PGA Championship Week Part II: Upper Midwest Connections

 For those coming to the Devilish Rake blog via my YouTube channel, one of the quirky topics I cover is connections to the Upper Midwest. There is a glossary on the blog defining the region and what constitutes a connection to it.

Anyway, the PGA Championship had three Upper Midwest connections, often abbreviated at "Umcees." Tom Hoge, Erik van Rooyen and club pro Ben Polland--the latter this year's PGA club-pro champion--were present at Valhalla in Louisville. Polland, despite his credentials, missed the cut by one stroke with a bogey to close his second round on even par overall. However, the two Umcee tour pros--Hoge is from Fargo, North Dakota, and EVR went to the U. of Minnesota--both made it with room to spare against the -1/141 cut. Van Rooyen eventually finished -5/279, going even-par or better his last three rounds to finish T53 and gain just enough FedEx Cup points to qualify for next month's U.S. Open (per the "top five players not otherwise exempt in the FedEx Cup standings" criterion). Meanwhile, Hoge secured a T23 with a final score of -10/274, doing well enough to clear the OWGR threshold (top sixty after the PGA Championship).

While no major is run by any tour, the PGA Tour (along with the DP World and Japan Golf tours) includes all four majors as part of its calendar. Hence, it is prudent to go through the tour pyramid and scour for Umcees who made the cut. The circuit immediately below the PGA Tour is currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Korn Ferry Tour, and this past week's Advent Health Championship in the Kansas Cities featured two Umcees--Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minnesota, who enjoys full KFT membership; and Van Holmgren of Plymouth, Minnesota, who achieved conditional membership via Q-school last fall and slotted well thanks to his performance at the Argentina Open back in February. FCIII missed the cut (badly), but Holmgren made it on -4 through two rounds and threatened to break through before settling for T20. He still climbed into the OWGR top thousand.

On the women's side, there are no Umcees on the LPGA Tour, but the developmental Epson Tour has a couple of them. Kate Stroh (nee Smith) of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota finished 19th in the Race for the Card, which is pretty good for a second-year pro. But she has stumbled so far this year, making the cut just twice, and that didn't change this week at the Copper Rock Championship in Tucson. On the other hand, Clark, South Dakota native Kim Kaufman, who played on the LPGA Tour as late as 2021, tied for tenth in the 54-hole event with a cut, posting consecutive -3/69 rounds to earn $5234 and jump to seventh in this year's R4C. It looks at this point like she'll be back on the big tour next year, as the top fifteen R4C finishers will earn LPGA Tour status.

Finally, five Umcees--Thomas Longbella, George Kneiser, Derek Hitchner, Sam Anderson and Matthew Walker--were involved in the Inter Rapidisimo Championship in Bogota, Colombia on the PGA Tour Americas. None of the four impressed in the end, but three of them did make the cut. Longbella and Hitchner--the latter of whom went to the Blake School for high school near the Twin Cities--both finished -5/283 for the week. Kneiser, who hails from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, showed promise but fell apart at the weekend. Anderson (homegrown Wisconsin Badgers alumnus) and Walker both missed the cut. At the end of the Latin American phase, Longbella didn't do quite well enough to get even conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour yet, but he is fifth in the Fortinet Cup, and the current top five will receive exemptions into four Latin American KFT events next year: the Panama Championship, the Astara Championship in Colombia, the Argentina Open and the Astara Chile Classic. Anderson also finished the Latin American swing in the top ten. Hence, he and Longbella are on track to receive KFT cards in 2025.

Whom do you think was the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week this past week? Offer up your opinion in the comments, whether on Blogger or on YouTube.

