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

Re: Justin Doeden, Part II: The Incident (and Suggested Punishment)

UPDATE, 24 JULY 2023: Justin Doeden has reopened his Twitter feed, and the first thing he tweeted was below.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am here to confess of the biggest mistake I have made in my life to date. I cheated in golf. This is not who I am. I let my sponsors down. I let my competitors down. I let my family down. I let myself down. I pray for your forgiveness. John 1:9 <a href="https://twitter.com/acaseofthegolf1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@acaseofthegolf1</a></p>&mdash; Justin Doeden (@jdoeden11) <a href="https://twitter.com/jdoeden11/status/1683501137905762304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Just to be clear, I am all for people acknowledging mistakes than can affect their careers. I still believe he should be suspended for some time, but his relatively prompt response to Ryan French's article (as cited in the original version of this post) two days after the article broke is a good sign of the contrition I was talking about. Furthermore, were he to back up his apology in some tangible way, I would suggest a lighter punishment than what I recommended at first.

Some of the info in this second part of my rant on Justin Doeden is adapted from Ryan French's article on the matter. I have followed Ryan's work on lesser-known tours and players on Twitter, although that era will end on Wednesday when I delete my feed and leave Twitter for good, as promised. I still intend to subscribe to his website since Lord knows he needs the money!

Anyway, when I found out Doeden had withdrawn from the Commissionaires Ottawa Open on PGA Tour Canada yesterday, he had been fluctuating between -1 and -3. The cutline of -2 was based on the low 60 and ties, according to PGA Tour Canada regulations. I initially thought it was a data-entry error that had raised my hopes of following Doeden this weekend and later theorized he had withdrawn due to injury or illness.

Well, neither was the case. According to the linked article, Doeden was even through seventeen holes at -3 and needed only a par or even single bogey to make the weekend. But his second shot hit the water and his fourth hit the bunker by the green, and he couldn't get up and down to save bogey, taking a tap-in 7 to finish -1.

But it is believed that sometime between the last tap-in and the official scoring of his round, Doeden altered his 7 from the last hole to a 5. When rules officials confirmed the actual score, Doeden announced his withdrawal from the event.

It's one thing when a golfer who happens to be an Umcee melts down on course after a bad shot, as happened with Doeden's fellow-alumnus of the U of M, Erik van Rooyen, at the 2021 PGA Championship. But tee markers are replaceable. Divots from anger over a topped shot are replaceable. What isn't remotely as replaceable is sporting integrity lost to cheating. The only hope is that this incident isn't serial a la Patrick Reed when he was on the PGA Tour (and God knows if it's continued in his LIV era). For now, it brings me no pleasure to suggest the following sanctions against Justin Doeden:

1. That he be banned from PGA Tour Canada for the rest of the season. Wherever he goes the rest of the summer, Doeden would be followed by the allegations of cheating. Not having any hope of a paycheck until at least September would encourage him to think about the consequences of breaking the rules next time the lust for money earned doing so overwhelms him.
2. That until the ban is lifted, Doeden be not allowed to enter any qualifiers, including pre-qualifiers for PGA Tour events, nor seek any sponsor's exemptions for the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. This would affect the next two PGA Tour events--the Wyndham Championship and the Fortinet Championship (the latter part of the FedEx Cup Fall). It would also apply to the last four events before the Korn Ferry Finals: the NV5 Invitational, the Utah Championship, the Pinnacle Bank Championship and the Magnit Championship. He wouldn't be allowed to enter any further pre-qualifiers until the ones for the Sanderson Farms Championship. This would close a competition loophole that he could otherwise exploit to get around the ban, which would enable him further, possibly.

I am not sure a life ban is the answer, especially if he proves contrite. If not, though, that may have to be an option. Furthermore, since Doeden's 16th place finish in the Totalplay Cup for PGA Tour Latinoamerica guarantees him a trip to Second Stage of Q-school, and that doesn't take place until November, he'll have sufficient time to show contrition before he is guaranteed to play again.

Again, these are just my suggestions. Feel free to suggest your own takes and punishments by commenting if you like.

Edward the Scop

Re: Justin Doeden, Part I: Background to an Incident

Any time a golfer or anybody whose career revolves around golf does something that tarnishes the sport, it's reason for pause. We've been bombarded with stories about the PGA Tour clashing with breakaway golfers forming the LIV Golf League, lured by Saudi money without apparent strings. Then came the hypocrisy of imitating LIV with designated events run strictly by the PGA Tour rather than in collaboration with other tours as the similarly no-cut WGCs had been run. (The only difference is these designated events will have 72 holes, not 54.) And to top it all off, the PGA Tour acquiesced to the Public Investment Fund to make peace with LIV after pretending to stand for the integrity of the game.

All this is well-documented. But at the end of the day, it doesn't compare with an actual breach of the rules of the sport. Whereas PGA v LIV is a matter for the sport's professional governing bodies to sort out (with a little help from the politician-friends of said bodies), the incident described and the punishment I recommend in these next couple posts is related to playing the game itself. And the player who broke the rules, sadly, happens to be an Umcee.

Justin Doeden of Prior Lake, MN has had a quiet but respectable career grinding on PGA Tour Canada since graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2018. He was forced to go back to Q-school for that tour in 2019 but managed to finish 36th in the money list that year, earning full membership for 2020. Only, Covid-19 intervened, killing PGA Tour Canada for two years. In the meantime, Doeden continued to plug away on the LOCALiQ Series in 2020, even taking the 54-hole Classic at the Club at Weston Hills for his first PGA Tour pyramid win. As Covid continued to close the Canadian border in 2021, Doeden participated on the one-off Forme Tour and finished 27th, missing out on a First Stage bye for Q-school by just seven points. That said, he made it through First Stage and squeaked through Second Stage to earn conditional Korn Ferry status, though he wasn't able to capitalize at Final Stage. Last year was a step backward, but he still mustered a top-50 finish in the new Fortinet Cup, which is a points-based metric that has replaced the money list for PGA Tour Canada.

Justin Doeden in happier times.

After sitting out last year's Korn Ferry Q-school due to injury, Doeden qualified for half a season on the other third-tier circuit in the PGA Tour pyramid, PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He struggled early on, missing the first two cuts, but then made it at the Chile Open in mid-December. He cracked the top-60 threshold needed for survival to the second half of the season with a T12 when it resumed at the Rio Hondo Invitational in March in Argentina. By the time the reshuffle followed the Brazilian Open in early April, Doeden had secured enough points to play the second half of the Latinoamerica schedule. His first top-10 finish on the Latinoamerica was a T6 at the Kia Open in Ecuador in early May, but his best showing was in the all-time finale of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica at the Bupa Tour Championship on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Doeden was one of two losers in the playoff to decide the winner of the event, along with France's Jeremy Gandon. (Chandler Blanchet won all the marbles.) This PT2 lifted Doeden to a final Totalplay Cup (points system for the Latinoamerica) standing of #16, good for a long-awaited Second Stage direct entry. Given such a track record, one would think he could suddenly do little wrong that mattered, right? Wrong! One month or so after his strong showing in Mexico, Justin Doeden committed an incident that could epitomize a good golfer gone foul...

To be continued,

Edward the Scop