Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 17 March 2024

 The last two weeks have finally seen elite, brand-name players fare well on the PGA Tour. Led by Scottie Scheffler, the top ranked player in the world according to the OWGR, the top players who have remained loyal to the meritocratic traditional structure of tour golf are casting aside the underdogs and comeback players who owned the first couple months of the year. While ratings are still lower than at this point a year ago, what with several stars and a few up and comers having sold their souls to the Saudi PIF, I expect them to improve as the season progresses.

But when some players benefit, others get left behind. The Umcee contingent last week had six players in two fields. The big three men's Umcees--Tom Hoge, Erik van Rooyen and Troy Merritt--all got to play the Players Championship, while Emily Lauterbach was finally able to play on the Epson Tour alongside Kate Smith-Stroh and Kim Kaufman at the IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Florida. Unfortunately, four Umcees missed the cut, which made it a disappointing week for Upper Midwest connections. Only Hoge and Kaufman survived after 36 holes at their respective events. (Because the IOA Classic commenced a day later than the Players, its cut fell Saturday rather than Friday.)

Heading into Saturday, it seemed Hoge would repeat as Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. Sadly, TPC Sawgrass burst his bubble with consecutive rounds of +3/75. (Despite his weekend struggles, Hoge did move to #55 in the OWGR, giving him an outside chance to get a Masters bid without necessarily winning the Houston Open next week.) Meanwhile, Kaufman was coming off a near-miss for the prior honours in her own right, and after struggling to a +2/73 Friday, she jumped to -1/70 Saturday before saving her best for last with a Sunday -2/69. Her overall score to par of -1 was good enough for a T15, which means Kim Kaufman is this year's first female Upper Midwest Connection of the Week!

(Epson Tour)

After last week's slim pickings, this week should prove more remunerative. Although Hoge and van Rooyen are skipping this week's Valspar Championship, Merritt will play, and he'll be joined by Zach Johnson. On the Epson Tour, Lauterbach narrowly drops off for lack of priority unless someone else drops out before her tee time, but the other two Umcees on the tour are playing as usual in their quest for LPGA Tour status come 2025.

Lastly, the PGA Tour Americas gets going this week. As I have mentioned many times on this blog, it combines many of the events on the old PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada into a single tour with ten Korn Ferry Tour cards at the end of the rainbow, along with a number of conditional memberships. Five Umcees will be participating at the inaugural event, which is the Bupa Championship in Tulum, Mexico. Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, MN), George Kneiser (Oconomowoc, WI), Thomas Longbella (Chippewa Falls, WI/Minnesota '21) and Harrison Ott (Brookfield, WI) are returning members of the third tier of the PGA Tour pyramid. They will be joined by Matthew Walker of Ottumwa, Iowa, who was a medallist in the First Stage of PGA Tour Q-School and earned Latin American swing exempt status as a result. Good luck to the Umcees competing on the PGA Tour Americas, taking that first step towards big-time glory!

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 10 March 2024

 Firstly, I'd like to apologize for being a day late. There's been an overload of work at my job of late and I couldn't get around to working on the blog since my daytime work took precedence. Now that the load is lightening, I can resume with my usual blog duties.

Anyway, I finally got the prehistory of the Devilish Rake up and running earlier this week. It explains what led up to the blog's creation last July. As my "What to Expect This Year" post had incorrectly predicted, I had intended to publish it earlier, around January or early February, but it never works out that way since I had THREE rounds of FA Cup picks to disseminate and Upper Midwest Connection of the Week and Month honours to designate. The next general page will be the glossary of terms, which you can expect to see the first entries for later this spring. As for the Patreon, I plan to set aside whatever I get from my tax refund to set that up and maybe support content creators I like.

