women's Open. But as you know if you're a true golf fan, yesterday was the "longest day in golf," in which ten 36-hole qualifiers for 44 spots at the 2024 U.S. (men's) Open at Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina took place. Following that when I wasn't at work, needless to say, took the utmost precedence, and I had to put off writing this as a result. Don't worry, I'll get to yesterday's action in my next post.

Anyway, we start with the second major of the women's golf season, held in Pennsylvania German country at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania. The Amish must have prayed a sort of divine curse upon the course, as even by USGA tourney standards, the event was nothing short of masochistic. When the course's bloodlust was sated, Yuka Saso of Japan and her countrywoman Hinako Shibuno were the only two under par (-4 and -1, respectively). Saso now has two Semple Trophies, adding to her 2021 victory...representing the Philippines. That's right, Saso is the first-ever repeat offender at the U.S. Women's Open to be a heroine of two lands.

The sole Umcee at the event was Kim Kaufman of Clark, South Dakota. Having won her qualifier in Arizona, she started slowly with a round of +6/76 but improved to +2/72 Friday to make the cut on the number. She then had her best round Saturday, an even-par 70, before falling back with a +6/76. Despite her mediocre finish, Kaufman earned over $23K, about half of what she's made on the Epson Tour so far as she tries to gain back her LPGA Tour card.

The drama, though, was at the Canadian Open, where Scotsman Robert MacIntyre edged out Ben Griffin to claim his first PGA Tour win. It looked uncertain Sunday when Mackenzie Hughes, who is from Hamilton, Ontario--where the event was held this year--took a share of the lead with MacIntyre struggling. But Hughes fell back and finished a disappointing -10. MacIntyre then rebounded, only to suffer consecutive bogeys at 12 and 13, while Rory McIlroy surged alongside Tom Kim. Both eventually finished -13. Victor Perez of France finished -14 as MacIntyre and Griffin approached the final hole with Griffin at -15 after three straight birdies and his playing partner at -16. Fortunately for the Scotsman, he landed his approach on the green, while Griffin missed to the left. Griffin tried an off-the-green putt to tie it but came up short, enabling MacIntyre to two-putt for the win.

Before I get to my Umcee breakdown, I should note that the Canadian Open, as an Open Qualifying Series Event, got three top finishers who weren't otherwise exempt into the Open Championship next month. Griffin and Hughes joined Maverick McNealy in earning their way via this conduit.

Three Umcees were in action. With Tom Hoge skipping ahead to this week's Memorial Tournament (which is a signature event), Erik van Rooyen, Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson competed in Hamilton. The latter two missed the cut, and van Rooyen, despite a strong first-round -4/66, cooled off afterward to back-to-back even par rounds before struggling with a final-round +3/73.

Lastly, the Korn Ferry Tour's UNC Hospital Championship was in action, and like the U.S. Women's Open, it was won by a Japanese in Kaito Onishi. As for the Umcee contingent, Frankie Capan III, Van Holmgren and Andre Metzger played there. Unfortunately, only FCIII made the cut, and he generally struggled, finishing over par for the week and not really showing up. That's why he wasn't in the best of the week televote on my YouTube channel. He's still #8 on the KFT points list.

My next post concerns the U.S. Open qualifying action yesterday, 3 June 2024.

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 26 May 2024

 Although all five Umcees made the cut at their respective events, three--Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Van Holmgren at the KFT Visit Knoxville Open--may be safely removed from the board as a result of their poor performances after making the weekend. That left two of them for this week's poll.

For the second straight week, the televote was overridden by the expert jury. I received two votes, and both went to Tom Hoge, who won the honours last week after a good performance at the PGA Championship. However, I don't see how a tie for 17th, as much as that matches his personal best at the Schwab Challenge, lifts Hoge to Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. Not when the Visit Knoxville Open went to a sudden-death, two-hole playoff involving...

(PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Tour)

Frankie Capan III.

Heading into Sunday's final round, FCIII had a one-stroke lead. The North Oaks, Minnesota product has never won an OWGR-sanctioned event but already had matched his top-ten finish total coming into the week with three on the season. Capan, though, was charged down by Harry Higgs, who is a former PGA Tour member seeking to get back his card. Higgs came to the final hole leading by one himself until FCIII birdied the last and Higgs settled for par, triggering a playoff.

Normally a birdie-birdie playoff showing would hand a given player the win, but on the second hole of the playoff--both holes were replays of No 18--Higgs drilled a 37-foot eagle putt for the win and Capan missed his from a third of the distance by seventeen inches. Even so, FCIII got to reap great rewards in his own right with 300 KFT points, lifting him to within some reach of the PGA Tour at #7 on the points list, as he is closing in on 700 total. (Higgs, along with Swedish hotshot Tim Widing, already is thought to have enough points to graduate back to the big Tour with over 1100 so far.) Furthermore, Capan jumped to #172 in the OWGR.

This week's action revolves around two foci. On the men's side, the big event is the RBC Canadian Open. Hoge won't be playing the event, but the other two Umcees from last week's Schwab Challenge will be joined by the well-rested Erik van Rooyen, who tied for 20th at the exact same course in Hamilton, Ontario five years ago. Of course, the place has since undergone a renovation, so course history may not be that relevant for handicapping. There are multiple extra incentives for success. Firstly, the Presidents Cup is being held at Royal Montreal this fall; and as an International Team-eligible player, van Rooyen will want to impress Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champ who hails from Canada and is captaining the team, this week. Secondly, the Canadian Open is an Open Qualifying Series event, which means that a certain number of top finishers who aren't otherwise exempt get into next month's 152nd Open at Royal Troon in Scotland. In this case, three spots are available; and unlike previous OQS stops, this and subsequent such events fall after the deadline for Open entries (30 May this year), so the bids are nontransferable. 

Meanwhile, the Korn Ferry Tour features three more Umcees, as Capan and Holmgren are joined for once by conditional member Andre Metzger. Metzger is legendary on the Dakotas Tour, which is one of my favourite minitours in golf. Not only does it conduct events in the Upper Midwest (except Wisconsin), but it partners with locals to quarter cash-strapped players and distributes prize money with great efficiency. Anyway, Metzger makes some residence in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, especially during the Dakotas Tour season.

As for women's golf, the U.S. Women's Open goes down at Lancaster Country Club in the Pennsylvania Deutsch Country (and yes, the Amish historically spoke German, not Dutch--hence the spelling). Earlier in the spring, Kim Kaufman of Clark, South Dakota won an open qualifier to make this women's major, giving her a playing opportunity while the Epson Tour is on another hiatus. At some point during the tournament or afterward, I might also comment on Lexi Thompson's retirement, which she announced at the event this week.

Facere pro Qui Non Possunt.

Edward the Scop