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 14 April 2024

 In my last post, I mentioned in passing that Zach Johnson is an Umcee who also happens to be a former Masters champion. Back in 2007, he won the green jacket despite struggling to a +1/289--good enough to beat Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini and Tiger Woods by two strokes. Conditions were so horrible that any of the 97 participants that year would've been entitled to laugh at Jon Rahm's complaints about this year's Friday conditions.

But that was then. Fast-forward seventeen years later and ZJ got into trouble for cussing at a crucial juncture. He missed the cut by one stroke (+7/151 after two rounds) and, barring open qualification or other merits for this June's U.S. Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, we won't see him in another major until the Open at Royal Troon in July. Needless to say, the best of times is behind the two-time major winner. But there was an Umcee who did make the cut at Augusta...

(PGA Tour)

Erik van Rooyen.

You would think that a guy who struggled on all but one day--Thursday's -1/71 opening round--en route to a T55 finish, dropped three places in the FedEx Cup and slipped a spot in the OWGR would not merit to be Upper Midwest Connection of the Week, but there are a couple good reasons for my selecting EVR for the honour. Firstly, that he made the cut at all is a milestone--van Rooyen withdrew after a single round in 2020 due to injury and MC in 2022 on his last visit. Moreover, the ten (even) FedEx Cup points he earned enabled him to pip Grayson Murray (winner of this year's Sony Open) to the final Next 10 place in this week's RBC Heritage. Though to be fair, Nicolai Hojgaard's collapse on the weekend helped as well!

This week features all three PGA Tour circuits in action for the first time this year. The Heritage, in addition to van Rooyen and 67 others (yes, they fell short of seventy again, which means they need to consider adding alternates in 2025 and beyond), Tom Hoge returns from a fortnightly hiatus. Part of it was voluntary, but it made the other part required, as Hoge's decision to skip the Texas Open despite not qualifying for the Masters rendered last week an off week for him. On top of the signature event at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, the Corales Punta-Cana Resort Championship takes a side stage in the Dominican Republic. Although ZJ won't be in the Umcee contingent, Troy Merritt returns to action, and he'll be joined by former Minnesota Gopher Thomas Longbella, who won the Monday qualifier to make the event for the second straight year. The way in was last week to allow for travel plans, as with most overseas events on the PGA Tour.

Beyond the big tour, the Korn Ferry Tour holds the LECOM Suncoast Classic. North Oaks, Minnesota's Frankie Capan III will be there, and conditional member Van Holmgren of Plymouth, Minnesota will join him in an effort to gain full access to the following four events via the reshuffle. Lastly, the other four Umcees in action this week will be playing the Brazilian Open on the PGA Tour Americas. Derek Hitchner of Minneapolis will be looking to build on his last start, which resulted in a T3 at the Totalplay Championship three weeks ago and got him Upper Midwest Connection of the Week honours, and he'll be joined by George Kneiser, Harrison Ott and Matthew Walker, among others. For the second straight year, dating back to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica last year, the host course will be the same that hosted the 2016 Olympic golf tourney--the first such event since 1904 in St Louis.

Edward the Scop

Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 7 April 2024

 By now, you would expect a piece like this to be published two days from now, as I typically need time to account for the Monday qualifiers for the following collection of events and any late withdrawals. This ensures my preview portion of each such post will include all Umcees participating in a given week and omit any who drop out. However, I don't expect (barring an injury, of course) that either of the two Umcees participating in this week's Masters Tournament will drop, and the Monday qualifier for next week's event in the Dominican Republic has already been decided. More on those matters later.

Anyway, last week was the last chance to qualify for "glory's first shot" at the Valero Texas Open. There was a full field of 156 players. Three of them--Erik van Rooyen, Zach Johnson and Troy Merritt--are Umcees, but only Merritt had yet to qualify for this year's Masters. Van Rooyen won in Cabo for his invite last November, while Johnson, of course, took the maillot vert in 2007, entitling him to tonight's Champions' Dinner in the clubhouse at Augusta National for the 17th year running. Meanwhile, on the Korn Ferry Tour, the Club Car Championship in Savannah, Georgia--down the river Savannah from Augusta--involved 156 more players trying to get to the PGA Tour. Only one Umcee, Frankie Capan III, was among them.

(FGCU Athletics)

As it turns out, the Umcee contingent at TPC San Antonio wiped out--the two Umcees already qualified for this week's major were closest to the cut, finishing round 2 at +2/146 overall--but Capan got his first top-ten finish of 2024, finishing T9! His only poor round was a +2/74 Saturday, and he shot -2/70 or better the other three days, including -5/67 both Friday and Sunday. This performance moved him to #49 in the points list and a new career best of #324 in the OWGR.