Edward the Scop

All-Umcee Team for 2024 Q1

With one-quarter of 2024 in the books, I thought I would release an All-Umcee Team based on the first three months of the year. Unlike the year-end All-Umcee team, there won't be a second team. The same goes for the midyear team, which will be released around the anniversary of the blog (early July), though that will feature honourable mentions. Furthermore, those named to the quarterly All-Umcee teams will be given with shortened criteria as to why they were named. With that said, here is my All-Umcee Team for the first quarter of 2024:

• Erik van Rooyen. Heading into this week's Texas Open, van Rooyen had missed the cut just twice in three months. He earned three Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honours for his efforts this quarter at the Sentry, the Mexico Open and (especially) the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches (all PGA Tour). He was also Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for January.
• Tom Hoge. The Upper Midwest Connection of Q1 for 2024 and also of the Month for February, Hoge got his first UMCOW honour at the American Express, then followed it up with back-to-back plaudits at Pebble Beach and the Phoenix Open. As if that weren't enough, Hoge also did well at the first two signature events of the year with a cut, although the week of the Genesis featured too few Umcees to warrant an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, while maintaining strong iron play.
• Kim Kaufman. The only female golfer on this All-Umcee Team and Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for March after two top-ten finishes on the Epson Tour (the women's Korn Ferry Tour). On both occasions, she was Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. So far in 2024, she is off to a much better start than a year ago as she strives to make it back to the LPGA Tour for 2025.

Tom Hoge is my Upper Midwest Connection of Q1 for 2024. (AP)

• Derek Hitchner. The Minneapolis Blake School alumnus and former Pepperdine Wave has moonlighted on the Korn Ferry Tour, but it's on the third-tier PGA Tour Americas that he has made his biggest impact. The final Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for Q1 of 2024, who earned his plaudits by way of the Totalplay Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico, is off to an 11th-place start in the Fortinet Cup standings--the tour's points-based order of merit.
• Thomas Longbella. Between the former Minnesota Gopher from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minnesota, who competes on the Korn Ferry Tour, it was a pretty tough decision as to whom to include and whom to leave out. In the end, FCIII's three MCs in four mainland Latin American starts were too much to overcome. Meanwhile, Longbella has quietly built a 17th-place start in the Fortinet Cup. While his performance at the aforementioned Totalplay Championship was overshadowed among Umcees by Hitchner's showing, it's expected that if Longbella keeps it up, he'll get to skip the first stage at Q-school this fall.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 31 March 2024

Last week in tour golf treated Umcees much better than the week before or the week before that. Though only seven Umcees were part of eligible fields, four made the cut and did so to the tune of top-20 finishes across the board. Two of these, in turn, recorded top 10s and moved into the top 1000 of the OWGR. In fact, we were close to having as many as SIX Umcees make the weekend, as Wisconsinites George Kneiser (Oconomowoc) and Emily Lauterbach (Hartland) MC by just one stroke each at the Totalplay Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico on the PGA Tour Americas and the Ford Championship near Phoenix on the LPGA Tour, respectively. Another Wisconsinite was also among the unlucky at the PGA Tour Americas event, as Harrison Ott of Brookfield missed out due to a ruinous Friday +5/76.

Of those who made the cut, Tom Hoge was the only one playing the PGA Tour's Houston Open. Playing in the same state (Texas) where he went to college (TCU), Hoge opened his week with a poor +1/71 Thursday. It was his third straight over-par round, dating to the Players two weeks before. But then Hoge put together his best round of the week, carding a -4/66 to make the cut with ease. Though to be fair, an even-par round would have sufficed to get him to the weekend. He then broke 70 again the next two days with rounds of 68 and 67. When the dust settled, Hoge had finished T14, inching up to #13 in the FedEx Cup. Unfortunately, the good showing wasn't good enough to make this week's OWGR top fifty; and since he isn't playing this week, his chances of a third straight Masters appearance are dead. Try again next year, I guess.

As for the Totalplay Championship, Matthew Walker of Ottumwa, Iowa was the least satisfactory, but he still mustered a T17 and moved up to #35 in the Fortinet Cup standings. A +1/72 Friday definitely kept him from doing even better. That leaves the two top ten finishers. Thomas Longbella had an improved finish, going under par all four days (even Thursday, when he was merely -1/70). But he only climbed to #17 in the Fortinet Cup. That means the final Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for March 2024 is...

