Memorial Tournament et al. Recap and Weekly Preview

Last week saw some Umcee noise...but not from the places you'd expect.

At the Memorial Tournament in the Columbus, Ohio suburb of Dublin, Scottie Scheffler won his fifth event in eight starts. Much of the drama, then, centred around how he held on to win, rather than that he won again, in that he was forced to par the last hole to prevent a playoff against Collin Morikawa. As is recent tradition, the Memorial is also an Open Qualifying Series event, awarding exempt places in the Open Championship every year. Or, this year, a place since, due to the reworking of the tournament as a signature event (in part against Jack Nicklaus' wishes, as Muirfield Village is AKA Jack's Place) there were just 73 entrants.

(USA Today/PGA Tour)

Only one of the limited field's threescore and a baker's dozen was an Umcee. Tom Hoge, who qualified for every signature event this year by virtue of reaching last year's BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, started out brightly, but he collapsed during the weekend, struggling to avoid needing 300 strokes on the par-72 course (+10/298) over four days. He finished T45, but he at least cracked the top sixty--hell, the top forty-five--for the first time at Jack's Place, albeit against a reduced field.

And with Hoge's endeavours, the Memorial had an Umcee make the cut. The same can't be said of the Korn Ferry Tour's BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina. Given the format, scoring was bound to be low, and this reflected in a cutline of -5/138 after two days on two courses--one par-72, the other par-71. It was an eminently forgettable week for both Umcees involved, to say the least. With Frankie Capan III taking the week off to prep for the U.S. Open, AKA the masochist's major, a wipeout might have been expected. Sure enough, Van Holmgren missed the cut by five strokes (even par), but Andre Metzger, who is prominent on the Dakotas Tour, was far worse. He went +9/152 in his two rounds! That does NOT cut it at a pro-am tournament, regardless of the level of competition!!!

Add to this O.J. Farrell (former Wisconsin Badger) MCing on the Clutch Pro Tour in England and heading into Saturday, it didn't look good for any big time moving up by Umcees anywhere in the world. That changed when Kim Kaufman started to kick ass at the Firecrackers Casino-Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, AKA the home of Kellogg's cereals, on the Epson Tour. Kaufman was a modest even-par 72 heading to Saturday, which wasn't going to move her up in the Race for the Card, period. But then she went under par in the difficult conditions and was T15 heading to the final round Sunday. She then matched her -1/71 from the day before and moved up to T8 at the last for a check of $4379. Moreover, the R4C points she earned moved her to fifth on the list. It increasingly looks like a return to the LPGA Tour in 2025 awaits Kaufman.

This week, of course, is dominated by the U.S. Open. In addition to Hoge, who qualified by a top-60 placement in the world rankings after the PGA Championship last month, former Minnesota Gopher Erik van Rooyen was automatically exempt as one of the top five "leftovers," according to the FedEx Cup. Furthermore, three other Umcees qualified for the event on their own. As mentioned in the post I linked, Capan qualified as the Durham, North Carolina medallist, while Carson Schaake earned his way via Springfield, Ohio. Finally, Gunnar Broin, who will be a grad student at Kansas in the fall, held on to a place via a 4-for-3 playoff. Though as it turns out, he would've been granted a place if he'd been the odd one out, as this week's OWGR top sixty added just two--Bob MacIntyre of Scotland, who won the Canadian Open earlier this month, and Australia's Adam Scott, whose 92nd successive major appearance should come with an apology to the loved ones of Grayson Murray. This left four places for alternates, and the Columbus first alternate got in. There are currently twenty alternates on the USGA's master list, eight of whom are first alternates. The remaining twelve, of course, are all the second alternates except for Springfield, Ohio. That's because Maxwell Moldovan moved into first alternate after Scott's exemption, allowing him relative dibs.

Among other events, the Wichita Open once more sees Metzger take on a field of 156, and Iowa native Charles Jahn will be there, too. However, Holmgren will sit this one out. The Epson Tour also rolls on into Columbus, Indiana, home of the Otter Creek Championship. Kaufman and Kate Smith-Stroh, who missed last week's cut by two strokes, will tee it up as of Monday night, while Emily Lauterbach, coming off a failed attempt to qualify for a second LPGA Tour start this year, is fourth alternate. Over in England, Farrell will try to pick up the pieces from another missed cut at the Manor House on the Clutch Tour.

Lastly, the final Q-school session for the PGA Tour Americas' North American segment tees off tomorrow. Former Gopher Angus Flanagan will try to get back his status on the pyramid, and he'll be joined by Ben Sigel, the Minnetonka High School alumnus who preceded Broin at KU. The top nine finishers (no ties, which must be broken by playoffs if needed) will be exempt, and the rest of the top 25 and ties will be conditionally exempt in a rotation among the six sites and the finishers on the Latin American segment outside the top sixty.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 26 May 2024

 Although all five Umcees made the cut at their respective events, three--Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Van Holmgren at the KFT Visit Knoxville Open--may be safely removed from the board as a result of their poor performances after making the weekend. That left two of them for this week's poll.

For the second straight week, the televote was overridden by the expert jury. I received two votes, and both went to Tom Hoge, who won the honours last week after a good performance at the PGA Championship. However, I don't see how a tie for 17th, as much as that matches his personal best at the Schwab Challenge, lifts Hoge to Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. Not when the Visit Knoxville Open went to a sudden-death, two-hole playoff involving...

(PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Tour)

Frankie Capan III.

Heading into Sunday's final round, FCIII had a one-stroke lead. The North Oaks, Minnesota product has never won an OWGR-sanctioned event but already had matched his top-ten finish total coming into the week with three on the season. Capan, though, was charged down by Harry Higgs, who is a former PGA Tour member seeking to get back his card. Higgs came to the final hole leading by one himself until FCIII birdied the last and Higgs settled for par, triggering a playoff.

Normally a birdie-birdie playoff showing would hand a given player the win, but on the second hole of the playoff--both holes were replays of No 18--Higgs drilled a 37-foot eagle putt for the win and Capan missed his from a third of the distance by seventeen inches. Even so, FCIII got to reap great rewards in his own right with 300 KFT points, lifting him to within some reach of the PGA Tour at #7 on the points list, as he is closing in on 700 total. (Higgs, along with Swedish hotshot Tim Widing, already is thought to have enough points to graduate back to the big Tour with over 1100 so far.) Furthermore, Capan jumped to #172 in the OWGR.

