Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of 2023: #2

 I was going to post this yesterday, but D&D went unusually late (10:30 or so my time), so I had to push back this submission to today. Apologies for the wait. It's too bad I don't have any social networks that are usable to notify you all about changes to my posting schedule--or, for that matter, such a schedule in itself--ever since I dropped Twitter/X this past July.

Anyway, this is the day on which the 2023 Upper Midwest Connection of the Year is revealed! First, though, we must pay tribute to the guy who finished a close second...

Number 2: Tom Hoge, Fargo, North Dakota

Starting OWGR: #36

Current OWGR #61

Final FedEx Cup Eligibility: #45

Wins: 0

Top 10s: 2

Top 25s: 6 on PGA Tour, 1 on DP World Tour, 1 co-sanctioned by both (Scottish Open)

Majors: Masters, MC; PGA, T58; U.S. Open, MC; Open Championship, MC

Cuts made: 18/26 plus 2/2 on DPWT-only events (Irish Open, BMW PGA Championship)

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles: 6 (including retroactive)

For much of 2023, I was going to award Tom Hoge a repeat as Upper Midwest Connection of the Year (retroactive to 2022, when he had won at Pebble Beach). And he definitely got off to a hot start, tying for third at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (in its final year under that name) and making four straight cuts before MCing at the Phoenix Open. He then capped off the West Coast swing with another top-15 finish at the Genesis Invitational. His biggest accomplishment of the year, though, was that 62 at TPC Sawgrass, which set a record for as long as the Players Championship has been held there (1982-present). He had dug himself into a hole in the first two rounds of the event, but it still helped him to a tie for third.

Sadly, that was where the wheels kind of came off. He took the next week off and then went 0-3 at the final WGC Match Play, then missed the cut at both the Masters and the RBC Heritage. Though he went on to make his next four weekends, he didn't crack the top 40 in any of them, and his top-40 drought eventually extended to nine starts before a T19 at the Scottish Open. Even then, he stumbled in glory's last shot, missing the cut at the Open to finish 1-for-4 in majors in terms of making the cut. Nevertheless, he kept striving, and two of his last three starts of the 2022-23 season proper (excluding FedEx Cup Fall) were top-25 finishes. Even the one that wasn't (the FedEx St Jude Championship) saw him do well enough to crack the BMW Championship and earn a trip to all eight signature events in 2024, including a return trip to the Sentry.

And of course, his best second half of the year finishes were ahead of him. A T14 at the DP World Tour's BMW PGA Championship was his first top-fifteen finish worldwide since the Players. Then, upon returning to America, he did one better (T13) at the Sanderson Farms Championship before shutting things down after the Zozo Championship two weeks later in Japan. His globetrotting alone would earn him an honoured place on this list, but add to this his many achievements--especially early in the year--and you've a bona-fide First Team All-Umcee honoree.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 20 August 2023

 It was another quiet week for men's Umcees in tour golf. Only three such players were involved in such events worldwide. Tom Hoge teed it up at the BMW Championship (always to be regarded as the reincarnation of the Western Open) at Olympia Fields near Chicago with a very outside chance of a return to East Lake. Frankie Capan III, seeking to break out of a slump on the Korn Ferry Tour, concluded his first (and so far, only) regular season of professional tour golf at the Magnit Championship in New Jersey. As for former Minnesota Gopher Angus Flanagan, he finally got a chance to show his stuff at the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge in, well, Finland. It helped his chances of starting that the DP World Tour resumed after having been off since the Open Championship. So, how did each do?

Despite a good showing, narrowly missing a third top-20 finish in five starts, Hoge had to crack the top four (at least) with no more than two ties for the minimum finish. His season is over, though he does have the signature events to look forward to in 2024. Capan never got going in the last event before the KFT Finals, slipping to #43 on the points list. Flanagan had arguably the best week of the men, all things considered, but an up-and-down final round in Finland meant he only moved from #186 to #170 on the Road to Mallorca. He'll have work to do to improve his status on either side of the pond much, whether through any further Challenge Tour events or through Q-school.

For the second straight week, it was the women's game that provided the Umcee fireworks. Specifically, the two Umcees on the second-tier Epson Tour very much led the region at the Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic. Unfortunately, the wildfires in the region (which are starting to be cured by rain from Tropical Storm Hillary) wiped out the final round due to heavy smoke, so the affair was cut short. Nevertheless, official money was allocated to all who had made the cut the day before. Last week's Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, Kate Smith, finished a healthy T13 with six others. However, she loses her throne this week to a more seasoned player, namely...