But back to the golf. As I foretold last week, it was a busy four days from Thursday through Sunday for Umcees in tour golf. Firstly, let's consider the Korn Ferry Tour's Astara-Chile Classic, which involved the five Umcees who made Q-school finals last December: Frankie Capan III, Van Holmgren, Thomas Longbella, Andre Metzger and Alex Schaake. Unfortunately, four missed the cut; the only exception was, of all of them, Metzger. "Dakotas Dre" is, as the epithet I confer on him indicates, a legend on the Dakotas Tour, which is my favourite minitour in North American golf. He finished T44, good to enter the KFT points list at #139. Probably not enough to get very many starts, but it's a start.

The other developmental tour with OWGR or Rolex Ranking points to involve Umcees last week was, of course, the Korn Ferry's women's equivalent--the Epson Tour, which kicked off its season with the Florida's Natural Charity Classic. This year, the tour has switched to a points-based system for its order of merit, which means I will no longer regularly quote paychecks of prize money earned for applicable golfers. That aside, Kim Kaufman fared significantly better than Kate Smith-Stroh, especially in the last two rounds. Kaufman had a -5/67 Saturday to highlight her weekend, collecting 81 2/3 points in the Race for the Card. This year, there will be a further five cards awarded, bringing the total to fifteen spots on the 2025 LPGA Tour.

On the PGA Tour, though, there were two events! That's because last week had a signature event in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and an opposite event in the Puerto Rico Open. Of the three Umcees who participated on the Tour last week, only Troy Merritt was unfortunate to miss out on Bay Hill. He did an okay job in Puerto Rico, finishing T23 and climbing to #119 in the FedEx Cup. Back on the mainland, Scottie Scheffler's performance clearly overshadowed the rest of the field, winning by five strokes. Even so, Erik van Rooyen mustered a T25 and inched up to #18 on the points list. The big winner among Umcees, though, was...

Tom Hoge.

I was tempted to put Kaufman atop the Umcees for the week, what with her top-ten finish. But Hoge saved his best for last. Though he still has some work to do to reach this year's Masters, which would require a win in any of the remaining PGA Tour events beforehand (yes, all of them are full field) or a top fifty showing after the Houston Open in the OWGR, he took an important step towards a third straight appearance with his T12, which enabled him to crawl up to #56 in the world rankings. He also jumped to #12 in the FedEx Cup standings, putting him well on his way to the playoffs yet again. Lastly, he is now up to #15 in the Presidents Cup standings for Team USA thanks to yet another top-fifteen showing. I suppose his progress has Jim Furyk on notice by now, especially with this week being the week of the Players Championship.

Speaking of which, this week brings the big three Umcees together with 140 others as of this writing. (Tom Kim of South Korea was the 144th player, but he withdrew due to illness eight holes in.) After one round, Hoge was on his way to an UMCOW repeat, two strokes off the -7/65 lead at -5/67. Van Rooyen was less lucky, finishing -1/71 for his opening round, but was on the right side of the cutline for now. The same can't be said for Merritt, though, as he was +1/73 to start his Players.

As for the Korn Ferry Tour, it goes back into hibernation after the Southern Fortnight until the Club Car Championship in Savannah, Georgia at the start of April. I say Southern Fortnight because this is the first time that the Argentine Open and Astara-Chile Classic were contested as consecutive yet isolated KFT events, and both are in the Southern Hemisphere--the only two such KFT tourneys. But that doesn't mean that the developmental scene has run dry for Umcees. Instead, Kaufman and Smith-Stroh will contest the IOA Golf Classic on the Epson Tour, and they will be joined by Emily Lauterbach of Hartfield, Wisconsin.

Lastly, the inaugural PGA Tour Americas season launches next week with the Bupa Championship in Tulum, Mexico. As a result of the Termas de Rio Hondo Invitational getting scrapped due to economic strife in Argentina, it's part of a Mexican fortnight to open the season this year. Plenty of Umcees are expected to populate leaderboards during these two events such as Holmgren and Longbella, but also Derek Hitchner, Andre Metzger and a hopefully contrite Justin Doeden.

