Happy Boxing Day to all who celebrate! (I'm sure there are some fellow-Americans of mine who know what Boxing Day is...) Yesterday, we kicked off the player-a-day reveal of the All-Umcee First Team for 2023 with Troy Merritt and his survival to another year on the PGA Tour by the skin o' his teeth. For the next two days, we return to the developmental scene, beginning with...
Number 4: Frankie Capan III, North Oaks, Minnesota
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| Capan with his mother on the bag at this year's 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota. |
Starting OWGR: N/A
Current OWGR: #358
Final Korn Ferry Tour Points List: #51
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 3
Top 25s: 7
Majors: U.S. Open, MC
Cuts made: 14/22 on KFT; 1/1 on PGA Tour (3M Open)
Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles: 4 (including retroactive)
When Frankie Capan III stepped into an obscure Q-school prequalifying tee box sixteen months ago, he had made a conscious decision to leave the Alabama Crimson Tide (Justin Thomas' alma mater, in case you didn't know) and risk his future prospects as a golfer. Go pro, young man. Those words might well have rung false for anybody not bearing Capan's name, but like a football player taking stock of his talents and sensing himself ready to leave university for the NFL--or, for that matter, a basketballer knowing he was too good to need university in the first place--FCIII not only tested those KFT Q-school waters, but cruised across them. And he had a secret weapon: his mother as caddie. Thus armed, FCIII tied for third at prequalifying, then secured medallist honours at both First and Second Stage and T9'd at finals--good enough for twelve guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023.
The waters got choppier once on tour, and FCIII hasn't won a KFT event yet. Furthermore, he can't ask his mother when he needs a reading, as he changed caddies during the season. Sometimes, you need to let go of the security blanket and enter in to the deep. Despite these considerations, his rookie year on tour was quite good to great. He flirted with a PGA Tour card at times before fading down the stretch and made his major debut as the only Umcee to qualify for the U.S. Open (excluding Tom Hoge, who was already exempt). He missed the cut at L.A. Country Club but made the 3M Open cut back home in the Twin Cities. His three top-ten finishes, coupled with four lesser top-25 showings, helped him secure a return to Final Stage of Q-school, this time with PGA Tour cards on the line. Although he failed to improve his status, he now has full KFT membership, freeing him from worries about the reshuffle, which he had to face during his first season. Maybe that relief will help him get that PGA Tour card, no Q-school needed, for 2025. In that case, if Hoge and Merritt retain their cards (Erik van Rooyen, the other member of the "big three" Umcees, has a winner's exemption from his World Wide Technologies triumph last month that guarantees survival to next season), the big three Umcees would become a big four in men's tour golf. Good luck to Frankie Capan III in 2024!!!
Tomorrow we hit the medal stand with the top woman Umcee in tour golf this year.
Edward the Scop
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