Kim Kaufman.

Heading into the Wildhorse Classic, the Clark, South Dakota native had made less than $10 grand on the Epson Tour, where she'd been relegated a couple years ago after losing her LPGA Tour card, in the course of the 2023 season. Well, she made almost half her prize money on the year from this event alone ($7753 to be exact) by tying for fourth. Her efforts enabled her to jump from #88 to #65 on the Epson Tour money list. This is significant since only the top eighty members by winnings get to keep their cards (provided they don't finish top ten and get promoted to the LPGA Tour or finish top-20 or so at LPGA Q-Series). Both she and Smith are guaranteed to at least crack Stage II of Q-school, having been among the top 125 in the Epson Tour as of the end of the Four Winds Invitational the week before the Wildhorse Classic. However, I'm sure Kaufman would like to join Smith in being on track to skip straight to Q-Series, which admits the top 25 Epson Tour money list finishers not otherwise in the top ten, among others.

(Before I preview this week's action, honourable mention to Smith, whose finish allowed her to climb to #14 in the money list. If she keeps it up, there's no way she'll miss out on winning in the Race for the Card.)

This week should see more action on the men's side of things. PGA Tour Canada resumes after its fortnightly hiatus at the Manitoba Open, so plenty of Umcees can be observed in action. Also, the aforementioned KFT Finals begin with the Boise Open, and Capan is expected to play all rounds in his quest for a PGA Tour card. Lastly, there's a chance Flanagan sneaks into the Dormy Open in Sweden on the Challenge Tour (he's one of the top alternates as of this writing).

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 13 August 2023

 When I created my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honour, I promised I wouldn't limit myself to any given tour or tours. This is especially critical to determine who it has been for weeks when it seems activity is down. Last week was one of those weeks.

In the whole wide world of men's tour golf, a mere three Umcees competed last week: Tom Hoge on the PGA Tour and Frankie Capan III and Tripp Kinney on the Korn Ferry Tour. There was no PGA Tour Canada event, as that circuit is on a fortnightly hiatus ahead of next week's Manitoba Open and the following week's CRMC Championship near Brainerd in my home state of Minnesota. Let's look at how they performed...

We start, of course, with Hoge. The Fargo product made the FedEx Cup playoffs for the fourth straight year despite the tightening of criteria (just seventy this year as opposed to 125 in past years). Despite being very overlooked, Hoge started out with promise, carding an opening -3 by shooting 67 at TPC Southwind in Memphis at the FedEx St Jude Championship. Even the next day wasn't too shabby, as he also broke par with a 69. Unfortunately, it hit the fan Saturday with a 73. Hoge was in danger of missing the BMW Championship this week (fifty this year made it, down from seventy in the past) for the first time since nearly losing his Tour card in 2019 before birdieing the last three holes somehow on Sunday. His -4 finish dropped him to #48 (from #46) in the standings, so he has a lot of work to do to make a second straight trip to East Lake.

Meanwhile, Capan entered the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha at #38 in the KFT Points List but slipped one spot as a result of his performance. This was because he struggled at the weekend with rounds of 73 and 72, both over par (+2 and +1, respectively). It's clear Capan was outshined by Tripp Kinney, who actually trailed him with one round to go. But then Kinney rattled off six birdies Sunday, and only a bogey on his fourth-to-last hole kept him from building on his jump to #178 (from #233) in the points list this week at the Magnit Championship in New Jersey before next week's KFT Finals opener at the Boise Open. With all that said, though, the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for last week is...

Kate Smith.

You didn't think I follow women's golf, did you?! Well, an Umcee is an Umcee, and Smith counts as one.

Hailing from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and a local five-time high school state champ at the Double-A level in the state girls' golf tournament, Smith entered last week's Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Indiana without a top-five finish in her as yet short professional golf career since graduating from the University of Nebraska in 2022. Well, she got not only that, but a place on the podium with Gabi Ruffels of Australia (who won for the third time on the Epson Tour, which is the LPGA Tour's equivalent of the KFT) and fellow runner-up Becca Huffer. Indeed, had Smith recorded birdie at the last, she would have added $6400 to her winnings of $16 020. As it stands, Smith had been teetering towards falling outside the top 35 on the order of merit on the Epson Tour, known appropriately as the Race for the Card. This is important because, unlike the PGA Tour, the majority of promotees to the LPGA Tour come via qualifying school finals, AKA Q-Series.