Edward the Scop

Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of 2023: #3 (and Female Umcee of the Year)

 On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...the '23 bronze medallist among Umcees. Okay, I made that lyric up. But seriously, we now reach the medal stand among the top Umcees of 2023--and with it, we get to my Female Umcee of the Year.

This year's women's golf scene had rather slim pickings among Upper Midwest connections. With Oxbow, North Dakota native and North Dakota State product Amy Olson dealing with pregnancy and her subsequent maternity leave, the Umcee action in women's professional tour golf was largely restricted to developmental tours such as the Epson Tour. I mentioned one such player, Kim Kaufman, as a Second Team All-Umcee honoree. Now we turn to the third Minnesota connection to make the First Team. Without further ado, I bring you my inaugural Female Umcee of the Year...

Number 3: Kate Smith, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Starting Rolex Ranking: #870

Current Rolex Ranking: #551

Final Epson Tour Race for the Card: #19

Wins: 0

Top 10s: 4

Top 25s: 9

Majors: None

Cuts made: 19/22

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles: 3 (including retroactive)

The former Minnesota state champion who played collegiately for Nebraska (and, I swear, participated in the prestigious Augusta National Women's Amateur once, at least) had a breakout in year two on the Epson Tour. A year ago, she seemed happy just to retain her card on the LPGA's primary developmental circuit, without regard to getting a top-35 finish and progression to Q-Series, the final stage of the LPGA Q-School. Indeed, she missed out on progression from Second Stage, while Kaufman made it to finals and made the cut, only to fall back to the Epson Tour. This year, it was a role reversal. Smith made all but three cuts on tour, cracking the top 20 of the Race for the Card and earning direct entry into Q-Series, whereas Kaufman had to advance from Second Stage. Smith also outshined her fellow-Umcee once at Magnolia Grove, making the cut that Kaufman missed, although Smith herself also failed to achieve LPGA Tour status with a dismal final round.

It goes without saying that next year's expectations for Smith will be much higher. Among the questions: Can she repeat as Female Umcee of the Year in 2024? More importantly, can she fulfill her quest for an LPGA Tour card and join Olson (if she be allowed to compete by then) on the big tour and maybe Kaufman, to say nothing of big-time stars like the Korda sisters, Minjee Lee and Lydia Ko?

Having named the Female Umcee of the Year, we return to the PGA Tour for the top two honorees among the First Team All-Umcee. Stay tuned for the verdict tomorrow and Friday!

Edward the Scop

LPGA Q-Series/Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Update

Normally when I post my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, I usually don't have to adjust the events considered for the honour. After all, the week starting Monday and ending the following Sunday dovetails nicely with most big-time golf events and even minor ones. Even when a Monday finish is required, or at least agreed, to complete all four rounds (unless the event is shortened by a round or two for logistical reasons, as is often the case on developmental tours that normally go 72 holes) in the event of rain and/or wind delays, my designation of one Umcee as the weekly honoree is rarely impeded by waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday by default.

Q-school can be another animal. Non-senior big-time golf includes at least two such series with six rounds in each final. Each of these finals, in turn, has a 72-hole cut. I'm talking about the Q-schools for the DP World Tour and the LPGA. The first, though, takes place from the second Friday in November through the following Wednesday. With four of the rounds in the later week of the two that contains Q-school, held at Infinitum in Spain, it's easy for me to award Upper Midwest Connection of the Week to any Umcee participant who makes the cut. This year's LPGA Q-Series, by contrast, was supposed to run Thursday through Tuesday, so I could've awarded the honours for the just-concluded cycle Wednesday under normal circumstances.

Mother Nature had other ideas. Magnolia Grove in Semmes, Alabama was subjected to three inches of rain Saturday. As a result, the last four rounds of Q-Series were or will be held this week, which means that participants who happen to be Umcees can't get Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for last week. Instead, any Umcees who make the cut may be honoured next week for this week.

