THE FLATS – Tour Championship is over, but the PGA Tour begins its 2020-21 season right away with Safeway Open in California, six Yellow Jackets are in the field … Anders Albertson contends at Lincoln Land Championship … More below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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PGA TOUR UPDATE
The FedEx Cup Playoffs finished last week, but there will be no break before the 2020-21 PGA Tour schedule begins this weekend with the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., with six former Yellow Jackets in the field. The Tour announced its 2020-21 slate of tournaments last week, with a total of 50 events. The schedule will be interrupted twice, by the 2020 U.S. Open next week at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York and the 2020 Masters in November.
Roberto Castro, Stewart Cink, Chesson Hadley, Cameron Tringale and Vincent Whaley are competing this weekend, while 2020 graduate Luke Schniederjans made the field in Monday qualifying (shot 65, earned one of four available spots in a playoff) and will compete as an amateur. Many of the top players on Tour are skipping this event in order to prepare for next week’s U.S. Open in New York, but Hadley and Kuchar are criss-crossing the country to play both.
For only the second time in the last 11 years, Georgia Tech did not have a former player in the playoff finale at East Lake Golf Club.
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KORN FERRY TOUR UPDATE
Anders Albertson made a strong bid for his second victory on the Korn Ferry Tour last weekend, moving into contention with a 9-under-par 62 in Friday’s round and following up that with a 65 on Saturday at the Lincoln Land Championship. But the 2018 champion of this event came up two strokes short after closing with a 71 Sunday and finishing 72 holes at 17-under-par 267. The performance boosted his Korn Ferry points position to 58th from 75th.
Vincent Whaley, with former Jacket Michael Hines on his bag, tied for 17th place at 12-under 262 on this stop on his way to play in this week’s Safeway Open, while J.T. Griffin and Nicholas Thompson missed the cut.
The tour remains in Illinois this week for the Evans Scholars Invitational, where Paul Haley II and Ollie Schniederjans will join the group after a week off.
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LOCALiQ SERIES UPDATE
Chris Petefish has tied for 23rd, seventh, 47th and 19th in the four events played so far, and sits 16th in the points standings. He tied for 19th at the Invitational at Auburn last week with an 11-under-par total of 205. Former teammate Andy Ogletree, playing as an amateur tied for 33rd at 8-under-par 208.
The LocaliQ Series, the U.S.-based tournament series designed for members of the PGA Tours in Canada, Latino America and China, has three remaining events, culminating in the LocaliQ Series Championship at Nassau, Bahamas in late October.
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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS UPDATE
Former Master champion Larry Mize sits at 59th in Schwab Cup points as the champions tour resumes this weekend in South Dakota.
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U.S. OPEN UPDATE
Four Yellow Jackets – Chesson Hadley, Matt Kuchar, Andy Ogletree (a) and Richy Werenski – will be in the 144-player field for the 120th U.S. Open Championship, which will be held Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
The United States Golf Association is building its field entirely on exemptions, with no qualifying held this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Monday, the USGA announced the addition of 16 competitors – five from the recently completed three-tournament series on the Korn Ferry Tour and eleven based on the Official World Golf Ranking – bringing the field to 139 players. Five more slots will be filled in the coming weeks.
Former Tech star Tripp Isenhour gives us a look at Winged Foot for a segment on Golf Channel.
Easy holes at Winged Foot? Non-existent 😬 (besides the 19th hole of course)@TrippIsenhourGC explains how players can get @usopengolf Tournament Ready, presented by @CintasCorp. pic.twitter.com/ZYaneRBSH2
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 4, 2020
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