Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 19 November 2023

 After the heartwarming stories of the previous fortnight, with Erik van Rooyen prevailing at the World Wide Technologies Championship with his dying BFF Jon Trasamar in mind and Camilo Villegas winning the Bermuda Championship to honour the memory of his daughter Mia, who died of cancer four months short of her second birthday, last week had slim pickings by comparison. That doesn't mean it lacked for storylines.

In Dubai, the race for the Vardon Trophy may have fallen to Rory McIlroy without a shot of the DP World Tour Championship being taken, but the race for ten PGA Tour cards for next year came to a crescendo when Rasmus Hojgaard, hoping to join his successful STM-earning twin brother Nicolai in America in 2024, landed his approach in the water at the final hole of the Earth Course. Where he hoped to make birdie or better to leave no doubt, he settled for par. Adding insult to injury, Matthieu Pavon of France finished his season with four straight birdies to get that card that would have otherwise gone to Rasmus. The Dane will be back, though. Maybe he'll follow his twin brother's lead and convert success in America to STM and, ultimately, membership in 2025.

Before I go any further, I should point out that the DP World Tour's subservience to Ponte Vedra Beach was a long time coming, whether you like it or not. Ever since a guy named Eldrick Tont Woods started winning events right out of Stanford in 1996, the European circuit's independence was bound to be terminally marked. I'm aware that several Umcees like the aforementioned van Rooyen and Angus Flanagan have had scenes on the DP World Tour or its developmental circuits, so I will say that the golf ecosystem needs a long, hard look going forward.

But back to America, where Ludvig Aberg completed a transatlantic double of events at the RSM Classic. The Texas Tech alumnus had already won the Omega Masters in Switzerland, earning himself a Ryder Cup European captain's pick from Luke Donald. (Some say it would've otherwise gone to Adrian Meronk of Poland. Turns out Team Europe didn't need him, I guess. As it is, Meronk is headed to the Players and the Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth the week after the PGA Championship next May as the top points-getter among the ten DPWT grads to the PGA Tour.) He had kicked butt over the following few months, including a respectable two points from as many wins at Marco Simone near Rome. Then, just last week, the Swede polished off Mackenzie Hughes of Canada by four strokes at Sea Island near Brunswick, Georgia.

You're here for the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, though, so I'll lay off on details concerning external matters. Let's start with the obvious Umcee, Troy Merritt. Heading into the RSM, Merritt was coming off three straight meh finishes after showing up at the Fortinet and the Sanderson Farms prior to Vegas. He was still ranked #123 coming in, so it was possible that he might survive to 2024 with his card without a made cut, but he wanted to make it to be sure. Unfortunately, Merritt missed the cut despite a heroic Friday effort of -6, so he had to sweat out the outcome of the weekend. As good fortune would have it, Carl Yuan of China missed out on ending Merritt's exempt status by less than two points! But rules are rules, and I can't award the plaudits to Troy Merritt, simply because he missed the cut at the RSM.

I can, however, award the honours to the top Umcee at Q-school from last week. You see, as mentioned extensively in this blog, Second Stage of the PGA Tour Q-School began 14 November, with a further two sites next week in California and Georgia. Nine Umcees made it to Second Stage, either by qualification or by exemption, of whom three progressed to Final Stage: Van Holmgren, Andre Metzger and Alex Schaake.

Metzger, as is well-known, is a folk hero on the Dakotas Tour, which is one of the top minitours in North American golf, and he maintains some residence in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (fittingly enough). He seemed headed out of Q-school in Savannah, Georgia after a second-round 74, but rallied to make it with a stroke to spare. Schaake is from Omaha, but went to the University of Iowa, which qualifies him as an Umcee. In Dothan, Alabama, he had an even worse opening-round 77, but he broke par the last three days and 70 the last two to make it with two strokes clear of the number. But it was a guy who tried and narrowly failed to medal in Port St Lucie, Florida for guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts but still advanced with ease--five strokes clear of the cut...

Van Holmgren.

Hailing from Plymouth, Minnesota and a graduate of Wayzata High School, Holmgren narrowly missed out two years ago on Final Stage when it was just for Korn Ferry Tour status when a putt lipped out. Now, with somewhat more on the line, Holmgren is headed to TPC Sawgrass to try his luck at KFT starts...or even one of five-plus PGA Tour cards! I mentioned he missed out on medallist plaudits, as he dropped behind his 54-hole coleaders in the final round. Still, he is gaining comfort in the pro game, and he has PGA Tour Americas starts guaranteed, if nothing else.

Once again, his reign as the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week will last another week, as no Umcees are known to be teeing it up in tour golf this week or next. Nor are there any Q-school stops on the week, as Second Stage (as mentioned before) takes a week off. But next week's honours, which will be awarded the week of 4 December, will go to the top performer between five participants at the remaining Second Stage sites, as well as Kate Smith (exempt) and Kim Kaufman (qualified via Stage II) at LPGA Q-Series.

Also, be on the lookout for an announcement concerning the Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of the Year sometime over the Thanksgiving holiday. My plan was for it to drop the week of 18 December, the week after Final Stage for the PGA Tour Q-School.

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