In this case, two Umcees--Kate Smith and Kim Kaufman--entered the festivities. Kaufman seemed to get it going after two rounds, one on each of Magnolia Grove's courses, the Crossings and the Falls. Unfortunately, she stumbled Sunday in round 3, erasing her edge on even par, and went par for the course today to miss the cut by three strokes. It'll be another year on the Epson Tour for Kaufman in 2024. Smith, though, showed up the same day Kaufman fell apart, posting a -6/66 at the Crossings. She struggled for momentum today at the Falls, but her -7/279 through four rounds puts her in the last two rounds and T33, which would upgrade her to Category 15 status on the LPGA Tour. This makes Smith eligible for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for the week ending 10 December 2023 along with former University of Minnesota star Erik van Rooyen, who contests the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his native South Africa on the DP World and Sunshine tours.

Hope this clarifies considerations for my weekly designation!

Edward the Scop

Umcees at LPGA Q-Series 2023

 The LPGA season really isn't over until Q-Series has come and gone. To me, it is the "ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny" (with apologies to Neil Cicierega) in tour golf Q-schools. Or at least it was last year, when the ordeal went down across eight rounds over two weeks and as many courses. This year, it's down to six rounds at one site with a cut after four rounds (number making it TBA): the Magnolia Golf Club on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail near Mobile, Alabama. If that place rings a bell for readers of the Devilish Rake, it's because the site this year hosted First Stage action for the PGA Tour Q-School.

At any rate, the event is still a gruelling affair. The only mainstream Q-school that is remotely this torturous in its final round besides Q-Series is the DP World Tour Q-School, which assures some DPWT status to all who make its 72-hole cut. By contrast, Q-Series offers no such assurances, instead insisting on a top-45 finish (plus ties, of course) to have any LPGA Tour status--and that's for ladies who've made the cut. In any case, it makes the PGA Tour Q-School look like child's play, as its finals are only four rounds in length with no cut, and all who make Final Stage are assured of some decent exemptions on developmental tours like the PGA Tour Americas and have a chance at something bigger--not to mention they get exemptions into Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour events and Korn Ferry Tour events.

Two Umcees are among the 104 players who've made it to Q-Series--namely, Kim Kaufman and Kate Smith. Kaufman, who hails from Clark, South Dakota and went to college at Texas Tech, becoming an All-American, had LPGA Tour status for much of last decade. Unfortunately, she never won on tour and suffered some health problems along the way. She ended back up on the Epson Tour, and this is her second straight trip to Q-Series, having failed to improve her status last year. Can she do it this time, improving on a barely top-70 showing from a year ago?

Smith, by contrast, is a newcomer to Q-Series, having previously failed to advance last year from Stage II. The Detroit Lakes, Minnesota native went to Nebraska for college and has been by far the more impressive of the two Umcees at Q-Series this season, finishing #19 on the Epson Tour's Race for the Card to Kaufman's #68 finish. This sufficed to exempt Smith directly to Q-Series, making this her first action since the Epson Tour Championship in early October. One question: Will there be rust from the layoff? Or will Smith live up to the hype stemming from a good-to-great Epson Tour season and earn her LPGA Tour card the second-easiest way?

Since my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week drops on Wednesdays, and Q-Series concludes next Tuesday (5 December), I will be able to consider Kaufman and Smith for the weekly honour awarded 6 December. Good luck to both at Q-Series!!!

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 8 October 2023 + Q-School Update

 After a fortnight dedicated to USA v Europe team events (it's a miracle I didn't harm myself, even in a benign way, as a result of the outcomes of both!) in which little action took place in tour golf or even in Q-school, the latter two concerns picked up again last week. I was going to name an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week last week for the week before based on the results of the Epson Tour's Tuscaloosa-Toyota Classic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Both reigning UMCOW (as I shall hereafter abbreviate the honour in conjunction with its full name) Kim Kaufman of Clark, South Dakota, and Kate Smith of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, were due to play the event. But sometime during the week of the event, Kaufman decided to be done for the Epson Tour season and focus on Stage II of LPGA Q-School in an effort to reclaim her card on the LPGA Tour. My next choice was to include former Wisconsin Badger Chris Meyer in the running, as long as he advanced to First Stage of PGA Tour Q-School (from prequalifying, of course). That didn't happen, although he still can look forward to Second Stage of Q-school in Europe for the DP World Tour. With only Smith making the event (though she made the cut as usual), it wasn't worth it to name an UMCOW.

