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

Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of 2023 in Tour Golf, Part I: #8-#10 + Honourable Mentions

To say I struggled to keep up with all that went down in tour golf in the year of our Lord 2023 is an understatement. There was the decision to let the rich get richer, without listening to any objections from rank-and-file golfers on the PGA Tour, through the tour's signature-events program announced in March and taking effect on the other side of the New Year. I tried to circulate a petition for the PGA Tour to rethink its plan but got crickets. There was the out-of-nowhere announcement of efforts to bury the hatchet between the PGA Tour and its "strategic partner," the DP World Tour (whatever that means), on the one hand, and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia on the other so that LIV golfers might be reintegrated into the mainstream ecosystem of golf. Again, players weren't consulted--but this time, not even the bigwigs could have their say. The U.S. Senate reacted by denouncing what they saw as a covenant with evil, and began to target the PGA Tour's antitrust exemption. The OWGR rejected LIV Golf League's application for membership, citing the shorter, 54-hole format and lack of cut; the team aspect that could compromise individual competitiveness intentionally; and the contractual system that makes it harder for promotion and relegation to be applied despite the fact that only 24 cards are supposed to be guaranteed for the following season. And there was Jon Rahm contradicting his own adoration of tradition and prostituting himself to LIV.

So much for negative news about how the world of professional golf is falling to pieces. But for every sorrow in the field, there are local and/or regional stories that remind us why we love this game. While the bigwigs continue to tussle over the future of pro golf, it was another year of progress for Umcees. For the first time in a while, we saw one not only get exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour, but keep it in fuller measure for 2024. In women's golf, while it was another quiet year for Umcees, one of two on the Epson Tour improved her standing in the Race for the Card, reaching a best season finish of #19 in the money list. And in big-time men's golf, for the third straight year, an Umcee won a PGA Tour event. With all that in mind, this is the first part of my list of the top ten Umcees in tour golf this year. We begin with the bottom three of the list proper, along with some honourable mentions. The next post, due tomorrow (24 December), will consider the next two up the list, followed by individual profiles on each of my top five Umcees in tour golf in 2023.

The criteria for this Top Ten (plus honourable mentions) include, but are not limited to, wins in tour golf, the calibre of these victories, overall performance on various tours, the magnitude of the circuits in question and, where applicable, showings in various Q-schools.

Number 10: Angus Flanagan, Woking, England/University of Minnesota 2018-'21

Flanagan had excelled in college at the U of M. As a sophomore, he shared the Big Ten championship with Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Illinois, who has since earned his PGA Tour card by finishing 11th on this year's KFT points list. He also won four other collegiate events, most notably the Genesis Collegiate Showcase in 2021 to book tee times at Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational. According to the inaugural (2020-21) PGA Tour University final standings, Flanagan was the 11th best college golf senior in Division I.

That's when it hit the fan. Poor Angus made just one cut that summer on the Forme Tour, which had been set up for non-Canadian players on the PGA Tour Canada to provide playing and promotion opportunities while Covid-19 kept the U.S.-Canadian border closed to voluntary travel and lost his card. He then bounced about in 2022...when a breakthrough happened. Flanagan was able to make it to Final Stage of the DP World Tour Q-School. He missed the cut but grabbed some Challenge Tour status. This helped set up his placement on this list, as he made event cuts consistently, albeit never finishing higher than 23rd. What really seals his place here, though, was his first Korn Ferry Tour cut made at the Club Car Championship, for which he had Monday qualified; he finished in the top 35. He didn't quite match last year's Q-school showings, falling in First Stage in Europe and Second Stage in the PGA Tour Q-School, but there is some cause for optimism in his professional career. In addition, he showed up at multiple events on the Clutch Pro Tour, which feeds into the Challenge Tour, in his native England.

