THE FLATS – Seth Reeves returns to the PGA Tour for the first time since 2019, joining four other Yellow Jackets in the 2021-22 PGA Tour season opener … Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school begins this week … Andy Ogletree returns to action after five months off due to hip surgery … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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FIVE JACKETS IN ACTION AS NEW PGA TOUR SEASON BEGINS
Seth Reeves, who finished 18th on the Korn Ferry Tour regular-season points list in 2020-21, will play his first PGA Tour event since 2019 as a card-carrying member when he tees it up Thursday at the Fortinet Championship in Napa, Calif.
The Johns Creek, Ga., native rallied from eight strokes back to win the 2020 Pinnacle Bank Championship, and recorded a solo third and T3 to secure his second trip to the PGA Tour. In his first season in 2019, he played 25 events, made 11 cuts and posted one top-10, finishing 188th n FedEx Cup points.
For Vincent Whaley, it will be as if he never left the PGA Tour. The 26-year-old from Alpharetta, Ga., finished No. 140 in FedEx Cup points in the 2020-21 season, missing the playoffs and forcing him to participate in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He ensured his return to the PGA TOUR with top-10s in the first two Finals events.
Also competing this week are veteran PGA Tour members Chesson Hadley, Matt Kuchar and Cameron Tringale. All qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs last year, Hadley grabbing the 125th and final spot.
Stewart Cink, who won this event last October when it was known at the Safeway Open, launching a stellar season which saw him qualify for the Tour Championship for the first time since 2009, will not return to defend his title because …
So glad for new sponsor @FortinetChamp, but scheduling shifted the event back one week, to same weekend as my son Connor’s wedding. So, I won’t be able to play as “defending champ.” But…can’t wait for many more events in #Napa!
— Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) September 7, 2021
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SCHNIEDERJANS, PETEFISH COME UP SHORT ON FORME TOUR
Luke Schniederjans and Chris Petefish both missed the cut last weekend at the Forme Tour Championship, the final event of the 2021 schedule, and came up short last week in earning status on the Korn Ferry Tour. The top player on the tour’s points list following the event received full exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2022, while players No. 2-5 received partial status. Players finishing 6 through 10 are allowed to skip the first and second stages of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament, which begins this week.
Schniederjans dropped to No. 11 on the points list, while Petefish finished 54th. Both players retain status on the Forme Tour and Mackenzie Tour for 2022. Both players will no doubt attempt to make it to the Korn Ferry Tour through qualifying.
The first stage of qualifying begins this week at two sites, and former Yellow Jacket Drew Czuchry is in the field at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, Ga.
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OGLETREE RETURNS TO ACTION IN G-PRO EVENT
Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion who has been out of action since April after having surgery to repair a labrum tear in his hip, will be back in competition for the first time this week at the Gaston Championship, a GPro Tour event in Gastonia, N.C., Tuesday through Thursday.
Ogletree was the low amateur (T34 overall) at the COVID-delayed 2020 Masters and tied for 46th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in the spring. He missed the cut in three subsequent PGA Tour events before stepping away to treat his hip.
He’ll be joined there by James Clark, who tied for 26th place last week at the High Point (N.C.) Open.
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