(Golf Channel)

Derek Hitchner.

The Minneapolis Blake School product and Pepperdine alumnus has yet to win a PGA Tour pyramid event but had one of the best finishes of his short pro career so far, tying for third despite a rough final round of E/71. Indeed, had he even parred No 8 Sunday, he would have had his outright best finish ever as a professional. Of course, it is unlikely he would have beaten Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, who has established himself as the King of Atlas Country Club this decade, dating back to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica 2022 season. Even so, Hitchner's finish enabled him to soar to 11th in the Fortinet Cup standings (up from T59 coming in) and jump to #910 in the OWGR. It's too bad he won't have another chance for a couple weeks, as the circuit doesn't reconvene until the Brazilian Open the week after the Masters.

This week is a bit quieter, at least as far as the developmental tours are concerned. However, the PGA Tour will have three Umcees competing in the same event--the most since the Players three weeks ago--at the Texas Open. Though Hoge has eschewed his last opportunity for this year's Masters Tournament, Erik van Rooyen returns after a fortnightly hiatus, while Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson (both of whom took last week off) return to competing as well. In fact, Johnson is a past champ in San Antonio, having won in consecutive years (2008-09).

As for the developmental side of things, the Korn Ferry Tour finally awakens from its post-Latin American hiatus with the Club Car Championship. Only Frankie Capan III made the field, as Van Holmgren still hasn't benefited from the reshuffle that will follow the LECOM Suncoast Classic two weeks out.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 24 March 2024

 It was another underwhelming week for Umcees on tour. Of the nine such players across three events--the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship, the PGA Tour Americas' Bupa Championship and the Epson Tour's Atlantic Beach Classic--only two (Thomas Longbella in the Bupa and Kim Kaufman in the Atlantic Beach) made it with room to spare. Two other PGA Tour Americas Umcees--Derek Hitchner and Matthew Walker--didn't know they'd be playing the weekend until Saturday because the second round was interrupted by darkness. Only when the cut reached +5 did they have assurance that they'd play on. The other five Umcees--Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson, both playing the Valspar; Wisconsinites George Kneiser and Harrison Ott, both at the Bupa; and Kate Smith-Stroh at Atlantic Beach--missed out on prize money. It's especially been a slow start for Smith-Stroh. She finished 19th in the Race for the Card last year, although she finished short of an LPGA Tour card in both that regard and Q-Series. But this year, she has made just one cut out of three events.

Of the four Umcees who did make the cut, the two who made it by the skin of their teeth failed to impress that much at the weekend. Thomas Longbella, native of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and a former Minnesota Gopher, showed up in the final round in particular, posting by far his best round of the week (-4/68) to surge 26 spots to a T21 finish. This sufficed to help him climb to #1034 in the OWGR, though he will still likely have to enter local qualifying for the U.S. Open, if not the Open Championship. But it's clear that he was outshined by none other than...

(Source: Epson Tour)

Kim Kaufman.

For the first time in Devilish Rake history, a woman repeats as Upper Midwest Connection of the Week! The Clark, South Dakota native and thrice winner on the Epson Tour almost pulled off a fourth win on the circuit in her career. She got off to a fast start with rounds of -4/67 and -2/69 Thursday and Friday, respectively. Even Saturday, when she bogeyed twice in her first four holes, Kaufman held in there and got back to hovering around even par the rest of the day. Only a missed birdie at the last kept her from forcing winner Briana Chacon into a playoff. As it is, Kaufman is fifth in the Race for the Card now on 404 and two-thirds points, and she has jumped to #565 in the women's world rankings! While it's too early to say she'll be back on the LPGA Tour in 2025, things are definitely looking up for Kim Kaufman as we speak.