How is this so? Only ten cards are awarded directly via Epson Tour money, while twenty are given to the top finishers at Q-Series. If a golfer has to play Q-Series, she had better finish top 35 on the Epson Tour if she isn't already an LPGA Tour member to gain direct entry upon applying. As a result of her career best showing, Smith moved from #30 to #19 in the Race for the Card!

This week, the spotlight will inevitably be cast upon Olympia Fields near Chicago, as the BMW Championship goes down to determine the thirty Tour Championship participants. That said, let's not lose sight of the fact that the KFT is also wrapping its regular season as the PGA Tour did a couple weeks ago. Hopefully Frankie Capan III can snap out of his funk and get to the top 30 by season's end, earning a card on the PGA Tour.

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

The Bhatia Rule: A Proposal

 As I mentioned in my last post, this week marks the end of the FedEx Cup regular season. While there will be a fall series to sew up membership for less-fortunate golfers who don't make the playoffs, it's clear the easiest way to crack the new series of designated events is to make it and advance to the BMW Championship the week after next. These fifty fortunate souls, after all, are assured of playing all the events on the 2024 regular-season schedule, designated and otherwise.

You might have been anticipating my Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for July in this post. However, the timing was too good to pass up the present topic, so I took advantage. Rest assured the aforementioned honour will be announced in due course.

Anyway, several hours after Brian Harman had won the Open Championship on 23 July, the opposite-field Barracuda Championship came down to a playoff. Patrick Rodgers teed off at the final hole of Tahoe Mountain Club's Old Greenwood Course in Truckee, California, believing a par at the last would be sufficient to win after three career runner-up finishes, one of which had stemmed from a playoff loss to Charles Howell III at the RSM Classic in 2018. What he didn't know was that 21-year-old phenom Akshay Bhatia was attempting a tying putt for birdie.

As is well-known, Bhatia skipped university to go pro, making the Fortinet Championship cut as an 18-year-old in 2020 and reaching the top ten in that event. There had been ups and downs since then, but he'd finally attained STM via his second-placed finish at the Puerto Rico Open this past March only to Nico Echavarria of Colombia. Because he hadn't won on the PGA Tour, though, he was still ineligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs until he broke through to the winner's circle. When he sank the putt from the back of the green, he had forty points in the modified Stableford system the Barracuda uses.

(Before I go further, I should remind y'all of the scoring values under this special system. The points are capped at eight at best for an albatross. Five are given for an eagle and two for a birdie. One point is deducted for a single bogey and three for not even getting that. The system rewards aggressive play and risk-taking in a way stroke play never could, making the Barracuda Championship a favourite PGA Tour event of mine.)

Rodgers did his best to respond, but when his own birdie putt missed by inches, his tap-in for par only got him into a playoff. Then, on the ensuing playoff hole (also 18 at Old Greenwood), Bhatia got an excellent tee shot off, whereas Rodgers landed in a fairway divot. Rodgers missed the GIR and then failed on the up-and-down, suffering bogey. Bhatia then two-putted for par to secure not only the tall-boy trophy...but also secure PGA Tour membership for real at long last. Storytime over, right? Well, it's just beginning, so hold on to your golf bags.

Akshay Bhatia may have a trophy, but he didn't get points with it.

When the dust had settled on the trophy presentation, Bhatia collected a winner's check worth $684K and prepared for his next event, thinking a decent showing at the Wyndham Championship would be enough to secure every event under the sun for 2024 (except maybe the Masters Tournament or the U.S. Open). But as an article from Golf Digest indicates, a couple hours later, his agent told him that he had actually lost ground in the FedEx Cup relative to his previous, nonmember equivalence of points. In other words, he hadn't received a single point from his win, and to make matters worse, his Barbasol Championship nonmember points from the week prior wouldn't convert either!

The problem, as PGA Tour regulations indicate, lies in the co-sanctioned nature of the two events. You see, as part of the Tour's "strategic partnership" (whatever that means) with the DP World (formerly European) Tour, three events between the two tours last year became part of both tours' calendars and began to involved players receiving order of merit points on both tours as applicable. In addition to the two mentioned above, the Genesis Scottish Open is also co-sanctioned, largely as a result of high-profile players using its timing ahead of the Open to play it as prep for that major. Confusingly enough, though, the Scottish Open is given the usual perks of any PGA Tour event, probably because of its enhanced status on the DPWT. By contrast, the other two are opposite-field events, so they have lesser profile.

