THE FLATS – Matt Kuchar returns to action with a solid finish where he’s won before … Jackets come up short in Korn Ferry Q-School finals, come away with conditional status … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
*****
KUCHAR RETURNS TO ACTION WITH SOLID FINISH AT MAYAKOBA
Matt Kuchar returned to action for the first time in a month and at an event he has won before, tying for 22nd with a 12-under-par 276 last weekend at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. The nine-time winner on the PGA Tour won this event in 2019, when it was called the Mayakoba Classic.
The finish comes following his abandonment of an experiment in increasing his clubhead speed (see story below), his 207th career top-25 finish, and jumped to No. 86 in FedEx Cup points. He also surpassed $53 million in career earnings, and ranks 10th all-time on the PGA Tour.
Vincent Whaley also made the cut at Mayakoba, tying for 64th place, while Cameron Tringale and Richy Werenski missed the cut.
Two more events are on the schedule before the PGA Tour breaks for the holiday season, including this weekend’s visit to Houston for the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. Stewart Cink returns to action along with Chesson Hadley, Tringale, Werenski and Whaley.
*****
MATT KUCHAR’S SPEED CHASE
Matt Kuchar has been a model of consistency over the past decade-plus. Perhaps no one in modern golf has squeezed more achievement out of their natural gifts than the shorter-hitting 43-year-old, who has plodded his way around golf courses to the tune of nearly $53 million in career earnings. He’s 10th all-time in that department.
And yet, even he took the bait. The bait refers to Bryson DeChambeau’s seismic speed chase, which has reverberated throughout the PGA Tour over the past two years. Rory McIlroy has tried it. So has Dylan Frittelli. But Matt Kuchar? The man known for his metronomic tempo and playing within himself? Surely he could resist the allure of 180 ball speed.
*****
GRIFFIN IS TECH’S TOP FINISHER AT Q-SCHOOL FINALS
Neither J.T. Griffin, Andy Ogletree nor Chris Petefish were able to gain better status on the Korn Ferry Tour with their performances in the Q School finals last weekend. Everyone in the field has conditional status for the 2022 season, which begins in January in the Bahamas. The top 40 finishers received guaranteed entry into the first events of the season.
All three players struggled to high scores in round 2, which featured rain and windy conditions that ultimately postponed the final two rounds until Sunday and Monday. Griffin wound up the Yellow Jackets’ highest finisher, a tie for 63rd after he rallied with rounds of 69-64 to finish. Ogletree opened with a 66, but followed with an 80 and tied for 115th. Petefish tied for 91st.
Tech’s only holdovers on the Korn Ferry Tour from 2020-21 with full status are Anders Albertson are Ollie Schniederjans.
*****
THIS AND THAT
May graduate Will Dickson picked up a top-10 finish in his first professional event with a ninth-place finish at the Savannah Quarters Open on the GPro Tour, cashing a check for $1,965 with a 8-under-par score of 208. Tyler Strafaci finished 31st in the same event. Dickson will return to action in the GPro Tour’s Harbor Classic event the week after Thanksgiving.
Matt Kuchar will team up once again with former Georgia All-American Harris English in an attempt to win their third title together at the QBE Shootout, an unofficial PGA Tour event which will be held Dec. 8-12 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. The duo won the event in 2013, 2014 and 2016, and finished second in 2015.
Kuchar, Stewart Cink and David Duval are all entered in the field for the annual PNC Father-Son championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. Cink and Duval (and their sons) have both won this event.
*****
