After the closing three-week stretch on the PGA Tour Canada, both for its season and its existence, last week was a relatively quiet week for Umcees in tour golf. Only six competed during the week that I know of, but there were still plenty of storylines with the Korn Ferry Finals resuming for a fortnight, the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour (that circuit's flagship event, akin to the Players on the PGA Tour), the opening of the FedEx Cup Fall and the Epson Tour's Race for the Card all involving Umcees. Let's break it down and name an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week.
Firstly, there was the non-starter in Frankie Capan III. FCIII has yet to secure a single point in the KFT Finals, and he has slipped from the top thirty to just inside the top fifty on the points list, as what was for so long a promising Korn Ferry Tour season is crumbling. It seemed he might get paid last week at the Simmons Bank Open in College Grove, Tennessee, as he followed up an even-par opening round with a -2 Friday. Indeed, at the time he bore off the course, he was on track to make the cut of 65 and ties. Unfortunately, the field as a whole did so well, the cut tightened to -3, and Capan missed out by a single stroke. Even so, I expect him to make it this week at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, and get at least guaranteed entry into Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School.
My attention then shifted to the Epson Tour, as the Guardian Championship went down in Prattville, Alabama. Following a promising first round of -3/69, Kim Kaufman failed to break 70 either of the last two rounds and finished T50 with three others. More promising was Kate Smith. She has been something of a force to be reckoned with this season on the Epson Tour and, buoyed by successive -5 rounds, finished T11 with four others, moving from #22 to #20 on the money list. With three events left on the schedule, starting with this week's Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout in Arkansas, Smith should, as with Capan, have no trouble getting into her sex's Q-school finals, AKA Q-Series.
That leaves the main tours to consider. The PGA Tour, as mentioned above, opened its reimagined fall series in Napa Valley (as with the previous three falls) at the Fortinet Championship. Unlike previous seasons, which took on a "wraparound" character, fall events from this year will primarily be for lesser-performing golfers, including those who failed to advance to the BMW Championship in last month's FedEx Cup Playoffs. Players who did advance that far aren't allowed to collect points for various exemption perks since they have those in tow anyway (such as entry into all signature events other than majors). As for the DP World Tour, it held its aforementioned flagship event in England at the BMW PGA Championship (no relation to the FedEx Cup Playoff event). Having failed to qualify for the playoffs and needing a good fall showing as a result, Troy Merritt and Erik van Rooyen both played the Fortinet. Tom Hoge, who not only did qualify but reached the (FEC) BMW Championship, had the opportunity to play the (DPWT) BMW PGA Championship as part of a fortnightly British Isles swing.
Van Rooyen was first to show promise, going from -1 to -6 Friday and easily making the cut in Napa Valley. Unfortunately, he stumbled Saturday with a +1 73 and failed to break 70 the next day as well, reaching that number on the dot. Even so, it was a third straight made cut worldwide, and it was van Rooyen's first top-30 finish in a full field PGA Tour event since March's Valspar Championship, as he tied on the number. This shifted my money to Hoge, who tied for 14th in Surrey on the impetus of consecutive -4 rounds. Alas, Hoge slipped to 50th in the world rankings for his trouble. The problem is that the OWGR only counts a maximum of one's last 52 events, and his appearance at the DPWT flagship pushed his runner-up finish from last year's Amex on the PGA Tour off of consideration, costing him some valuable points. His next event will be the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas next month. Only one male Umcee moved up in the OWGR after involvement in an approved event last week...
Troy Merritt.
For the first time, the Devilish Rake comes full circle! Having missed thirteen successive cuts in the regular season after the Sony Open, the future for the blood-clot survivor on tour seemed bleak, but he has shown up often the last couple months. He seemed headed for yet another MC after a +2 Thursday, but he scrambled to a -5 Friday to make the cut by the narrowest of margins--one of only 67 players to do so (van Rooyen being another). He then doubled his distance under par Saturday before going wild at the last with a -7 in 65 strokes. Not only did he return to the top 200 of the OWGR, but more importantly, he jumped from #133 to #118 in the FedEx Cup standings, putting him on track to survive to another season on the PGA Tour. At this rate, he might just crack a signature event or two!
This week will be barely audible in tour golf. FCIII is the only male golfer in tour golf this week or next, as the game revolves around the Solheim Cup (women) this week and Ryder Cup (men) next week, both of which pit Americans against Europeans. Expect more noise to kick off October, when the PGA Tour has its Sanderson Farms Championship and both the Korn Ferry and Epson tours have their finales. In the meantime, though, don't hesitate to stay tuned for Q-school news, as PGA Tour prequalifying began last week and continues through next week's Texas site, while the DPWT Q-School runs its first stage through early October. Already one Umcee, Kaylor Steger of Wisconsin, has progressed to Second Stage in Europe.
Edward the Scop
No comments:
Post a Comment