Normally my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week feature would be published on Wednesday, as I like to be able to process the outcomes for Umcees the previous week, as well as lead in to the action the following week. For the first three such features of 2024, though, I will be publishing on Tuesday for a reason that I'll get to below.
On 8 August 2023, when the Devilish Rake was little more than a month old, the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui burnt to the ground, claiming over 100 lives. It was the greatest loss of life in any U.S. wildfire since 1918, when Cloquet in my home state of Minnesota had seen 450 or so killed. What broke my heart the most, though, was the destruction of the historic centre of Lahaina and many of its monuments and artefacts, both natural and man-made. Now, I've never been to any part of Hawai'i in my life, but I'm a firm believer in the preservation of genuine history. That's why the fires rent my heart so much, similar to how many must have felt when the earthquakes and barbarian conquests shut down the Great Library of antiquity. It begged the question: Would the Sentry, which has raised the curtain on the year in professional golf since its inception as the Tournament of Champions in 1953 and been held at the Plantation Course in nearby Kapalua since 1999, go on?
Well, you know what they say...
Queen/Freddie Mercury deathbed reference aside, the Sentry found fortitude in the name of its sponsor, Sentry Insurance--which, incidentally, is an Upper Midwestern company, based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It could also be argued that the cutting out of the words "Tournament of Champions" after decades in the title serves two purposes: It's not only not just for champions from last year. The very name--"the Sentry"--implies a commitment to guard, govern and protect Maui until she be rebuilt.When the RSM Classic concluded, 61 golfers were eligible to play the Sentry either by winning in 2023 or by finishing in the top 50 among eligible players in the FedEx Cup playoffs. That number shrank to 60 when Jon Rahm signed with LIV. Even then, as has usually been the case, one holdout was noticed among the remaining threescore. Rory McIlroy, the top-ranked European who was eligible, sat out for the fourth year running due to his commitment to DP World Tour events in Dubai. I guess you can do that when you're a winner on both the PGA and DP World tours. For instance, Tommy Fleetwood, who is known to own a place in Dubai, has yet to win on the PGA Tour.
That still left 59 players to contest the Sentry, including two Umcees. Tom Hoge, who qualified as one of the top fifty FedEx Cup finishers despite failing to get victory no 2 on the PGA Tour, got off to a bright start with a -6/67 on day one. Unfortunately, a lack of firepower off the tee held him back the rest of the way, as he was the only player without a single drive of 400 yards. His longest tee shot was 397, which came at No 12 in the third round, as he slogged to a -2/71. Even on a difficult scoring Saturday, it was a pittance by Kapalua standards. Overall, Hoge's -17/275 failed to budge him in the OWGR. However, the other Umcee in the field finished four strokes lower and mustered a T22, which was good enough for a four-place improvement in the world rankings.
Erik van Rooyen, who earned his way into the field with his World Wide Technologies Championship victory and is the reigning Upper Midwest Connection of the Year, started out slowly, with a -1/72 opening round reflecting horrors in his short game bailed out by his putting stroke. However, he turned things around starting in round two with a -8/65 Friday, although his irons were curiously a liability. Even on Saturday, van Rooyen managed to break 70 (-4/69) thanks to some strong driving, with several 400-yarders on the course. He then inched up to a second top-25 finish in as many trips to Kapalua with another -8/65. At present, he is tied for second in the Next 10 on 85 FedEx Cup points, which is one way for players not otherwise exempt to signature events to get in to such tournaments.
This week, the number of Umcees increases to three. Troy Merritt, who was one of the last players in the FedEx Cup Fall to successfully defend his card, starts his season in Honolulu at Waialae Country Club, and both Hoge and van Rooyen will cross to Oahu to join him at the Sony Open. It's just too bad so many Korn Ferry Tour grads were unable to partake of the festivities, as the 144-strong field was swamped by fully exempt members, including the three Umcees I have mentioned.
Finally, I started this feature by noting that I decided to post today rather than Wednesday. The reason is the timing of the first two KFT events of 2024 in the Bahamas. With no Monday qualification needed for either the Great Exuma or the Great Abaco, the PGA Tour's Triple-A circuit has elected to move each event up four days. Since the Great Exuma doesn't count toward the same week as the Sony Open for world-ranking purposes, I decided to classify that event as counting toward the same weekly feature as the American Express on the PGA Tour. Likewise, the Great Abaco is the same calendar week as the Farmers Insurance Open, so it just makes sense to move things up a bit in both cases, as the latter ends on Saturday, 27 January (my birthday, incidentally). This was enacted a couple years ago to accommodate both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and avoid clashing with NFL conference championships.
It'll be a hectic week leading up to my birthday for the Devilish Rake, as not only will I be doing my usual Upper Midwest Connection of the Week feature, but I will be issuing FA Cup fourth-round picks as well. It's also the deadline for the "Swing Five," which will earn the top five NOX performers in the three events from the Sony Open through the Farmers a tee time at Pebble Beach.
On a related note, several Umcees are playing Monday qualifiers for the international swing of the Korn Ferry Tour. None of them joined Frankie Capan III in Panama, but the Astara of Bogota has its Monday qualifier Wednesday. Five Umcees are involved in it, but only four places are available, unlike the stateside quota of eight for Mondays.
Edward the Scop
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