Well, last week offered more options. For the first time since the FedEx Cup Regular Season ended in August, all of the big three Umcees were in the same PGA Tour event--namely, the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. Smith participated in the Epson Tour Championship, and Frankie Capan III contested the Korn Ferry Tour Championship for a shot at one of thirty cards on next year's PGA Tour. Let's break it down.

FCIII needed nothing short of a three-way share of bronze at the KFT Championship to get a PGA Tour card. Unfortunately, a ruinous 78 Thursday put him stumbling out of the gate, and he had no traction Friday either, settling for even par. His only quality round was a Saturday 66 (-6), and he gave half that progress back with a final-round +3/75 Sunday. Despite these struggles, which kept him from the top 40, Capan didn't slide any more than he had two weeks earlier at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. he gets direct entry into Final Stage of Q-school for a top-60 points list finish and, of course, full membership on the Korn Ferry Tour for next year just for making it to the event.

Remaining on the developmental-tour note, Smith fared far better in the Epson Tour Championship. While she was unable to grab the victory she would have needed to grab an LPGA Tour card in all likelihood, she finished par or better in all four rounds, breaking 70--nay, 69--in three of them. Smith's best round was arguably Thursday's bogey free -7/65. She had another flawless round Sunday, though she mustered only -4/68. Her paycheck of $5786 enabled her to finish #19 on the money list, not only ensuring her full membership on the Epson Tour for next year but granting her guaranteed access to the finals of LPGA Q-School, branded as Q-Series. Nor will she have to worry about using two sites over two weeks, as the LPGA reduced Q-Series to a single site of six rounds. The cut of 70 and ties after round four still applies, though.

This brings us to the big tour. As alluded above, Erik van Rooyen, Troy Merritt and Tom Hoge were all involved in the FedEx Cup Fall's second event. Hoge had the least to get out of the event, as his top-50 finish in the playoffs means he'll have access to all non-major events, including the Players Championship. Even so, he was under par all four rounds, as he cracked the top 25 at the event for the first time. He also moved up one spot to #49 in the OWGR. This will loom large for qualifying for the Masters, as one criterion is to finish the year in the top 50 of the world, according to the ranking.

Van Rooyen had much more to gain. Of the three Umcees in action in Jackson, he was the only one outside the top 125 eligibility threshold, so he needed a good showing to move in. Mission accomplished with three breaches of 70, although he struggled Sunday on an even-par showing. He now occupies the last spot for full membership on account of points and also moved back into the OWGR top 200, checking in at #198 this week. It's his third-highest ranking since midyear or so. However, the UMCOW honours belong most clearly to him who has helped take the FedEx Cup Fall by storm, especially from an Upper Midwestern perspective. And that guy is...

Troy Merritt.

Like Hoge, Merritt broke par all four rounds, and like van Rooyen, he broke 70 in three rounds. The guy was some front-nine trouble away from making the deciding playoff a six-man affair, as he finished just two strokes shy of the -18 he would have needed. Indeed, had he gone bogey-free and all else had remained equal, Merritt would have won his third PGA Tour title. As it is, he moved to #177 in the OWGR and #115 in the fall rankings, though he remains among the antepenultimate five survivors. (His last winner's exemption expired in August 2021.) Definitely one to look out for this fall.