This week is a bit quieter on the tour scene. The Korn Ferry Tour is reaching the end of its March hibernation, while the Epson Tour goes into a hibernation of its own starting this week. Moreover, on the PGA Tour, Tom Hoge is the only Umcee participating in this week's Houston Open, as he returns to competition after the disappointment of TPC Sawgrass. He likely needs at least a third-place finish to reach Augusta National for the third year running or a win at next week's Texas Open, according to the Associated Press, for such a finish would get him into the top-50 OWGR category set for the Masters. Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson are sitting out this week, while Erik van Rooyen has no incentive to participate either, having won last November's World Wide Technologies Championship to qualify.

The PGA Tour Americas, though, will roll on to the Totalplay Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico at the Atlas Country Club, and the same five Umcees who played last week on the tour will also be involved in this week's event. The tour was originally supposed to go into hibernation as well until the Brazilian Open the week of the Masters, followed by the Termas de Rio Hondo Invitational in Argentina the next week, but unrest in Argentina forced the PGA Tour group to substitute a backup event. Lastly, Hartland, Wisconsin native Emily Lauterbach passed her open-qualifying test for this week's Ford Championship with a birdie at the first playoff hole. It will be her LPGA Tour debut.

Edward the Scop

Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of 2023, Part II: #6 and #7

 This second part of my top ten Umcees of 2023 may be seen as capping off the "second team All-Umcee" portion of the list. Yesterday I posted the first three members of the list--Angus Flanagan, Kim Kaufman and George Kneiser--and by adding two more today, that not only leaves five to go for my first team, but rounds out my second team nicely. So, without further ado, let's cap off the All-Umcee Second Team!

Number 7: Derek Hitchner, Blake School alumnus, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Two years ago, Hitchner was a good, but fairly obscure, junior at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Then, in summer 2022, he made it all the way to the final four of the U.S. Amateur, coming within a single match win against Ben Carr of free exemptions to the U.S. Open and Masters and a second triumph (over Sam Bennett, who shined at said Masters) of the Open Championship. He lost 3 and 2 to Carr, but his confidence was greatly boosted by his deep run, and he finished his senior year 14th in the PGA Tour University rankings after qualifying for the NCAA finals. This awarded Hitchner a PGA Tour Canada card, and he finished higher than any other Umcee in the Fortinet Cup (23rd, just edging out Kneiser), earning an exemption to Second Stage of the PGA Tour Q-School. It's too bad he missed out on Final Stage by one measly stroke, or he might have placed higher on the list, even making First Team All-Umcee. Speaking of Final Stage qualifiers...

Number 6: Thomas Longbella, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin/University of Minnesota '21

If Hitchner came into his own out of nowhere as a college upperclassman, Longbella needed a bit longer to blossom. Having been overshadowed at the U by Flanagan, Longbella nevertheless kept the faith and won his PGA Tour Canada card in 2022 in a playoff (along with Kneiser). He went on to a 23rd place finish in the Fortinet Cup but, for lack of Q-school experience, fell short of Final Stage. This year, he fell short of the top 30, let alone the top 25. Otherwise, he would have definitely been a First Team All-Umcee laureate based on what followed.

In October, Longbella went down to Muskogee, Oklahoma and managed to advance to Second Stage. At first that seemed the best he'd do, but he took off in round 3 with a -6/66 at Valencia Country Club in California. He didn't have enough to assure himself of Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2024, but he did secure a trip to Final Stage by tying for second, three strokes adrift of Jeffrey Kang. Once there, he fell short of improved status, but he now has access to PGA Tour and KFT Mondays without necessarily having to go through prequalifying for 2024 (slots #48 among conditional KFT members in the Q-school category).

With that said, each of the next five posts will be published daily if possible, and in any case, each will feature one Umcee from the First Team. Tomorrow's pick, I will say, may be a bit controversial in some aspects...

