When I sat down to write this, I had just gotten in from pulling weeds ahead of the chill of winter, and it was half past six Central when I wrapped, nearly. Had to beat the sunset, you know. As I submit this, the Zozo Championship has already teed off. Normally I wouldn't write my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week feature after an event of note in the current week has teed off, but this is literally the one annual exception. Though perhaps I'll plan ahead next year and write either earlier in the day or Tuesday evening of Zozo week.
Anyway, last week was probably the last we'll see of the big three Umcees in the same tourney this year. With Tom Hoge exempt for every non-major event (including the Players) on the 2024 regular season thanks to his top-50 finish in this year's playoffs, this week's Zozo will be the last he tees it up on the PGA Tour for the fall, at least as far as official events are concerned. He might participate in some exhibition in December if he's lucky--he won last year's QBE Shootout with now-Fortinet Championship holder Sahith Theegala before it got reimagined as a mixed event for this year--and that's it. By contrast, neither Erik van Rooyen (#131 regular season) nor Troy Merritt (#133) was nearly good enough to play the Zozo, according to the main FedEx Cup point list. On the other hand, expect both to play the last three events this FedEx Cup Fall, which resumes after a one-week hiatus in Cabo at the beginning of November, while Hoge's next event bearing official money and points won't be until the season premiere at the Sentry.
Heading into the week, the discussion concerning Umcees at the Shriners Children's Open centred around Hoge. After all, he was coming off back-to-back top-15 finishes worldwide at the BMW PGA Championship in England and the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. He had had plenty of past success at TPC Summerlin. And while Merritt had had some success in Vegas, van Rooyen had missed the cut two years ago in his only previous trip.
This is why you don't read into past history too much! Hoge had consecutive even-par rounds (71), which gave him the same score as LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who hasn't won a single event on her own tour since 2019! Both missed the cut by three strokes. Merritt started well, carding a first round -3/68, but he failed to break par the last three days and actually went +1/72 for his final round. Only one Umcee mustered an under-par score all four days...
Erik van Rooyen.
For the third time since my blog's inception in July 2023, EVR is my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. The University of Minnesota alumnus from South Africa was his country's top entrant in Sin City, obliterating Garrick Higgo by five strokes en route to a T23. He was especially lethal with his irons, ranking 12th in the field among those who made the cut, and on Sunday with a bogey-free -6/65. It wasn't enough to move van Rooyen up from #125 in the FedEx Cup, so he remains for now the bubble boy in that regard, but it did move him to #191 in the OWGR, which is his highest ranking since the last of his seven straight MCs at the John Deere Classic in July. Van Rooyen has since made seven of nine cuts worldwide, including five straight top-30 finishes--the last three in the FedEx Cup Fall.
This week also marks the second week of First Stage for PGA Tour Q-School. As my last post hinted, there aren't nearly as many Umcees this week as there were last week. There are still quite a few playing Q-school this week, though. I will say that only Matthew Walker of Ottumwa, Iowa, and Zach Burry of Appleton, Wisconsin, are on track to join those already in Second Stage at that juncture midway through this week, both from the site in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Walker, in fact, is tied for the lead with Mitchell Meissner of Dallas, Texas, which would give both of them full privileges on the Latin American portion of next year's PGA Tour Americas season.
Lastly, two Umcees are playing LPGA Q-School Stage II for a spot among the top 40 and ties to advance to the final stage, AKA Q-Series. If you've followed this blog long enough, you know of Kim Kaufman of Clark, South Dakota. She's tied for 13th through two rounds. That would put her into the Q-Series along with Kate Smith of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, who automatically qualified for that hurdle by virtue of her Epson Tour finish of #19. There's also Emily Lauterbach of Hartland, Wisconsin, who made it through Stage I earlier in Q-school. Unfortunately, it doesn't look nearly as good for her. Her score of +5 through two rounds has her T111 so far.
Edward the Scop
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