This week's action revolves around two foci. On the men's side, the big event is the RBC Canadian Open. Hoge won't be playing the event, but the other two Umcees from last week's Schwab Challenge will be joined by the well-rested Erik van Rooyen, who tied for 20th at the exact same course in Hamilton, Ontario five years ago. Of course, the place has since undergone a renovation, so course history may not be that relevant for handicapping. There are multiple extra incentives for success. Firstly, the Presidents Cup is being held at Royal Montreal this fall; and as an International Team-eligible player, van Rooyen will want to impress Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champ who hails from Canada and is captaining the team, this week. Secondly, the Canadian Open is an Open Qualifying Series event, which means that a certain number of top finishers who aren't otherwise exempt get into next month's 152nd Open at Royal Troon in Scotland. In this case, three spots are available; and unlike previous OQS stops, this and subsequent such events fall after the deadline for Open entries (30 May this year), so the bids are nontransferable. 

Meanwhile, the Korn Ferry Tour features three more Umcees, as Capan and Holmgren are joined for once by conditional member Andre Metzger. Metzger is legendary on the Dakotas Tour, which is one of my favourite minitours in golf. Not only does it conduct events in the Upper Midwest (except Wisconsin), but it partners with locals to quarter cash-strapped players and distributes prize money with great efficiency. Anyway, Metzger makes some residence in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, especially during the Dakotas Tour season.

As for women's golf, the U.S. Women's Open goes down at Lancaster Country Club in the Pennsylvania Deutsch Country (and yes, the Amish historically spoke German, not Dutch--hence the spelling). Earlier in the spring, Kim Kaufman of Clark, South Dakota won an open qualifier to make this women's major, giving her a playing opportunity while the Epson Tour is on another hiatus. At some point during the tournament or afterward, I might also comment on Lexi Thompson's retirement, which she announced at the event this week.

Facere pro Qui Non Possunt.

Edward the Scop

Post 100: Charles Schwab Challenge and Other Events Recap

 Lost amid the tragic backdrop at Colonial National was the actual playing of golf. But at the Devilish Rake, the show must go on, and this past week's events followed that rule, at times magnificently. I mentioned in the above-linked post that most felt it's what Grayson Murray would have wanted.

Anyway, just like last week's PGA Championship, this week's Charles Schwab Challenge featured three Umcees. While Erik van Rooyen sat out an event at which he's never done well (0-for-3 in cuts made), Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson came back to action after missing out on the season's second major. All three made the cut, but Merritt and Johnson both finished +2/282 for the week. Johnson had an especially ugly final round, carding +3/73 to lose four places in the FedEx Cup. He is teetering closer to the threshold for so much as conditional status retention, as it's clear his day has come and gone. Merritt is in a somewhat more favourable position, but he is also on track to fall to the conditional category, slipping a place in the list.

Tom Hoge, though, saved his best for last. After struggling in the odd rounds (with a -1/69 in between Friday), he showed up to finish under par (-2/278 overall, -3/67 Sunday). Hoge only suffered one bogey Sunday, and his efforts propelled him to #20 in the FedEx Cup and #59 in the OWGR. While the latter wasn't good enough to make it to the Open Championship yet, there is still time for him to secure his place at Royal Troon this July.

While the Schwab Challenge was won comfortably by Davis Riley, who polished off Scottie Scheffler and Keegan Bradley by five shots each (-14/266), there was considerable drama on the Korn Ferry Tour at the Visit Knoxville Open. Last week's people's choice as Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, Van Holmgren, made the cut for the second straight week but stumbled with a +3/73 final round, tying him for dead last among the 75 who made the cut in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the other extreme was Frankie Capan III. After a phenomenal -8/62 third round Saturday, FCIII matched veteran Harry Higgs' -19/261 regulation finish with a birdie at the last, followed by two more at No 18 in the playoff. Which would have won Capan his first KFT title...except Higgs sank a 37-foot eagle putt on the last playing of the hole to win by one. Even so, Capan is up to seventh on the KFT points list and is arithmetically on track to be PGA Tour-bound by the time the KFT finals roll around in the fall. He also has a personal-best four top-ten finishes on tour, and even in playoff defeat, this is his best KFT finish ever.

I will ask it again: Whom do you think was the best Upper Midwest connection of the past week in tour golf? I pose this question again to both this blog and YouTube, so answer away!

Edward the Scop

Facere pro Qui Non Possunt

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 19 May 2024

 Having started a YouTube channel affiliated with this blog, I recently got clearance to add community posts, including polls. To that end, I decided to run a viewer/reader poll on people's opinion of who should be crowned Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. Although the poll is still running, I decided to cut off consideration for the "people's choice" alongside my own opinion.

Since YouTube limits polls to five choices but more than four Umcees made the cut at their respective tournaments (at least seven did), I took a representative sample of Umcees, basing my selections on the principle of one per event. In the end, Tom Hoge at the PGA Championship, Van Holmgren at the Korn Ferry Tour's AdventHealth Championship, Kim Kaufman at the Epson Tour's Copper Rock Championship and Thomas Longbella at the PGA Tour Americas' Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship made the poll. By popular vote (if one vote counts as such, since that's how many I got), Van Holmgren was people's choice for the week. To his credit, unlike the other three finalists, Holmgren lacks full membership on the tour he primarily plays on these days but made the cut and finished in the top twenty and ties. This sufficed to get him into this week's Visit Knoxville Open in Tennessee, which is the third event in this reshuffle period. After next week's UNC Health Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, the reshuffle falls again, and players will be ordered for priority reasons according to their points-list position. Holmgren is in a very good position to get more starts on the Korn Ferry Tour this year.

However, this is a time when expert or semi-expert opinions trump those of the crowd. See, I don't even consider Holmgren's performance the second-best of the week in tour golf. Two golfers from the Dakotas top my list. Kaufman had the better rank and moved up in the Epson Tour's Race for the Card with her simple T10, but given that she played just three rounds (the length of most Epson Tour events), she just loses out to...

Tom Hoge finished T23 at Valhalla (Fargo Forum).

Tom Hoge.

Hoge has made the cut at every PGA Championship since Harding Park 2020, and this year fit the bill as well. His finish of three-way T23 at Valhalla Golf Club was his second-best major finish ever only to a T9 at Southern Hills in 2022, also at the PGA Championship. He moved up to #21 in the FedEx Cup, and his OWGR remained at the minimum #60 to enter the U.S. Open, no qualifiers needed.

Speaking of U.S. Open qualifiers, another Umcee, Erik van Rooyen, secured his exemption straight to the event at Pinehurst as the fifth-leading FedEx Cup placement among those not yet exempt by any other category, including world rankings, after the PGA Championship. His T53 at Valhalla got him 10 FedEx Cup points, which enabled him to edge out Patrick Rodgers by about six points for the final spot for now.

