THE FLATS – Stewart Cink and Cameron Tringale earn solid finishes at the Northern Trust to move on in FedEx Cup Playoffs … Vincent Whaley makes strong opening bid to regain his PGA Tour status … Luke Schniederjans holds position on Forme Tour … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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CINK, TRINGALE ADVANCE IN FEDEX CUP PLAYOFFS
Cameron Tringale started strong, and Stewart Cink finished strong, both winding up in the same place, a tie for 21st at The Northern Trust which didn’t finish until Monday due to a round 4 postponement caused by Tropical Storm Henri.
Both players, solidly entrentched in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the regular season, easily advanced to this week’s BMW Championship in Owings Mills, Md., in which the top 70 on the FedEx Cup points list will compete. The top 30 on that list following the BMW Championship will come to Atlanta next week for the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.
Cink and Tringale each posted 72-hole scores of 274 (-10), 10 strokes behind winner Tony Finau.
At No. 19 in points, Cink is likely to be in Atlanta at his home club next week for the playoff finale. Tringale moved up to No. 34 in points following The Northern Trust, and needs a high finish this week to make the necessary move into the top 30 and give the Yellow Jackets two representatives at the Tour Championship.
Chesson Hadley, Richy Werenski and Matt Kuchar, each of whom finished the PGA Tour regular season between 117 and 125 in points, all missed the cut and will not advance to the BMW Championship.
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WHALEY HAS STRONG START IN KORN FERRY FINALS
Battling to regain his PGA Tour status after finishing 140th in the FedEX Cup race this season, Vincent Whaley made a strong opening bid to regain his status with a tie for 10th place last weekend at the Albertson Boise Open, the first of three events in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The 2017 Tech graduate fired four rounds in the 60s and finished at 15-under-par 269, four shots off the pace.
Paul Haley II was the only other Yellow Jacket to make the cut, tying for 54th place, while Anders Albertson and Ollie Schniederjans did not advance to the weekend.
They’ll return to action this week for the Nationwide Children’s Championship in Columbus, Ohio.
Seth Reeves, who earned his PGA Tour card with an 18th-place finish in the regular season and took last week off following the birth of his first child, returns to action for the remaining two finals events in a bid to improve his position for 2021-22.
The top 25 in earnings at the end of the three-event Finals will earn 2021-22 PGA Tour cards.
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SCHNIEDERJANS HOLDS POSITION ON FORME TOUR
Luke Schniederjans was the lone Yellow Jacket to finish in the money last week at the Forme Open at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. The 2020 Tech graduate tied for 30th place with a 13-under-par total of 275 and maintained his standing at No. 8 in the points race. Chris Petefish missed the cut and fell to 43rd, while Tyler Strafaci also missed the cut.
Two events remain on the circuit which allowed members of PGA Tour Canada to play a U.S.-based schedule in 2021. The top five points earners earning 2021-22 Korn Ferry Tour membership along with others advancing to the second and final stages of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.
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CONSISTENCY EARNS SETH REEVES A MULLIGAN ON PGA TOUR
Greater consistency helped Seth Reeves regain his PGA Tour card for the coming season, and that’s likely going to be the key to an extended stay. The Georgia Tech graduate secured his spot in the big leagues last week when he finished No. 18 on the Korn Ferry Tour’s points list.
Reeves played on the PGA Tour in 2019, but had trouble making cuts and had to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. It wasn’t going great there, either, until he broke through to win the 2020 Pinnacle Bank Classic, his first Korn Ferry win.
More from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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COULD MATT KUCHAR BE LEADING ANOTHER PUTTING STYLE REVOLUTION?
Matt Kuchar had just finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list, but like every PGA Tour player, he wasn’t ready to stop there. His SG: Putting, then an impressive 31st on Tour, was solid, but Kuchar felt like it could be even better. But it wasn’t until a lesson with Dave Stockton that the specifics became clear: He crouched over low, and braced the top of the putter against his forearm.
But now, Kuchar is onto a new experiment: Reverse arm lock putting, where the shaft of the putter is placed not against the lead arm, but the trail arm. Could Kuchar once again prove a trend-setter in eye-catching putting techniques? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, here’s what you need to know about it.
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