This week, as I mentioned above, the Masters Tournament takes centre stage in the world of golf. I called it "glory's first shot" in reference to the fact that, when it was the last major of the season, the PGA Championship was referred to as "glory's last shot." I don't expect ZJ to don the green jacket for the second time or EVR to do so either. But if either can make the cut, I will be satisfied.

Meanwhile, today (Monday, 8 April) was the open qualifier for next week's Corales Punta-Cana Resort Championship in the Dominican Republic. Three Umcees--two former Minnesota Gophers (Angus Flanagan and Thomas Longbella) and a former Iowa Hawkeye (Alex Schaake) --were among the sixty golfers participating. Schaake fell short by four strokes and Flanagan by two. But Longbella won the qualifier, making his second straight trip to the DR to play on the PGA Tour. He missed the cut last year but hopes to improve significantly this year. Of course, he won't be in that week's Brazilian Open at the site of the 2016 Olympic golf tournament won by Justin Rose. I still think it's a desirable tradeoff.

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 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 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 23 July 2023

After a weekend defined by Open Championship dominance on the part of Brian Harman (definitely not an Umcee), a playoff in the opposite-field Barracuda Championship and, of course, a developmental golf devil in the details, it's that time of week again. You know, time to name the latest Upper Midwest Connection of the Week.

Last week, I noted nine Umcees in tour golf fields of significance. But it turns out I'd completely forgotten Iowa City-born, Cedar Rapids-raised, Drake University-educated 2015 Open champion Zach Johnson! Oops! Anyway, of the ten to play last week, Tom Hoge (#1 among Umcees heading into the week) missed the cut at Royal Liverpool by two strokes (+5 through Friday), but Johnson made it thanks to a -2 second round to get to +2 for the week to that point. Back in America, Erik van Rooyen and Troy Merritt both cleared the cutline at the Barracuda by a combined two points in a modified Stableford system. Van Rooyen just made it on a measly three points on Friday (eight Thursday), while Merritt scored thirteen the first two days. On the Korn Ferry Tour, Frankie Capan III made the weekend at the Price Cutter, but only because of a rain delay Friday.

All this was nothing compared with what befell the Umcee contingent in the Canadian capital, Ottawa. Of the five entrants with connections to the Upper Midwest, only Chippewa Falls, WI native and former University of Minnesota golfer Thomas Longbella made the cut. His fellow Wisconsinite, George Kneiser of Oconomowoc, missed by but one stroke. Derek Hitchner of Minneapolis didn't show up, and Harrison Ott of Brookfield, WI withdrew after one round for reasons unknown. And of course, we know about Justin Doeden.

So, what happened after the cut fell? Longbella was looking good on -10 after two rounds, but then he stumbled on Saturday and only mustered a 70 on Sunday, good for -1 to finish -7 (T43, fell to #33 in Fortinet Cup). Johnson failed to break par the last two days of the Open, finishing +5 (T55 but did move up to #150 in FedEx Cup). The going was better for Merritt on Sunday, but he couldn't get much going generally after his Thursday of 11 points, finishing with just 21 (T50, slipped to #130 in FedEx Cup). Seeing as how it's not how you start but how you finish, the logical choice for Upper Midwest Connection of the week is...

Erik van Rooyen.

Let's face it, it's not been the best year for the former Minnesota Golden Gopher from South Africa. After his injuries a year ago, many thought van Rooyen would bounce back this year. Alas, he came into the previous week's Scottish Open off seven straight missed cuts, and he hadn't had a top-10--make that top-30--finish since the Valspar Championship in March. Even though he made the cut at the Renaissance Club, he stumbled after doing so with back-to-back +3 rounds to finish T68 and plummet to #215 in the world. He put many of his droughts to rest, though, with a strong weekend in Truckee, CA with consecutive rounds of double-digit points. Ten points on Saturday raised his hopes of a good finish, which became a great finish with a fourteen-point Sunday. It sufficed to take him to a four-way T6 in the end, good for 52.5 points in the FedEx Cup and a twenty-place jump in the world rankings. He also climbed to #126 in the FedEx Cup standings, just one place out of where he'll need to finish this fall to retain his card.

Now he gets to return to the PGA Tour event held a stone's throw from where he went to college. He hasn't performed well so far at the 3M Open, but with the playoffs yet an outside hope, van Rooyen will be motivated to go up against some of the top Umcees in golf, as well as other luminaries like Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama and, of course, reigning champion Tony Finau, whose win at the 3M last year sparked a three-win stretch through the Houston Open in the fall. Game on!

Edward the Scop