Anyway, this week's action revolves mostly around the PGA and Korn Ferry tours. The Inter Rapidisimo wrapped up the Latin American Swing on the PGA Tour Americas, and a series of Q-school events follow to help fill fields for the North American (mostly Canadian with one U.S. event) Swing. As for the Epson Tour, it has the rest of the month off, both for Memorial Day and the week of the U.S. Women's Open, two weeks before the men's version (Kaufman did qualify for the former). Three Umcees--Hoge will be joined by Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson, both of whom are struggling to keep PGA Tour membership--will contest the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial National in Fort Worth, Texas. The aforementioned Visit Knoxville Open involves two more, as Holmgren is joined by Frankie Capan III, who missed the cut last week but remains in the top 30 of the KFT points list. The only other Umcee of note is O.J. Farrell, former Wisconsin Badger, who is on the Clutch Pro Tour in his native England. Farrell competed in European Q-school last winter but missed the 72-hole (out of 108 holes) cut, losing access to DP World Tour events and having few opportunities to play the Challenge Tour.

Edward the Scop

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

All-Umcee Team for 2024 Q1

With one-quarter of 2024 in the books, I thought I would release an All-Umcee Team based on the first three months of the year. Unlike the year-end All-Umcee team, there won't be a second team. The same goes for the midyear team, which will be released around the anniversary of the blog (early July), though that will feature honourable mentions. Furthermore, those named to the quarterly All-Umcee teams will be given with shortened criteria as to why they were named. With that said, here is my All-Umcee Team for the first quarter of 2024:

• Erik van Rooyen. Heading into this week's Texas Open, van Rooyen had missed the cut just twice in three months. He earned three Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honours for his efforts this quarter at the Sentry, the Mexico Open and (especially) the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches (all PGA Tour). He was also Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for January.
• Tom Hoge. The Upper Midwest Connection of Q1 for 2024 and also of the Month for February, Hoge got his first UMCOW honour at the American Express, then followed it up with back-to-back plaudits at Pebble Beach and the Phoenix Open. As if that weren't enough, Hoge also did well at the first two signature events of the year with a cut, although the week of the Genesis featured too few Umcees to warrant an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, while maintaining strong iron play.
• Kim Kaufman. The only female golfer on this All-Umcee Team and Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for March after two top-ten finishes on the Epson Tour (the women's Korn Ferry Tour). On both occasions, she was Upper Midwest Connection of the Week. So far in 2024, she is off to a much better start than a year ago as she strives to make it back to the LPGA Tour for 2025.

Tom Hoge is my Upper Midwest Connection of Q1 for 2024. (AP)

• Derek Hitchner. The Minneapolis Blake School alumnus and former Pepperdine Wave has moonlighted on the Korn Ferry Tour, but it's on the third-tier PGA Tour Americas that he has made his biggest impact. The final Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for Q1 of 2024, who earned his plaudits by way of the Totalplay Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico, is off to an 11th-place start in the Fortinet Cup standings--the tour's points-based order of merit.
• Thomas Longbella. Between the former Minnesota Gopher from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minnesota, who competes on the Korn Ferry Tour, it was a pretty tough decision as to whom to include and whom to leave out. In the end, FCIII's three MCs in four mainland Latin American starts were too much to overcome. Meanwhile, Longbella has quietly built a 17th-place start in the Fortinet Cup. While his performance at the aforementioned Totalplay Championship was overshadowed among Umcees by Hitchner's showing, it's expected that if Longbella keeps it up, he'll get to skip the first stage at Q-school this fall.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 31 March 2024

Last week in tour golf treated Umcees much better than the week before or the week before that. Though only seven Umcees were part of eligible fields, four made the cut and did so to the tune of top-20 finishes across the board. Two of these, in turn, recorded top 10s and moved into the top 1000 of the OWGR. In fact, we were close to having as many as SIX Umcees make the weekend, as Wisconsinites George Kneiser (Oconomowoc) and Emily Lauterbach (Hartland) MC by just one stroke each at the Totalplay Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico on the PGA Tour Americas and the Ford Championship near Phoenix on the LPGA Tour, respectively. Another Wisconsinite was also among the unlucky at the PGA Tour Americas event, as Harrison Ott of Brookfield missed out due to a ruinous Friday +5/76.

Of those who made the cut, Tom Hoge was the only one playing the PGA Tour's Houston Open. Playing in the same state (Texas) where he went to college (TCU), Hoge opened his week with a poor +1/71 Thursday. It was his third straight over-par round, dating to the Players two weeks before. But then Hoge put together his best round of the week, carding a -4/66 to make the cut with ease. Though to be fair, an even-par round would have sufficed to get him to the weekend. He then broke 70 again the next two days with rounds of 68 and 67. When the dust settled, Hoge had finished T14, inching up to #13 in the FedEx Cup. Unfortunately, the good showing wasn't good enough to make this week's OWGR top fifty; and since he isn't playing this week, his chances of a third straight Masters appearance are dead. Try again next year, I guess.

As for the Totalplay Championship, Matthew Walker of Ottumwa, Iowa was the least satisfactory, but he still mustered a T17 and moved up to #35 in the Fortinet Cup standings. A +1/72 Friday definitely kept him from doing even better. That leaves the two top ten finishers. Thomas Longbella had an improved finish, going under par all four days (even Thursday, when he was merely -1/70). But he only climbed to #17 in the Fortinet Cup. That means the final Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for March 2024 is...

(Golf Channel)

Derek Hitchner.

The Minneapolis Blake School product and Pepperdine alumnus has yet to win a PGA Tour pyramid event but had one of the best finishes of his short pro career so far, tying for third despite a rough final round of E/71. Indeed, had he even parred No 8 Sunday, he would have had his outright best finish ever as a professional. Of course, it is unlikely he would have beaten Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, who has established himself as the King of Atlas Country Club this decade, dating back to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica 2022 season. Even so, Hitchner's finish enabled him to soar to 11th in the Fortinet Cup standings (up from T59 coming in) and jump to #910 in the OWGR. It's too bad he won't have another chance for a couple weeks, as the circuit doesn't reconvene until the Brazilian Open the week after the Masters.

This week is a bit quieter, at least as far as the developmental tours are concerned. However, the PGA Tour will have three Umcees competing in the same event--the most since the Players three weeks ago--at the Texas Open. Though Hoge has eschewed his last opportunity for this year's Masters Tournament, Erik van Rooyen returns after a fortnightly hiatus, while Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson (both of whom took last week off) return to competing as well. In fact, Johnson is a past champ in San Antonio, having won in consecutive years (2008-09).

As for the developmental side of things, the Korn Ferry Tour finally awakens from its post-Latin American hiatus with the Club Car Championship. Only Frankie Capan III made the field, as Van Holmgren still hasn't benefited from the reshuffle that will follow the LECOM Suncoast Classic two weeks out.