Tomorrow as of this writing, the Shriners Children's Open tees off in Las Vegas, and First Stage of Q-School is underway as we speak. One Umcee, Tripp Kinney of Des Moines, Iowa, leads the site in Lincoln, Nebraska, on -12. If he holds on to win the medal, he'll get PGA Tour Americas membership for the first half of its inaugural 2024 season, held in Latin America.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 24 September 2023

 Last week's tour golf was, of course, the first to take place in astronomical fall in the Northern Hemisphere, at least in part. With the Solheim Cup taking up much of the attention of the golf world for that week and the Ryder Cup taking up seemingly all the rest, there were slim pickings for the tours the bigwigs of the United States and Europe left behind them. After the previous week had at least seen the Fortinet Championship on the PGA Tour and (especially) the BMW PGA Championship, flagship event on the DP World Tour--to say naught of the Simmons Bank Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, part of its Finals--this week's biggest affairs were merely the Cazoo Open de France at le Golf National, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018, and the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. The latter was played on the Scarlet Course near Ohio State University, the most masochistic track on the KFT, bar none. The winner, Norman Xiong, carded a mere -10 after going -4 Sunday to secure his PGA Tour card for next year.

The men's tours featured a grand total of one Umcee, and that was Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minnesota. FCIII came into the event having missed his last two cuts and three of six, all while failing to record a single top 45 finish. He put both droughts to bed with a -2 week, which sufficed to move him to #355 in the OWGR. Unfortunately, a first Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honour will continue to elude him, as he actually lost a spot in the points list, slipping to #50 because of strong showings by Xiong and three other players who passed Capan with top-four finishes. This ensures Capan will need at least a three-way T3 to secure his PGA Tour card or finish in the top five and ties at Final Stage of Q-school this December. He may even have to start a stage earlier if he does poorly enough at the KFT Championship in Newburgh, Indiana, next week. But just for making the final of the Finals, Capan won't have to worry about going to Q-school just to get his privileges for next year, nor about the reshuffle at any point in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Epson Tour carried on to El Dorado, Arkansas, at the Murphy USA Shootout. Kate Smith started out well, carding a -4 with 68 Friday. Unfortunately, she stumbled the last two days with delays galore and recorded back to back 75s, which incurred +3 for both rounds. Even so, she did just well enough to maintain a ranking of #20 on the money list, though as with Capan, her sex's Q-school finals--namely, LPGA Q-Series--is her most likely next stop after the Epson Tour Championship. She would need to gain at least $23 grand on Nataliya Guseva to secure her card via the tour money list. That leaves one Umcee to garner the weekly honour for the second time...

Kim Kaufman.

The South Dakota native rose from #71 to #67 on the money list as a result of her T13 at the event. She had a rocky middle portion, but a -3 Sunday made it all the more worthwhile and brings her closer to securing full membership on next year's Epson Tour. Remember, only the top eighty on the money list secure their cards for next year. One more made cut should get Kaufman over the top and into 2024 as a result of her efforts before she faces Second Stage of LPGA Q-School as a lesser finisher within the top 125 of the money list, most likely.

This week features slim pickings again. Smith and Kaufman are the only two Umcees participating in tour golf through Sunday, but look for things to pick up again next week with Troy Merritt and Erik van Rooyen resuming their quest to retain membership on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi; Capan at the KFT Championship; and, of course, the Epson Tour Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 17 September 2023

 After the closing three-week stretch on the PGA Tour Canada, both for its season and its existence, last week was a relatively quiet week for Umcees in tour golf. Only six competed during the week that I know of, but there were still plenty of storylines with the Korn Ferry Finals resuming for a fortnight, the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour (that circuit's flagship event, akin to the Players on the PGA Tour), the opening of the FedEx Cup Fall and the Epson Tour's Race for the Card all involving Umcees. Let's break it down and name an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week.

Firstly, there was the non-starter in Frankie Capan III. FCIII has yet to secure a single point in the KFT Finals, and he has slipped from the top thirty to just inside the top fifty on the points list, as what was for so long a promising Korn Ferry Tour season is crumbling. It seemed he might get paid last week at the Simmons Bank Open in College Grove, Tennessee, as he followed up an even-par opening round with a -2 Friday. Indeed, at the time he bore off the course, he was on track to make the cut of 65 and ties. Unfortunately, the field as a whole did so well, the cut tightened to -3, and Capan missed out by a single stroke. Even so, I expect him to make it this week at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, and get at least guaranteed entry into Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School.