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 10 September 2023

 With day one of PGA Tour Q-School 2023 in the books, it's time to turn back to my usual grind of selecting the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. Last week, there were seven Umcees involved on significant tours the world over. Tom Hoge and Erik van Rooyen teed it up at the Horizon Irish Open on the DP World Tour. The former did so ahead of his participation this week at the BMW PGA Championship, which has historically been the most prestigious event in the British Isles for tour golf outside the Open Championship. He gets to participate this year for having nailed down a top-fifty finish in the FedEx Cup, which entitles him to tee times in next season's bigwig "Signature Events." Meanwhile, van Rooyen took advantage of a fortnightly stretch of decent-profile golf before he begins his purgatory for a second straight disappointing PGA Tour season at the Fortinet Championship this week.

Not to be confused with this week's FedEx Cup Fall opener, the PGA Tour Canada had its much-anticipated swan song at the Fortinet Cup Championship in Calgary. Three Umcees qualified as a result of their good performances on the PGA Tour Canada's final season before it merges with the PGA Tour Latinoamerica to form the PGA Tour Americas next year: George Kneiser, Thomas Longbella and Derek Hitchner. Lastly, Kate Smith and Kim Kaufman took on the Black Desert Resort Championship with its unprecedented purse (for the Epson Tour) of $375K.

So, how did everybody do? Kaufman missed the cut at the Black Desert, so she was eliminated by default. Ultimately, Smith wasn't much better, finishing 72nd--dead last--among those who did make the cut. Hoge and Longbella showed up during the workweek but fell apart at the weekend, while Kneiser fell apart in the final round. Kneiser avoided the heartbreak of losing his bye to Second Stage by .79 Fortinet Cup point! Longbella wasn't so lucky. Needing a good week to replicate last year's feat of making Second Stage right off the bat, he imploded for a T55, finishing 33rd in the Fortinet Cup. Hoge, who battled allergies in Ireland, finished outside the top eighty despite making the cut.

That leaves two candidates: Hitchner and van Rooyen. The South African, who is an Umcee by virtue of his University of Minnesota education and playing Gopher golf, saved his best for last by carding a -5 Sunday to rise to a T16 in County Kildare's K Club at Adare Manor. He's even back in the OWGR top 200 (such as it is) for the first time since his 3M Open MC. However, he didn't even have the biggest jump of anybody in that tourney, won by Sweden's Vince Norrman (who, you will recall, also won the Barbasol Championship on the PGA Tour to gain membership through 2025). You know who did in his?

Derek Hitchner.

Unlike van Rooyen, he unfortunately didn't save his best for last, as he slogged to a +2 Sunday to finish the weekend on -16, good for a third-placed tie with Jeffrey Kang. What he did do was jump from #45 to #22 in the final Fortinet Cup standings, as well as get nearly 200 places closer to the top thousand in the OWGR. Admittedly, his placement in Second Stage in late November was already secure, seeing as how he finished top-20 in the PGA Tour U standings this year. Still, it was great to see Hitchner crack the top 40 every time he made the cut this year. Not bad for a guy who skipped two events this PGA Tour Canada season and missed two other cuts!

This week, as mentioned above, the FedEx Cup Fall kicks off with the Fortinet Championship. (Gee, all these mentions of the same corporate sponsor for two different events on two different PGA Tour-sanctioned tours! I personally miss when it was the Safeway Open.) In addition to van Rooyen, Troy Merritt will be teeing it up as part of his efforts to keep his PGA Tour card. Again, Hoge will be in England, participating in the BMW PGA Championship. The winner of that gets an invite to next year's U.S. Open and the next three Open Championships.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 3 September 2023

 For the first time since the week of Scottish Open, there were multiple Upper Midwest connections in tour golf playing in Europe, and both made the cut at their respective events. But before we get into Umcees abroad, I'd like to recap what happened at the CRMC Championship in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota with special attention given Upper Midwest connections in action there.

With the PGA Tour on its fortnightly hiatus following the Tour Championship and the Korn Ferry Tour taking another week off beyond that stretch until its Finals resume with the Simmons Bank Open, I was able to shine my stateside spotlight on the CRMC pretty brightly, especially since it is the final regular-season event in the history of the PGA Tour Canada. Chinese prospect Yi Cao ran away with the title by eight strokes (-22), soaring from #55 to #9 in the Fortinet Cup and having a legitimate chance at a double bye in Q-school proper (that is, excluding prequalifying, which begins next week at three sites with five more over the following two weeks).