Edward the Scop

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

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 3 (actually 4) March 2024

 It was a busy week not only for Umcees in tour golf, but also for sports in general. The NFL Scouting Combine again took up residence at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, and two Minnesota Gophers--safety Tyler Nubin and tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford--were among the participants. Even though he didn't do much in the way of workouts after his Senior Bowl injury, I expect Nubin to be a second-round selection, perhaps the first safety off the board who isn't primarily a cornerback. If that's not a teaser for next month's Draft Day Party Hangover blog, I don't know what is.

But back to golf. This past batch of events involved seven Umcees playing two events on the PGA Tour pyramid, as the Korn Ferry Tour commenced a brief resumption of activity with the Argentine Open. The winner, Mason Andersen, got a trip to play the Open Championship at Royal Troon this July. Meanwhile, back in the States, the event formerly known as the Honda Classic and now as the Cognizant Classic again took over PGA National. Compared with recent years, the course was relatively easygoing, even with the Bear Trap of holes 15-17. With these two events in mind, how did the seven Umcees fare?

Three of them played in Argentina. It's well-known that the election of Javier Milei as president of Argentina has anticipated austerity measures, which have sparked protests throughout the country. Incidentally, this led the PGA Tour Americas to cancel the Termas de Rio Hondo Invitational and replace it with an event at Atlas Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico. It also gave reason for pause to many KFT players, who may have been uncertain about their safety and ability to get accommodations they could afford. Two Umcees, Dakotas Tour legend Andre Metzger and former Iowa Hawkeye Alex Schaake, may have pulled out over these concerns despite being invited. They have both joined Frankie Capan III, Van Holmgren and Thomas Longbella--all of whom did participate in the Argentine Open--in Chile this week for the Astara Classic.

Of the actual participants, two--FCIII and Longbella--missed the cut, but Holmgren excelled. He was -16/194 with one round to play and leading, but then disaster struck with two bogeys in his first three holes Sunday. Perhaps the pressure got to him, and he couldn't get back to par for the day. Still, he tied for fifth, which was an excellent showing for a second cap on the Korn Ferry Tour, and he should get more starts going forward.

As for the Cognizant Classic, all four Umcees--reigning UMCOW Erik van Rooyen, reigning Upper Midwest Connection of the Month Tom Hoge, Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson--made the weekend. Merritt, as usual, barely registered, finishing T47. At least he cracked the top fifty. Tom Hoge also missed the top 25, albeit by just one stroke (-9/275). Zach Johnson reached the top 25 but failed to convert the tricky closing par-5 for a par breaker, settling for T21. It's clear who was the top Umcee last week...

Erik van Rooyen.

Heading into Sunday, it didn't seem like anybody other than Holmgren would win Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honours. But van Rooyen rattled off six straight birdies to open his final round, along with two more in the next five holes and no bogeys and taking a one-shot lead. That's when Mother Nature decided to intervene, leading to a rain delay of three and a half hours. Van Rooyen did finish his round where he had resumed it--on -8/63 for the day and -14/270 for the tournament. Meanwhile, as mentioned before, Holmgren lost his mojo in Argentina. In the end, PGA Tour sophomore Austin Eckroat prevailed by three strokes, but van Rooyen finished jointly second with Aussie phenom Min Woo Lee (Minjee's little brother). For EVR, the implications were massive, as he jumped to #59 in the OWGR and #19 in the FedEx Cup. He's also #15 in the Presidents Cup standings for the International Team and is the top-rated South African in the OWGR, meaning he's on track for the Paris Olympics after narrowly missing out on Tokyo three years ago.

This week features TEN Umcees! In addition to van Rooyen, Hoge and Merritt, the number of KFT Umcees, as mentioned above, grows to five in Chile. Lastly, the Epson Tour--the women's Korn Ferry Tour equivalent--tees off Friday at the Florida's Natural Charity Classic, and two more Umcees--Kate Smith-Stroh (yes, she got married in the offseason) and Kim Kaufman will figure there.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for February 2024

 Before I get to my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week post for the batch of events that concluded Monday with the rain-interrupted Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, an Upper Midwest Connection of the Month must be recognized.

Whereas consistency won the day for Erik van Rooyen as to January's plaudits, February focused on high finishes. Van Rooyen, though, was dinged for missing the cut at the Phoenix Open. This opened the door for Tom Hoge, who had finished in the top ten at the weather-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am, to seize an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week repeat. Furthermore, although it didn't count towards an UMCOW honour for lack of Umcee competition, Hoge added a second top ten at the Genesis Invitational before taking the Mexico Open off ahead of the Florida Swing.

EVR did finish in the top ten in Mexico, starting with an -8/63 before fading down the stretch. That earned him the weekly honours for the previous batch of events.

But of the seven Umcees playing last week, was Erik able to repeat as Upper Midwest Connection of the Week? Read on.

Note for the Upcoming Week's Action (20-25 February 2024)

 Preface: Because only one Umcee, Tom Hoge, competed last week (at the Genesis Invitational), I opted to not award an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honour for the week. Hence, the present post concerns the upcoming week's action, rather than the one before.

Last week's Genesis Invitational was thrilling with Hideki Matsuyama's comeback from six strokes adrift of Patrick Cantlay, at least for those fans who follow the sport enough. But as is well known, the week was marred by Tiger Woods' illness and Jordan Spieth's disqualification for an incorrect scorecard. The good news from an Upper Midwestern perspective is that the one Umcee to make the field--Tom Hoge--not only made the cut but finished solo eighth. The finish lifted him six places to #15 in the FedEx Cup but was only good enough to bump him up one spot (#56 to #55) in the OWGR. Funny how those things work out, I guess.

This week, the West Coast Swing is over after five weeks. It featured five longshot winners, including Matsuyama, who hadn't won since the 2022 Sony Open; two head-to-head situations with LIV Golf; and the last three such events being afflicted by an act of God (Pebble Beach), acts of man (Genesis) and acts of both God and man (Phoenix Open). In its place is a low-key third successive trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for that country's national open. First played in 1944, it became a PGA Tour event in 2022 and was won by then-U.S. Open holder Jon Rahm. Last year, it was won by Tony Finau, who returns to defend his title.

The 132 players in Mexico this week do not include Hoge, who (I assume) is prepping for the next signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational next month, held the week before the Players. However, there are three other Umcees involved in the proceedings. Erik van Rooyen and Troy Merritt both return from a week's absence from competition, simply because neither of them qualified for the Genesis. Both are coming off missed cuts in Phoenix, but van Rooyen won last November just across the Sea of Cortez at El Cardonal in Cabo San Lucas, taking the World Wide Technology Championship on behalf of his dying homie and Minnesota Gophers teammate Jon Trasamar. Last year, van Rooyen was attacked by a swarm of bees during the first round of his appearance at this event:

Like van Rooyen, Troy Merritt heads into the Mexico Open off a missed cut at TPC Scottsdale. Unlike EVR, Merritt has had little luck since the Sony Open (deja vu from 2023, anyone?) and may struggle here as well. Lastly, the open qualifier for the Mexico Open was held last week. Four players, including Minnetonka (MN) High School alumnus Ben Sigel, were involved in a playoff for the last three open spots, and Sigel avoided being the odd one out. However he fares, I expect he'll take some positive points away from the experience of playing with the big boys.

