Yeah, I have to do this again. For the second straight round there's a fixture on Thursday. This would've been unthinkable a few years ago, but it's all part of the money first, football nowhere direction of the game. Anyway, time constraints kept me from doing all the picks in one fell swoop, so I decided to do the Thursday AFC Bournemouth v Swansea City tie and Friday's four fixtures in this post.
Thursday:
AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Swansea City (actual 5-0; 50pt)
Friday:
Bristol City 3-2 Nottingham Forest (actual 1-1 on replay, Nottingham Forest advanced on pens)
Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Coventry City (actual 1-4/2-5; 50pt)
Chelsea 4-3 Aston Villa (actual 3-1 on replay; 50pt)
Tottenham Hotspur 4-4 Manchester City (Man City on penalties) (actual 0-1; 50pt)
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!
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.
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.
As the Devilish Rake enters its first full calendar year, and as the first golf event of the year--the Sentry in Maui--gets the PGA Tour season underway for the first time since 2013, I thought I should let you know what's in store for the next year. Think of this as a state of the blog address, if you like.
When I opened the Devilish Rake six months ago, I was uncertain that my writing on various golf topics, supplemented with FA Cup coverage and a feed of NFL Draft Day Party Hangover, would draw 100 hits, let alone a mean of almost one per day. After all, my blogging experience had crashed and burnt with every attempt, forcing me to fall back upon Twitter, whose future is uncertain. Instead, I am on 171 hits as of this writing, which isn't bad for someone who has eschewed social media for the most part. Moreover, an emphasis on Upper Midwest connections (Umcees) involved in tour golf, I thought, would inhibit my reach around the world, even if some international golfers had come to the Upper Midwest to play collegiately or in high school as exchange student-athletes. I am pleased to announce that my writing has been seen in eight countries!
But a fledgling blog needs to grow, and I have some plans to fuel that growth in 2024. To that end, I've identified three ways to prosper the endeavour. Firstly, I will add supplementary, permanent reference pages to the Devilish Rake, which explain my story and why I decided to create it, as well as a glossary that you will be able to draw upon in case you need to look up the meaning of jargon I use or that is used in golf. I touched upon some introductory material in my first two posts here, but the backstory page will expand upon that greatly. My bio of the Devilish Rake will drop sometime in January, as will the first glossary entries.
The second addition to the blog will be a wiki of Umcees on the various golf tours and minitours, past and present. I plan to draw upon various sources, including (but not limited to) media guides from the PGA Tour pyramid, almost all of which published since 1970 are readily available on the Internet. Look for an announcement as to how you can contribute in due course.
Speaking of audience contributions, the third and final "coming soon" feature that I haven't touched on before is a Patreon to help fund this operation. Once all the sawdust has been cleared and I have gained enough of an audience to justify it, I will start a Patreon to provide some bonus goodies to supporters of the Devilish Rake. Possibilities include the privilege of extra posts, such as perhaps retroactive Upper Midwest Connection of the Week features, the ability to suggest topics relating to golf (preferably with an Upper Midwest-connected focus) or the FA Cup or perhaps even access to an exclusive contest for all "patrons" to pick the 123 ties in the FA Cup each year, among other contests.
Among topics that I've touched upon previously, the Draft Day Party Hangover live blog will mark its 12th year of online operations, with this being its first in...an actual blog! Look for more details as 25 April (Round 1) approaches.
Hope that gives you an overview of what to expect from the Devilish Rake in 2024!!!
Normally a post like this would wait until tomorrow, but the asinine decision to kick off the FA Cup third round proper for this season on a Thursday--a move driven strictly by television rights, rather than by the wishes of supporters and other fans--means I have to post the first batch of picks today. It speaks to the "money first, football nowhere" direction of the sport that FA Cup Factfile's Phil Annets laments (and in whose lamentation I join). He has devoted his precious time to collecting stats concerning the Cup, and this treasure-trove of information forms the basis of a blog and X (ex-Twitter) feed that I have drawn upon when making my picks for the FA Cup proper rounds. I suggest you get in touch with him whenever you get the chance if you want to know about the real stories of the Cup.
Anyway, I picked fifteen of twenty ties correctly in the second round proper. Not bad, considering I had a slow start to the round. Overall, I've picked 39/60 winners, almost a two-thirds success rate! But now comes the big third round, where the Premier League and Championship clubs enter the fray. Between the top two divisions, every Cup since 1902 has been won by such clubs. Let's see if my picks can hold up against reality as it unfolds...