For the Umcees in the field, it wasn't nearly so rosy. Among players who didn't withdraw, Matt Boldy of the NHL's Minnesota Wild finished dead last on +19 at the cut; but he was just doing it for fun, I guess, since he was on a sponsor's exemption. Tom Lehman Jr fared better, but his +4 didn't cut it either. Blaine, Minnesota's Caleb VanArragon, who plays collegiately for the Valparaiso Crusaders (unless they changed their nickname), fared even better but missed the cut by a single stroke on +1. The most heartbreaking finish for any Umcee was reigning Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Thomas Longbella, whose streak of seven straight cuts made ended when he failed to break par on the closing par 5, also finishing +1, and he fell just outside the top 25 to #26 on the points list.

That left four for the weekend. Harrison Ott had a chance to secure his status for 2024 on the new PGA Tour Americas, but mediocre +1 rounds on Thursday and Saturday meant even a final-round -3 couldn't save him from having to go back to Q-school this fall. A double bogey on 15 Sunday also didn't help. George Kneiser may have seen his hopes of direct entry into Final Stage die with a poor final-round +2. He should have enough points to make Second Stage, though. Derek Hitchner had impressive middle rounds of -4 on Friday and Saturday, but a moribund 70 on the par-70 course actually dropped him to #45 on the list (from #38). Still, he has PGA Tour U privileges to fall back upon, assuring him of playing Second Stage, too. The tragic irony of the best performance from an Umcee at the CRMC, though, was that it wasn't enough to secure a spot in Calgary this week. Jordan Hahn of Janesville, Wisconsin, who in fact is a former Wisconsin Badger, tied for 15th and jumped from #86...to #63. Only four points shy of making the final Fortinet Cup Championship! What one shot can do.

The only other Umcees in tour golf last week played in Europe. Angus Flanagan, who played collegiately at Minnesota, made the cut at the Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Sweden. Unfortunately, the break from playing that proved his ally at first--a long break due to a waterlogged course--ultimately proved his enemy, as he suffered six bogeys against only one birdie on Sunday, as he played 25 holes each of the last two days of the tournament. At least he can say he's four for four on the Challenge Tour. But there was one Umcee who not only made the cut, but truly showed up at the weekend, to post his second-best European Tour result of the 2023 season. As one of the current "big three" Umcees along with Tom Hoge and Troy Merritt, this week's Upper Midwest Connection of the Week needs no introduction...

Erik van Rooyen.

The former Minnesota Gophers golf captain from South Africa captures his second such honour after a T8 at the Omega European Masters in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. (Yes, that's the crazy outfit he wore for his final round Sunday.) Even his worst round, which went down Friday, broke par with a -1 on 69 strokes, and he made the cut with two strokes to spare. Again, though, the weekend saw him truly kick butt with eight birdies Saturday to move from 33rd to 16th on the leaderboard. Then, on Sunday, he had his best round of the week with a -5, suffering only one bogey at No 2. He even got an eagle at 14 and closed with a difficult sand shot to find the green in regulation within a few feet of the hole. I saw the latter shot on the NBC Sports website since the linear Golf Channel was covering the Walker Cup (whose previous edition had involved Flanagan during his time with the Gophers, as he played for the British Isles). It was a much-needed top-ten showing for van Rooyen, who had slipped to #235 in the world rankings and is now #211, and he climbed to #149 in the Race to Dubai. He joins Longbella as the only two-time recipients of the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week plaudit.