There is the possibility of a fourth Umcee in the cards for this week on the other side of the pond. O.J. Farrell is from England but went to the University of Wisconsin, and he is currently 12th alternate for the Challenge Tour's Nelson Mandela Bay Championship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour). This reflects making DP World Tour Q-School finals but failing to make the cut once there. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Anyway, that's all for this week until Sunday, when I plan to release my fifth-round picks for the FA Cup. The next Upper Midwest Connection of the Week will be named within the following few days.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 11 February 2023

 Another week, another longshot winner on the PGA Tour, as Nick Taylor beat fellow-underdog Charley Hoffman in two playoff holes with five daylight minutes to go in the Phoenix Open, thereby avoiding a Monday finish. It's Taylor's second extra-holes win in less than eight months, having defeated Tommy Fleetwood in four holes to please a home-soil Canadian crowd at the Canadian Open. But Hoffman can't be too grumpy with his finish, as it garnered him enough FedEx Cup points to secure a trip to this week's Genesis Invitational, reduced to seventy or so players from the 120 of recent years as a signature event via the "Swing Five."

That's not what this article is about, of course. It's about the six Umcees who played last week on tour, all on circuits that are part of the PGA Tour pyramid. Four of them--Tom Hoge, Erik van Rooyen, Troy Merritt and Zach Johnson--played the Phoenix Open. The other two--Frankie Capan III and Van Holmgren--both played the Korn Ferry Tour's Astara Bogota Championship. Incidentally, Holmgren was making his KFT debut, having earned conditional status via Q-school last December. So, how did each of these guys do?

Unfortunately for the newbie, it didn't go according to plan. Holmgren missed the Astara cut by six strokes (E). However, FCIII made it with three to spare and eventually tied for 20th (-14). Meanwhile, the Phoenix Open saw a seeming bazillion acts of God that followed from the previous week's Pebble Beach debacle, which meant that van Rooyen saw the weekend, only to miss out on the cut by one stroke (-1/141 after two rounds). Merritt was even worse, and Johnson wasn't much better, though he did pick up a few valuable FedEx Cup points. I was tempted to anoint FCIII the Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, and I might have done so but for our returning UMCOW...

Tom Hoge.

For the first time this year, we have a repeat honoree! Hoge figures to have nailed down Upper Midwest Connection of the Month honours for February, as he again cracked the top 20 in the desert. His final score of -10/274 was good for T17 and lifted him to #56 in the OWGR and #21 in the FedEx Cup. Remember, one of the last categories to be invoked for the Masters Tournament before the "tradition unlike any other" goes down anew is top 50 in the world rankings (such as they are) after the penultimate event preceding the first major of the year. With the tragic passing of the WGC Match Play after last year, this year's checkpoint is the Houston Open.

This week, there won't be an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, unless Hoge wins the Genesis Invitational. That's because he's the only Umcee in the field for this signature event, and the Korn Ferry Tour is on a fortnightly hiatus between the Astara of Colombia and the Argentine Open. The winner of the Genesis Collegiate Showcase isn't an Umcee, and that event's exemption now doesn't take effect until July's Scottish Open due to this week's signature status.

However, it may be noted in passing that the Mexico Open qualifier took place the other day. As with all open qualifiers for PGA Tour and KFT events held outside the United States, it was held a week early to allow for travel planning in Richmond, Texas. When the dust settled on regulation, five players were among the top four and ties, including Minnetonka (Minnesota) High School alumnus Ben Sigel. However, only Preston Stanley of Katy, Texas made it outright, leaving the other four to contest an odd-man-out playoff. Fortunately, Sigel made it, so expect multiple Umcees to participate in next week's Mexico Open, allowing for honours after the event (provided at least one such player makes the cut, of course).

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 7 February 2024

 Good riddance to multi-course setups! After three straight weeks of only partial shot-level data, we now hit a stretch of PGA Tour full-field events through the Texas Open at the start of April where we can fully grasp how players are doing. (And yes, this includes the Mexican Open. It's one of the few non-U.S. events that has strokes-gained data, along with the Canadian and Scottish Opens.)

But the multiple courses at Pebble Beach comprised only one reason we got only two rounds of advanced stats for the second time in three weeks. The other reason we were so limited, of course, was Mother Nature. Despite being a signature event, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was cut to 54 holes (three rounds, two on Pebble Beach Links) with an atmospheric river coming in this past Sunday and scuttling play. It didn't even permit a Monday finish, so great was the damage to the links that Wyndham Clark, who had taken the 54-hole lead, was awarded his third win in less than a year. I bet Thomas Detry of Belgium is FUMING right now.

This is why the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was cut short (LA Times).

This seemed a brilliant situation for LIV Golf down in Mayakoba, which itself hosted the World Wide Technology Championship for many years...on the PGA Tour. You know, the event that former Minnesota Gopher Erik van Rooyen won last fall, albeit in Cabo rather than Yucatan. Won by Joaquin Niemann, who led the expansion Legion XIII to victory alongside Jon "Benedict Arnold" Rahm and two others, the LIV opener enjoyed good ratings, but these were still far below the Pebble Beach ratings, even with LIV having Sunday to itself.

So, with all that out of the way, how did the Umcee contingent do across the board? For the most part, I'd say that, considering there were only three Umcees in action last week, it was a good if not great showing. Granted, Frankie Capan III missed his first cut of the Korn Ferry Tour season, dropping to #51 on the points list. But the two Umcees involved at Pebble Beach both finished top-20 (and ties). Van Rooyen finally mustered his first such finish since his WWT win last November anywhere in the world and climbed to #79 in the OWGR. That said, this week's honours go to none other than Tom Hoge, who becomes the first two-time laureate in 2024. Having won on the Monterey Peninsula for what remains his sole triumph on the PGA Tour in 2022, Hoge slogged through a -1/71 at Spyglass Hill (the other course used in the event) before turning on the jets with back-to-back -6/66's on the main links. As usual, his strengths lay in his irons and putter, ranking sixth in strokes gained with the former and eighth with the latter, averaging over 1.5 SG with each category per Pebble Beach Links round.