My attention then shifted to the Epson Tour, as the Guardian Championship went down in Prattville, Alabama. Following a promising first round of -3/69, Kim Kaufman failed to break 70 either of the last two rounds and finished T50 with three others. More promising was Kate Smith. She has been something of a force to be reckoned with this season on the Epson Tour and, buoyed by successive -5 rounds, finished T11 with four others, moving from #22 to #20 on the money list. With three events left on the schedule, starting with this week's Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout in Arkansas, Smith should, as with Capan, have no trouble getting into her sex's Q-school finals, AKA Q-Series.

That leaves the main tours to consider. The PGA Tour, as mentioned above, opened its reimagined fall series in Napa Valley (as with the previous three falls) at the Fortinet Championship. Unlike previous seasons, which took on a "wraparound" character, fall events from this year will primarily be for lesser-performing golfers, including those who failed to advance to the BMW Championship in last month's FedEx Cup Playoffs. Players who did advance that far aren't allowed to collect points for various exemption perks since they have those in tow anyway (such as entry into all signature events other than majors). As for the DP World Tour, it held its aforementioned flagship event in England at the BMW PGA Championship (no relation to the FedEx Cup Playoff event). Having failed to qualify for the playoffs and needing a good fall showing as a result, Troy Merritt and Erik van Rooyen both played the Fortinet. Tom Hoge, who not only did qualify but reached the (FEC) BMW Championship, had the opportunity to play the (DPWT) BMW PGA Championship as part of a fortnightly British Isles swing.

Van Rooyen was first to show promise, going from -1 to -6 Friday and easily making the cut in Napa Valley. Unfortunately, he stumbled Saturday with a +1 73 and failed to break 70 the next day as well, reaching that number on the dot. Even so, it was a third straight made cut worldwide, and it was van Rooyen's first top-30 finish in a full field PGA Tour event since March's Valspar Championship, as he tied on the number. This shifted my money to Hoge, who tied for 14th in Surrey on the impetus of consecutive -4 rounds. Alas, Hoge slipped to 50th in the world rankings for his trouble. The problem is that the OWGR only counts a maximum of one's last 52 events, and his appearance at the DPWT flagship pushed his runner-up finish from last year's Amex on the PGA Tour off of consideration, costing him some valuable points. His next event will be the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas next month. Only one male Umcee moved up in the OWGR after involvement in an approved event last week...

Troy Merritt.

For the first time, the Devilish Rake comes full circle! Having missed thirteen successive cuts in the regular season after the Sony Open, the future for the blood-clot survivor on tour seemed bleak, but he has shown up often the last couple months. He seemed headed for yet another MC after a +2 Thursday, but he scrambled to a -5 Friday to make the cut by the narrowest of margins--one of only 67 players to do so (van Rooyen being another). He then doubled his distance under par Saturday before going wild at the last with a -7 in 65 strokes. Not only did he return to the top 200 of the OWGR, but more importantly, he jumped from #133 to #118 in the FedEx Cup standings, putting him on track to survive to another season on the PGA Tour. At this rate, he might just crack a signature event or two!

This week will be barely audible in tour golf. FCIII is the only male golfer in tour golf this week or next, as the game revolves around the Solheim Cup (women) this week and Ryder Cup (men) next week, both of which pit Americans against Europeans. Expect more noise to kick off October, when the PGA Tour has its Sanderson Farms Championship and both the Korn Ferry and Epson tours have their finales. In the meantime, though, don't hesitate to stay tuned for Q-school news, as PGA Tour prequalifying began last week and continues through next week's Texas site, while the DPWT Q-School runs its first stage through early October. Already one Umcee, Kaylor Steger of Wisconsin, has progressed to Second Stage in Europe.

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 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 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