This week is the final week before the PGA Tour commences its first true fall series since 2012, the year before it adopted the short-lived wraparound schedule that expired with this year's Tour Championship. In the meantime, though, we have the PGA Tour Canada's swan song in Calgary at the Fortinet Cup Championship to follow. Three Umcees made it in Kneiser, Longbella and Hitchner. Meanwhile, on the European Tour, the Irish Open takes over the K Club in County Kildare, Ireland, with van Rooyen and Tom Hoge as the Umcees at that event. Finally, as of this writing, Flanagan has an outside chance at making the Challenge de Espana. He was a high alternate, but he is also playing a Clutch Pro Tour event in his native England, which might create a scheduling conflict for him. Stay tuned.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 27 August 2023

 Originally, I was going to post this yesterday, as I usually need some time to assess the candidates for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, but I had a long day yesterday and needed some rest. As I write, I just got done helping livestream the third episode of Ahsoka. I told you I'm a nerd!

Anyway, it was a bit feistier last week than the previous two weeks, as the PGA Tour Canada returned to action for the final three weeks of its existence. Even so, there were only seven men Umcees eligible for last week's honour, along with Kate Smith and Kim Kaufman, winners of the plaudit the last two weeks. A pittance by normal standards, but let's run down the list.

Three of the Umcees--Frankie Capan III, Will Grevlos and Derek Hitchner--missed the cut. Capan is in danger of having to play a second season on the Korn Ferry Tour, though he shouldn't have to compete against the reshuffle, and he might even have to start in Second Stage of Q-school, the way things are going for him. Grevlos will have to First Stage to get any privileges on so much as the PGA Tour Americas for next year, but Hitchner is guaranteed Second Stage because of his PGA Tour U finish (#14). All three were out of the running for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week.

Of the six who made it, Kaufman wasn't that impressive at the Circling Raven Championship in Worley, Idaho, near Coeur d'Alene, only mustering a T63 and pocketing $749. Her final-round 75 was her worst of the week. Back on the men's side of things at the Manitoba Open in Winnipeg, George Kneiser of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin broke 70 the first two days but settled for par Saturday and suffered a +1 Sunday to finish T37. He remains 16th in the Fortinet Cup. His fellow-Wisconsinite Harrison Ott of Broomfield had a similar weekend showing, although his first two rounds were each one stroke better than Kneiser's corresponding performances, earning him a T28 and improving his Fortinet Cup standing to #62 with one last chance to retain his card this week at the CRMC Championship in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Returning to the ladies' side, Kate Smith wasn't so lucky, improving each round of the aforementioned Circling Raven Championship from 71 Friday to 70 Saturday and 68 Sunday, but she slipped to #17 in the Race for the Card somehow.

That leaves two Umcees who reached the top 15 at the Manitoba Open to vie for the weekly plaudit. These guys were the tie for 11th. They both hail from Wisconsin--one from Chippewa Falls, the other from Janesville. Both went to Big Ten schools for university, as one left the Dairyland for Minnesota, while the other stayed home and made the short jog to UW-Madison. One reached the top 25 in the Fortinet Cup, while the other gave himself an outside hope of making it to next week's PGA Tour Canada swan song. But when it came to choosing an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, I knew I had to pick the more milestone-based achiever. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for...

Thomas Longbella.

With all due respect to Jordan Hahn, who also tied for 11th, Longbella figures to carry more weight in Q-school when that rolls around and going forward. The reason? Longbella's performance lifted him into the top 25 at #22, and since he was all but guaranteed to make the grand finale in Calgary, he'll have two opportunities to consolidate a first-stage bye for the second year running. The CRMC Championship is just a few hours' drive from his alma mater, and the Fortinet Cup Championship doesn't have a cut. To make a long story short, Thomas Longbella has truly merited to become, in the short history of this blog, my first two-time Upper Midwest Connection of the Week.

This week, in addition to the Pequot Lakes event, both European Tour Group top-two tours will feature Umcees in their respective fields, and both are former Minnesota Gophers. Angus Flanagan tees off at the IGG Challenge in Sweden at 7:30 local time Thursday (12:30 Twin Cities/11:30pm Wednesday western Dakotas), and Erik van Rooyen follows suit an hour later at the Omega European Masters in Crans Montana, Switzerland (8:30 local/1:30 Twin Cities/12:30 W Dakotas). This will give fans of these golfers something to get up for during the fortnight in which both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour are off. Are y'all insomniac enough?