This week, Troy Merritt will once again seek to reestablish momentum post-Hawai'i, as he hasn't made a cut since the Sony Open. He joins the two Umcees who were at Pebble Beach at TPC Scottsdale near Phoenix for the Super Bowl week tradition that is the Phoenix Open. Additionally, FCIII will look to get back on track in the Andes at the Astara Bogota Championship, and he'll be joined by a fifth Umcee in Van Holmgren. Holmgren was the truest Umcee beneficiary of last year's Q-school, earning a PGA Tour Americas card, but he won't get to use it until next month when the season begins. That he was able to get in, let alone without a sponsor's exemption, speaks to how far he's come.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for January 2024

 The debate over who was the top Upper Midwest connection in January 2024, for me, revolves around one factor above all: consistency. There were four leading contenders for the Upper Midwest Connection of the Month honour, but one is not like the others.

Frankie Capan III made some waves in the Bahamas and passed his cut-making test in both cases, but he failed in Panama last week. Troy Merritt was Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for his Sony Open in Hawai'i efforts, but he hasn't had a payday since. Tom Hoge was more compelling, posting a quality showing at the Amex, but he didn't show up at his other two cut-making events--the Sentry, where a payday is guaranteed to all who finish 72 holes, and the Farmers Insurance Open--and he embarrassingly missed the cut at Waialae. This left one clear-cut winner for the first Upper Midwest Connection of the Month for 2024:

Erik van Rooyen.

The former Minnesota Gopher made all but one cut, and the one he didn't make--the Farmers Insurance Open--was the event he skipped in January, as he had enough points from the FedEx Cup Fall to make it to Pebble Beach last week. Furthermore, van Rooyen has finished inside the top 25 in all but one of his starts, including Pebble Beach (which was not factored in for these purposes, as it took place in February). Currently, EVR sits #79 in the world rankings and #34 in the FedEx Cup after last week. Was it enough to get him Upper Midwest Connection of the Week in addition? Stay tuned.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 28 January 2024

Last fall, when I was reporting on various Q-schools, there was one glaring omission I made concerning Umcees involved. You see, former University of Minnesota star Angus Flanagan, whom I had named to my All-Umcee Second Team for registering greater consistency in tour golf in 2023, had struggled at DP World Tour Q-School, missing out on Second Stage, and had also missed Final Stage at PGA Tour Q-School. Unbeknownst to me, though, he had entered Asian Tour Q-School and made it to Final Stage, finishing 40th. While only 35 get Asian Tour cards, Flanagan should have general access to the Asian Developmental Tour and might even sneak into an Asian Tour event or two. I will say I hope he avoids the LIV temptation if he becomes big enough, though if he falls for it, it won't deter me from giving him Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, etc. or All-Umcee consideration.

But back to last week. My last name, Genereux, is of French origin, reflecting much of the heritage on my late dad's side. (He died in 2015.) As such, I was right delighted to see Matthieu Pavon of Toulouse, France win the Farmers Insurance Open, becoming the first-ever Frenchman to win a true PGA Tour event. The way I will always describe his win, Pavon had already beaten one Hojgaard twin in Rasmus, denying him the right to play at the Farmers (or most PGA Tour events, for that matter) with a late surge at the DP World Tour Championship last November in Dubai. Now, with a nearly eight-foot winner for birdie at Torrey Pines South Course #18, he has defeated Rasmus' brother Nicolai without needing a playoff. Still, it was a pretty good week for Danes, with Rasmus finishing second only to the Hojgaards' countryman Thorbjorn Olesen at the Ras Al-Khaimah Championship in the United Arab Emirates on the DP World Tour.

European euphoria--Europhoria?--is refreshing to see in an increasingly U.S.-centred traditional ecosystem being challenged by the Saudis. And I say that as an American, lest xenophobic thoughts give me a bad reputation against the arguments that the PIF is only trying to grow the game globally. But oh yeah, we're here to talk the performances of the three Umcees in action last week, not to wax poetic about countering the sportswashing spectre.

Unlike the week before, when at least six Umcees had been involved across tour golf and the Latin America Amateur Championship, there were only three such players. Zach Johnson is winding down his Hall of Fame-worthy career, and Erik van Rooyen was confident (and rightly so) that he would get into this week's Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the merits of his FedEx Cup Fall alternate standing. Of the three competing across the Farmers and the Korn Ferry Tour early-week event in the Bahamas, only Troy Merritt missed the cut. However, Tom Hoge also underwhelmed, carding a -1/287 for the week. Though to be fair, when he won at Pebble Beach two years ago, he had missed the cut at the Farmers. This leaves only one clear choice for Upper Midwest Connection of the Week...

Frankie Capan III.

Well, it looks like January's race for Upper Midwest Connection of the Month can't be decided on UMCOW honours alone! Heading into last week, FC3 was coming off a so-so performance in the Great Exuma Classic in the Bahamas. But he had at least made the cut, and it fuelled a good performance at the Great Abaco Classic, also in the Bahamas, as he finished T20. This marked some improvement on last year's Bahamian excursion for the North Oaks, Minnesota native, as he is now #36 on the KFT points list. His best round was Wednesday, 24 January, as he carded a -2/70 in difficult conditions, finishing on -1/287 for the week. But the fact that four different Umcees were tops for their respective weekly contingents means I'll need to apply tiebreakers to determine an Upper Midwest Connection of the Month. This shouldn't be too hard to do, though.

Looking ahead to this week's action, there will once more be but three Umcees in action, as the PGA Tour observes its second signature event at Pebble Beach. After years of struggling to attract players, what with the Phoenix Open enjoying a Super Bowl-sized lead-in since the 1970s and the Genesis Invitational (formerly Los Angeles Open) the next week, the foul weather often seen around this time off the Monterrey Peninsula and--perhaps most importantly--the insufferable proliferation of has-been celebs like Bill Murray making futile attempts to play with the best, expect the fourscore golfers to represent a return to the good times for the tournament. Even with only eighty players this year as a signature event, the field is so strong that over 72 OWGR points are on tap for winning. Two Umcees are among this elite. In addition to van Rooyen, who got in via the alternates list stemming from the FedEx Cup Fall, Hoge finished in the top 50 a year ago, so he gets into every signature event in 2024.

As for FC3, he tees it up at the Panama Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour. This week's field is the strongest on that circuit so far this year, according to OWGR, with 13+ points available to the winner. If a winner from the last 52 weeks prevails in either, though, he'll get another four winner's points to apply to his rating. (It's technically 60 to 70 per cent, but it's also capped at 4pt/win for multiple wins within a year.) Only EVR would qualify for this bonus among Umcees, having won at the World Wide Technology Championship last November. I don't see him getting PGA Tour win No 3 here, but we'll see.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 21 January 2024

The last time I posted, I had just begun to develop a cold from hanging out with friends in the Twin Cities. You see, part of our escapades involved a brief stroll in subzero temps, and I wasn't particularly bundled up, thinking the genes on my dad's side sufficient to bear the cold. That totally backfired, and I had to go to urgent care yesterday to make sure nothing serious was afoot. (Verdict: I tested negative. Woohoo!) I still have a hoarse voice, but I'm doing what I can to not push myself too vigorously. As a result of the upheaval, I will be posting twice today with any luck, as FA Cup Proper Round 4 is upon us as well.

