In my last post, I mentioned in passing that Zach Johnson is an Umcee who also happens to be a former Masters champion. Back in 2007, he won the green jacket despite struggling to a +1/289--good enough to beat Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini and Tiger Woods by two strokes. Conditions were so horrible that any of the 97 participants that year would've been entitled to laugh at Jon Rahm's complaints about this year's Friday conditions.
But that was then. Fast-forward seventeen years later and ZJ got into trouble for cussing at a crucial juncture. He missed the cut by one stroke (+7/151 after two rounds) and, barring open qualification or other merits for this June's U.S. Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, we won't see him in another major until the Open at Royal Troon in July. Needless to say, the best of times is behind the two-time major winner. But there was an Umcee who did make the cut at Augusta...
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Erik van Rooyen.
You would think that a guy who struggled on all but one day--Thursday's -1/71 opening round--en route to a T55 finish, dropped three places in the FedEx Cup and slipped a spot in the OWGR would not merit to be Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, but there are a couple good reasons for my selecting EVR for the honour. Firstly, that he made the cut at all is a milestone--van Rooyen withdrew after a single round in 2020 due to injury and MC in 2022 on his last visit. Moreover, the ten (even) FedEx Cup points he earned enabled him to pip Grayson Murray (winner of this year's Sony Open) to the final Next 10 place in this week's RBC Heritage. Though to be fair, Nicolai Hojgaard's collapse on the weekend helped as well!
This week features all three PGA Tour circuits in action for the first time this year. The Heritage, in addition to van Rooyen and 67 others (yes, they fell short of seventy again, which means they need to consider adding alternates in 2025 and beyond), Tom Hoge returns from a fortnightly hiatus. Part of it was voluntary, but it made the other part required, as Hoge's decision to skip the Texas Open despite not qualifying for the Masters rendered last week an off week for him. On top of the signature event at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, the Corales Punta-Cana Resort Championship takes a side stage in the Dominican Republic. Although ZJ won't be in the Umcee contingent, Troy Merritt returns to action, and he'll be joined by former Minnesota Gopher Thomas Longbella, who won the Monday qualifier to make the event for the second straight year. The way in was last week to allow for travel plans, as with most overseas events on the PGA Tour.
Beyond the big tour, the Korn Ferry Tour holds the LECOM Suncoast Classic. North Oaks, Minnesota's Frankie Capan III will be there, and conditional member Van Holmgren of Plymouth, Minnesota will join him in an effort to gain full access to the following four events via the reshuffle. Lastly, the other four Umcees in action this week will be playing the Brazilian Open on the PGA Tour Americas. Derek Hitchner of Minneapolis will be looking to build on his last start, which resulted in a T3 at the Totalplay Championship three weeks ago and got him Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honours, and he'll be joined by George Kneiser, Harrison Ott and Matthew Walker, among others. For the second straight year, dating back to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica last year, the host course will be the same that hosted the 2016 Olympic golf tourney--the first such event since 1904 in St Louis.
Edward the Scop
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