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 6 August 2023

 First off, apologies for not posting earlier this week. My Mondays have become increasingly hectic with driving range and other practice, and I had been shorted on sleep the night before. Perhaps the desire to play D&D again has cost me some rest, as I haven't been able to indulge in it since 20 April. The NFL Draft was a week later, followed by my trip to see one of my best friends in Philadelphia for a few days the week after that. Also, I was following the Leagues Cup last night, as Minnesota United won a second straight penalty shootout, this time over Toluca. I told you I like soccer as well as golf! The Loons are now only two wins away from next year's Concacaf Champions Cup, one of which would have to come over Nashville. In any case, at least until the end of my league season, I will probably post more often on Tuesdays than Mondays.

But back to golf. Last week was the conclusion of the FedEx Cup regular season, and as expected, (at least) two of the big three Umcees are going to the FedEx Cup Fall, which starts next month with the Fortinet Championship. Erik van Rooyen missed the cut by two strokes, and Troy Merritt, who did make the cut but stumbled on Sunday, saw his streak of five straight playoff qualifications come to an end--and not just because of the stricter criteria for qualifying. On the Korn Ferry Tour, Monday qualifier Andre Metzger, who has some connection to the Sioux Falls area, missed the cut despite a -3 Friday, while Frankie Capan III failed to improve in the order of merit, remaining at #38.

It was at the Windsor Championship on the PGA Tour Canada in its last week before a fortnight's hiatus, then, that top-level Umcee performances were to be found last week. We start with Monday qualifier Van Holmgren. Originally from Plymouth, Minnesota and a graduate (I think) of Wayzata High School, Holmgren went to North Dakota State for a few years before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast University. Did you know that, at 6'8", he is the tallest player in PGA Tour Canada history? He started out strong, posting -5 and -2 rounds on the workweek before struggling with a +4 weekend. Next, Jordan Hahn (no relation to James) hails from Janesville, WI and went to the nearby University of Wisconsin. He broke par all four days but only mustered -1 Sunday and finished T44.

Two other Minnesota connections finished much higher up the leaderboard Sunday. Derek Hitchner, native of Minneapolis and alumnus of Pepperdine, was a PGA Tour U third team laureate this past spring by finishing 14th on that list. This ensures he'll start Q-school in the second stage rather than the first regardless of where he finishes this season. He broke 70 all four days, highlighted by a 6-under 65 Friday. But given a Fortinet Cup rank of 35th, it's unlikely over the last three events of the season that he'll crack the top five to skip second stage, which renders a top-25 finish in the list irrelevant for this season. Fortinet Cup placement is relevant, though, for this week's Upper Midwest Connection of the Week...

Thomas Longbella at the Windsor Championship.

Thomas Longbella.

Moving to #26 in the Fortinet Cup and to the cusp of the top thousand in the world rankings, the Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin native and University of Minnesota product saved his best for last, carding a bogey-free -7 Sunday, including five birdies on the back nine. He could have cracked the Fortinet Cup top 25 if he'd taken better advantage of the par fives, as he missed birdies on two of the three, but he's still got time to secure a second straight first-stage bye, as he has made six successive cuts on PGA Tour Canada. He'll look to keep working toward that goal over the last three events--the Manitoba Open in Winnipeg, the CRMC Championship in Brainerd, Minnesota (yes, PGA Tour Canada runs an event stateside) and the Fortinet Cup Tour Championship in Calgary.

As for next week's honour, there'll only be four Umcees up for it, two of whom--Tripp Kinney of West Des Moines, Iowa and the aforementioned Andre Metzger--got in via open qualifying. There are also two regulars: Tom Hoge, who returns to action after sitting out the last two weeks, his spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs secure, and Frankie Capan III, who resumes his quest for a PGA Tour card at the Pinnacle Bank Championship.

Edward the Scop