One of the Korn Ferry Tour's early-season quirks is to hold its first two events of the year, both in the Bahamas, on a Sunday-Wednesday basis. Because of this, I will usually post my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for the previous week on the Tuesday of a KFT Bahamas week. The same goes for the Tuesday after the Farmers Insurance Open, which tees off today (Wednesday), but for the different reason of that event's Wednesday-Saturday format (adopted to accommodate the NFL's semifinals). However, the disruption, coupled with the long day yesterday, forced me to delay posting to today. The regular schedule will really start in two weeks after the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Even if only one Umcee (Tom Hoge) is able to participate--it's a signature event now--there are other events like the Panama Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour that will feature at least one such player.

With scheduling out of the way, let's examine how last week's six UMCOW candidates fared. Troy Merritt is out, seeing as how he didn't make the cut at the Amex, missing by one lousy stroke. Of those who did make the cut, the weakest case belongs to Frankie Capan III. About all that can be said in his favour is that he at least made the cut in the KFT season opener this time, getting his quest for a PGA Tour card for 2025 off to a better start than a year ago. Eduardo Galdos had a better showing at the Latin American Amateur Championship. The University of Minnesota junior made the cut on his third attempt in this event and finished T35 despite a ruinous opening +12/82. Fortunately, much of the field struggled to keep scores low, enabling Galdos to make the cut with his best round of the week the next day, a -1/69. (For the record, Santiago de la Fuente of Mexico won the LAAC, suffering only one bogey en route to a -10/270 on the week. He sealed it with back-to-back birdies and gets to play the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship this year if he stays amateur.)

That leaves three candidates, all playing the Amex alongside Merritt and (unlike Merritt) making the cut. For a time, it seemed like Erik van Rooyen wouldn't make the cut, but the former Minnesota Gophers captain birdied his last two Saturday to make it on -14/202 with but one stroke to spare. That's right, the cut was -13, which I absolutely do NOT like! He ultimately finished T25 and moved up one spot to #27 in the FedEx Cup standings. Moreover, he inched up to #84 in the world rankings, although he dropped to fourth among South Africans, as Christiaan Bezuidenhout was the top pro in the Coachella Valley, losing only to Alabama Crimson Tide sophomore Nick Dunlap, holder of the U.S. Amateur. He didn't do quite as well as he had done last year, but he was still pretty good. Also among those tying for 25th was Zach Johnson, formerly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and twice major winner (2007 Masters and 2015 Open). He jumped to #249 in the world rankings and debuted at #81 in the FedEx Cup. Lastly, Tom Hoge was the top Umcee performer in the field, carding consecutive -7/65s to finish T17. It wasn't enough to budge his world ranking of #63, but he did move to #45 in the FedEx Cup.

It was a difficult decision, one that came down to the three Umcees who made the cut at the Amex. In the end, Tom Hoge took the cake with his strong finish, first to make the cut, then to finish in the top 20. I almost picked Johnson, who would have won UMCOW with so much as a 68 or 69 the final day. Instead, he settled for 70 and tied with van Rooyen and seven others. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good week for Umcees.

This week is a bit quieter, as only three Umcees are competing. As this UMCOW report is going to publication, FCIII is enjoying his week at the Great Abaco Classic in the Bahamas. Again, as with last week's Great Exuma Classic, this week's KFT event concludes today (Wednesday). With FCIII making the cut with ease and continuing to do well thereafter, don't be surprised to see him become Upper Midwest Connection of the Week when that's revealed next week, tentatively Tuesday. Further suppressing the noise is the fact that van Rooyen, perhaps feeling confident that his FedEx Cup Fall performance will get him selected to the Pebble Beach Pro-Am next week by virtue of the alternates' list (he's fifth right now), isn't playing this week, which rules out his hopes of making it via the Swing Five. However, Hoge will have a chance to defend his UMCOW crown and perhaps earn Upper Midwest Connection of the Month honours. Meanwhile, Merritt will get a shot at redemption after missing the Amex cut. Hopefully this isn't the start of another cut drought for him!

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 14 January 2024

 What you see below is a screenshot of the data table I created in Excel to help me follow the PGA Tour's eligibility for signature events among those not otherwise exempt. Each player is listed with his country code as assigned by the International Olympic Committee and the FedEx Cup points he's accrued over various PGA Tour events. This table is limited to members who haven't won in 2024 on the Tour or otherwise failed to crack last year's BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. From an Upper Midwestern perspective, the latter restriction explains why Tom Hoge isn't on the list, as he made the BMW yet again last August. On the other hand, finishers 51-60 on the FedEx Cup Fall points list are given for now with asterisks, signifying their automatic qualification to both Pebble Beach and the Genesis. The particular screenshot is arranged by "Swing Five" standing and is limited to the top thirty in this regard with ties broken by overall FedEx Cup points. Not shown, but very much on the table, is Luke List, who is automatically eligible for both Pebble Beach and the Genesis for his "next ten" performance across the FedEx Cup Fall, highlighted by his playoff win at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi in October.

I bring up this table because this past week marked the beginning of the first "swing" for signature event eligibility purposes. The Sony Open in Hawai'i was the first of three events counting toward the interval for this year's Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a stretch that continues with this week's American Express and wraps up at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. More on that below.

Anyway, three Umcees competed at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Unlike the vast, hilly Kapalua Resort, Waialae is a flat, compact track that checks in as a par-70. As you might've guessed, the Umcees involved were Hoge and reigning Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Erik van Rooyen, joined by Troy Merritt. Merritt would have been last among the exempt but for Jon Rahm's defection to LIV, leaving that honour to Carl Yuan of China.

Hoge struggled and missed the cut. Van Rooyen fared better and made the cut by two strokes, though it would have been by  just one if Joel Dahmen had made an easy birdie putt at the last on Friday. By the back nine Sunday, though, the Minnesota Gophers alumnus had petered out and would suffer three bogeys to give back his front-nine progress before getting up and down for a closing birdie to salvage a breach of 70 for the fourth day running and seventh day on the trot dating to Kapalua round 2.

The Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, then, is Troy Merritt. Like van Rooyen, he struggled Sunday, settling for even par. Before then, though, the Spring Lake Park (Minnesota) alumnus had registered successive 66s in the middle rounds to get into contention to some degree. As the screenshot above indicates, he is T11 in the opening standings for the "swing five."

