This is gonna be quite a doozy. With so many candidates for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, I had to split this week's installment into not two but three parts! This part will focus on those connections competing in Europe, as the next one will emphasize those staying in North America.
After the quiet of the previous week due to the Fourth of July, last week was much more action-packed for Upper Midwest connections in tour golf the world over. The Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour Canada resumed action after their hiatuses, enabling Frankie Capan III, Thomas Longbella and Harrison Ott, among others, to grind anew towards the ultimate aim of reaching the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, over in Europe, a total of four Umcees (as I shall abbreviate the phrase "Upper Midwest connection" from now on) competed across two events on three tours.
Two events on three tours?! Yes, the Genesis Scottish Open became co-sanctioned between its traditional tour, the D.P. World (formerly European) Tour, and the PGA Tour last year. This meant the best and brightest on the PGA Tour would come over to North Berwick, Scotland's Renaissance Club (pronounced with the stress on the penult, which sounds like "nay"). Not that this has been unusual; plenty of PGA Tour stars applied for conflicting-event releases to participate in the tournament in order to get ready for the Open Championship for years prior to the PGA Tour's coopting of the event. It helped that the Scottish Open has been held the week before the Open since 1987, and I don't see that changing.
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| The Scottish Open saw three Upper Midwest connections tee it up last week. |
Anyway, three of the Umcees in Europe played the Scottish Open. As you'd expect, they were the big three Umcees--Tom Hoge, Troy Merritt and Erik van Rooyen. Hoge came in ranked #42 in the world but hadn't cracked the top 40 on tour since March's Players Championship, where he'd placed third. Merritt headed in at #177 but was coming off back-to-back T17 finishes at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and the John Deere Classic. As for van Rooyen, he had fallen out of the top 200 in the world (#204) and just wanted to make a cut somehow, having missed his last seven.
Meanwhile, in Austria, the Challenge Tour was holding its Euram Bank Open, and this time, Angus Flanagan was in the field. As a Category 15 member of that tour, Flanagan can't afford to miss out on whatever opportunities to play circumstances afford him. Fortunately, he had made the cut in style last month at the Kaskada Challenge in the Czech Republic (T23), moving him briefly to within striking distance of the top 200 on the Road to Mallorca despite not having played since.
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| Angus Flanagan played the Euram Bank Open in Austria. |
When Friday's play concluded, three of the four Umcees were headed for the weekend. Only Merritt was unfortunate to miss out in Scotland, and now he heads to Lake Tahoe this week with his status for 2024 up in the air. Of course, the same could be said for van Rooyen. After climbing to 5-under heading into the weekend, he sadly fell apart, posting back-to-back rounds of 3-over 73 to finish T68. At least he made a cut, but he slipped one place to 134th in the FedEx Cup and lost more ground in the world rankings. That said, he may have momentum heading to Tahoe, just as he did two years ago when his pre-Barracuda start had seen him T58 at the 3M Open.
That leaves two real candidates for Umcee of the Week among those playing abroad. Hoge kept up the momentum from successive rounds breaking par (69-66) to record another 4-under 66 and get to 9-under going into Sunday, but he matched van Rooyen that day and slipped to 6-under 274 for the week. It was still enough to climb to #38 in the world and inch up to #44 in the FedEx Cup, and the T19 finish was his best since the Players. As for Flanagan, he couldn't match his finish on Czech soil, but his T23 finish in Austria enabled him to move deep into the top 200 of the Road to Mallorca. He'll have another chance to pad his ranking in that regard if he gets into the Big Green Egg Challenge in next-door Germany (currently 4th alternate).
In part II, I'll focus on those Umcee of the Week candidates who stayed home in America, including those on the Canadian Tour.
Sources for data: pgatour.com, europeantour.com, owgr.com
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