The Barbasol and Barracuda also only offer one year's PGA Tour exemption to the winner if he isn't already a Tour member. This was moot point for the former this year, as Vince Norrman of Sweden was in the reshuffle of Korn Ferry grads from the Class of 2022, so he got the full two-year exemption given most golfers who win on the PGA Tour. With Bhatia only being an STM prior to breaking through and accepting membership, though, he'll likely face a contract year in 2024 if he doesn't win again this year or next. (Ironically, if he had accepted DPWT membership, he would have been eligible over there the year after as well in Category 3 of the priority list for that tour.)

It's too late, obviously, to change Bhatia's failure to make the playoffs this year if he doesn't finish on the Wyndham Championship podium, so to speak. (At least he'll have the Sentry, the Players and the PGA Championship to look forward to in 2024.) But as a compromise, I propose a rule that I named after him called the "Bhatia Rule." It goes a bit like this:

1. If a nonmember of the PGA Tour wins the Barbasol Championship, all nonmember points previously accrued plus 150 points--half the winner's share under normal circumstances--would transfer to his FedEx Cup total.
2. If such a player does not win the Barbasol Championship but does win the Barracuda Championship, all nonmember points won prior to the Barbasol Championship plus half of any such points earned in that event plus 150 points would transfer.

This assumes, of course, that the PGA Tour maintains about the same schedule as previous years and doesn't co-sanction any further opposite-field events with the DPWT. The reason I suggest 150 rather than 300 member points is the one-year exemption, which seems a good compromise.

As usual, feel free to leave your suggestions and comments below, and spread the word about this idea if the mood takes you.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 30 July 2023

 As the 2022-23 PGA Tour regular season gives way to the FedEx Cup playoffs, it bears repeating five things:

1. The field for the playoffs from this year is only seventy strong, which will impact plans for less highly achieving players.
2. Missing the playoffs isn't necessarily a death sentence, as 125 players will still retain their cards on account of FedEx Cup points. Fifty-five players who miss the playoffs, of course, will do so via the seven FedEx Cup Fall events, and that's before other forms of exemption like the multiyear reprieve given to winners on tour.
3. If one does miss the playoffs, he will need to earn his way into the next designated event the hard way, either by winning a FedEx Cup Fall event or by performing well enough otherwise during that "sprint" to earn his way in.
4. But even if the same player does make the playoffs, it's not a guarantee of qualification because only the top fifty after the quarterfinals--the FedEx-St Jude Championship--get into the designated events all next season. Otherwise, the third consideration applies.
5. Major criteria concerning event victories are unlikely to change. The Players Championship, which the Tour runs, will still admit all remaining 2023 winners, as will the PGA Championship, which the PGA of America (not the PGA Tour) runs. Furthermore, with the last opposite-field event having taken place at the Barracuda Championship (the technically surviving WGC-HSBC Champions is effectively dead, or the Bermuda Championship would have been an opposite-field event), Augusta National will likely admit all remaining winners this year for next year's Masters, and the USGA is bound to count them towards the multiple-wins criterion for exemption into next year's U.S. Open.

It's a lot to digest, but even for those who fail to qualify for the playoffs, there is still much to play for. I bring this up because for the first time since 2019, when Troy Merritt stood alone as an Upper Midwest connection among playoff participants, I anticipate only one Umcee making the playoffs this year, and that is Tom Hoge. As a result of his tie for 20th at last week's 3M Open, Hoge moved up to #41 in the FedEx Cup standings. He won't compete this week at the Wyndham Championship, and it's possible he'll drop out of the top fifty by week's end, leaving him with work to do to reach the designated events for next year. Even so, he was one of only five Umcees to make the cut anywhere in the world this past week. The other four were Frankie Capan III, also at the 3M, and Thomas Longbella, Will Grevlos and George Kneiser at the Osprey Valley Open in Caledon, Ontario (near Toronto) on PGA Tour Canada. Except for Longbella, who finished T17 to move up to #28 in the Fortinet Cup, none of the four was sufficiently impressive to warrant consideration for the honours. Even then, Longbella has some way to go to secure a placement in Q-school comparable to last year, when he finished 23rd in the Fortinet Cup to enter directly at Second Stage.

Showing up at TPC Twin Cities again.

Hence, the new Upper Midwest Connection of the Week is Tom Hoge, simply because he has secured a shot at the new series of designated events on next year's PGA Tour. His performance at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, coupled with a good showing at the Renaissance Club in Scotland two weeks earlier, also puts him in contention for Upper Midwest Connection of the Month of July 2023. Will it be enough? Stay tuned.

Edward the Scop