This week, as mentioned before, the American Express takes over the Coachella Valley of California. The big three Umcees will again be there, with Merritt and van Rooyen jockeying for spots at Pebble Beach. Furthermore, once the three-event swing is complete at Torrey Pines next week (a day early to accommodate NFL conference championships), the swing standings will be frozen throughout the signature event they helped fill and will be supplemented with the Phoenix Open in its traditional Super Bowl week slot to help fill the Genesis.

However, Hoge, Merritt and EVR aren't the only Umcees in action. Frankie Capan III helped commence the Korn Ferry Tour season in the Bahamas at the Great Exuma Classic on the same day the Sony Open wrapped up the Hawai'i swing. Although the reckoning has been delayed to Tuesday because of darkness, FCIII is mathematically assured of making the cut, as of the 14 players yet to complete their rounds, only nine are tied for 55th with him or otherwise behind him and within mathematical reach. He made the cut despite a disastrous +3/75 Monday.

Nor is the Umcee action limited to tour pros for once. This week also features the Latin American Amateur Championship, with University of Minnesota junior Eduardo Galdos of Peru in the field. Galdos missed the cut the first two years he made the LAAC, but he came close to making the weekend last year and might break through this year. The winner qualifies for all three open majors--the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. I'm not holding my breath, but you never know.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 7 January 2024

Normally my Upper Midwest Connection of the Week feature would be published on Wednesday, as I like to be able to process the outcomes for Umcees the previous week, as well as lead in to the action the following week. For the first three such features of 2024, though, I will be publishing on Tuesday for a reason that I'll get to below.

On 8 August 2023, when the Devilish Rake was little more than a month old, the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui burnt to the ground, claiming over 100 lives. It was the greatest loss of life in any U.S. wildfire since 1918, when Cloquet in my home state of Minnesota had seen 450 or so killed. What broke my heart the most, though, was the destruction of the historic centre of Lahaina and many of its monuments and artefacts, both natural and man-made. Now, I've never been to any part of Hawai'i in my life, but I'm a firm believer in the preservation of genuine history. That's why the fires rent my heart so much, similar to how many must have felt when the earthquakes and barbarian conquests shut down the Great Library of antiquity. It begged the question: Would the Sentry, which has raised the curtain on the year in professional golf since its inception as the Tournament of Champions in 1953 and been held at the Plantation Course in nearby Kapalua since 1999, go on?

Well, you know what they say...

Queen/Freddie Mercury deathbed reference aside, the Sentry found fortitude in the name of its sponsor, Sentry Insurance--which, incidentally, is an Upper Midwestern company, based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It could also be argued that the cutting out of the words "Tournament of Champions" after decades in the title serves two purposes: It's not only not just for champions from last year. The very name--"the Sentry"--implies a commitment to guard, govern and protect Maui until she be rebuilt.

When the RSM Classic concluded, 61 golfers were eligible to play the Sentry either by winning in 2023 or by finishing in the top 50 among eligible players in the FedEx Cup playoffs. That number shrank to 60 when Jon Rahm signed with LIV. Even then, as has usually been the case, one holdout was noticed among the remaining threescore. Rory McIlroy, the top-ranked European who was eligible, sat out for the fourth year running due to his commitment to DP World Tour events in Dubai. I guess you can do that when you're a winner on both the PGA and DP World tours. For instance, Tommy Fleetwood, who is known to own a place in Dubai, has yet to win on the PGA Tour.

That still left 59 players to contest the Sentry, including two Umcees. Tom Hoge, who qualified as one of the top fifty FedEx Cup finishers despite failing to get victory no 2 on the PGA Tour, got off to a bright start with a -6/67 on day one. Unfortunately, a lack of firepower off the tee held him back the rest of the way, as he was the only player without a single drive of 400 yards. His longest tee shot was 397, which came at No 12 in the third round, as he slogged to a -2/71. Even on a difficult scoring Saturday, it was a pittance by Kapalua standards. Overall, Hoge's -17/275 failed to budge him in the OWGR. However, the other Umcee in the field finished four strokes lower and mustered a T22, which was good enough for a four-place improvement in the world rankings.

Erik van Rooyen, who earned his way into the field with his World Wide Technologies Championship victory and is the reigning Upper Midwest Connection of the Year, started out slowly, with a -1/72 opening round reflecting horrors in his short game bailed out by his putting stroke. However, he turned things around starting in round two with a -8/65 Friday, although his irons were curiously a liability. Even on Saturday, van Rooyen managed to break 70 (-4/69) thanks to some strong driving, with several 400-yarders on the course. He then inched up to a second top-25 finish in as many trips to Kapalua with another -8/65. At present, he is tied for second in the Next 10 on 85 FedEx Cup points, which is one way for players not otherwise exempt to signature events to get in to such tournaments.

This week, the number of Umcees increases to three. Troy Merritt, who was one of the last players in the FedEx Cup Fall to successfully defend his card, starts his season in Honolulu at Waialae Country Club, and both Hoge and van Rooyen will cross to Oahu to join him at the Sony Open. It's just too bad so many Korn Ferry Tour grads were unable to partake of the festivities, as the 144-strong field was swamped by fully exempt members, including the three Umcees I have mentioned.

Finally, I started this feature by noting that I decided to post today rather than Wednesday. The reason is the timing of the first two KFT events of 2024 in the Bahamas. With no Monday qualification needed for either the Great Exuma or the Great Abaco, the PGA Tour's Triple-A circuit has elected to move each event up four days. Since the Great Exuma doesn't count toward the same week as the Sony Open for world-ranking purposes, I decided to classify that event as counting toward the same weekly feature as the American Express on the PGA Tour. Likewise, the Great Abaco is the same calendar week as the Farmers Insurance Open, so it just makes sense to move things up a bit in both cases, as the latter ends on Saturday, 27 January (my birthday, incidentally). This was enacted a couple years ago to accommodate both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and avoid clashing with NFL conference championships.

It'll be a hectic week leading up to my birthday for the Devilish Rake, as not only will I be doing my usual Upper Midwest Connection of the Week feature, but I will be issuing FA Cup fourth-round picks as well. It's also the deadline for the "Swing Five," which will earn the top five NOX performers in the three events from the Sony Open through the Farmers a tee time at Pebble Beach.

On a related note, several Umcees are playing Monday qualifiers for the international swing of the Korn Ferry Tour. None of them joined Frankie Capan III in Panama, but the Astara of Bogota has its Monday qualifier Wednesday. Five Umcees are involved in it, but only four places are available, unlike the stateside quota of eight for Mondays.

Edward the Scop

Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of 2023: #2

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

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

Number 2: Tom Hoge, Fargo, North Dakota

Starting OWGR: #36

Current OWGR #61

Final FedEx Cup Eligibility: #45

Wins: 0

Top 10s: 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edward the Scop