Number 9: Kim Kaufman, Clark, South Dakota

Much like Flanagan, Kaufman had a decorated college career, tearing it up at Texas Tech in the Big 12. She also rocked the house as a developmental golfer, winning twice on the Symetra Tour (now the Epson Tour). But her promise that might have translated that collegiate/minor-league form to the big stage was shattered by catching mono in Japan in 2018 and falling down stairs during her rehab, injuring her wrist. She progressed through Q-Series beautifully but lost her card again the next year and couldn't get it back.

As for this year on the Epson Tour, Kaufman struggled early on but did well enough to retain her card, finishing in the top 70 (top 80 needed to retain privileges). She made Q-Series again for the second year running but missed the cut and will be back on the Epson Tour in 2024.

Number 8: George Kneiser, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

Kneiser had a fine second season on the PGA Tour Canada, cracking the top 25 on the final order of merit for that tour before it merges with the PGA Tour Latinoamerica to form the PGA Tour Americas (albeit just barely). This was a huge improvement over year one on the tour, when he had finished a dismal 105th in the Fortinet Cup (as the order of merit was known for its last two years) and been forced to go back to Q-school. He got his career best showing on tour by tying for second at the season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open. Though he hasn't matched that success since, Kneiser did well enough to skip First Stage of the PGA Tour Q-School. However, he did miss the Final Stage by five strokes, so he'll be playing the PGA Tour Americas in 2024.

Honourable Mentions

• Van Holmgren: Arguably the biggest Umcee beneficiary at PGA Tour Q-School finals this year, Holmgren started the year without status on any connected tour, having narrowly failed to defend his PGA Tour Canada card from last year. His T71 performance at the Sawgrass courses used for Q-school finals earned him renewed status on the PGA Tour Americas.
• Justin Doeden: That he didn't make this Top Ten in any capacity speaks to a cheating scandal that tarnished his previous 16th-placed finish in the final Totalplay Cup standings for the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. If he had but accepted his fate, he could've bounced back later in the PGA Tour Canada season and honoured his exemption to Second Stage earned in Latin America. Unfortunately, as a result of his devious deed, Doeden was apparently not only suspended the rest of the year but barred from Q-school. The "honourable" part of this designation strictly refers to his earlier portion of the year and what could have been.

Part II contains players #6 and #7 and will drop Christmas Eve.

Edward the Scop

Q-School Primer 2023: Second Stage Part II (CA, GA-2)

This is the final batch-style preview for Q-school sites in 2023, as my LPGA Q-Series and PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage primers will take a different format with regards to Umcees participating at each site. That is, I will give more detailed information regarding each Umcee.

Four Umcees have already qualified to Final Stage in the PGA Tour's Q-School. In addition to the three who got in a week ago as of this writing, Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minnesota is exempt to Final Stage by virtue of finishing in the top 60 of this year's Korn Ferry Tour points list, while still falling short of the top 30. Potentially six more could follow suit, depending on who cracks the top fifteen or so at their respective sites.

Note: This post will be updated as first and second round tee times become available. A marker of (PQ) means a player started in prequalifying, while (I) means he started in First Stage.

UPDATE: As of Sunday, 26 November 2023, Second Stage week 2 tee times are up. As before, the California site is quoted in Pacific Standard Time, while the Georgia site is in Eastern Standard Time. The first two rounds are given, with each tee time for Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Four of this week's six Umcees will tee off at Valencia Country Club in Valencia, California.

California: Valencia Country Club, Valencia, par 72, 7300yd

71 players. Umcees: Derek Hitchner, Minneapolis, MN (8:48am on 1/10am); Thomas Longbella, Chippewa Falls, WI (I; 8:12am on 10/9:24am); Ben Sigel, Deephaven, MN (I; 8:24am on 10/9:36am); Matthew Walker, Ottumwa, IA (I; 10:12am on 10/9am)

Georgia: Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, Valdosta, par 72, 7780yd

66 players. Umcees: Hunter Eichhorn, Chattanooga, TN/Marquette University (I; 10:48am on 1/9:48am); George Kneiser, Oconomowoc, WI (9am on 10/10:12am)

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 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