THE FLATS – Stewart Cink posted a top-10 finish, four Yellow Jackets played the weekend at the Valspar Championship … Paul Haley II continues solid season on the Korn Ferry Tour … Will Dickson gets another solid finish on the GPro Tour … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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FOUR JACKETS PLAY THE WEEKEND AT VALSPAR
After missing the cut in his first two starts on the Florida swing, Stewart Cink put together his strongest performance of the 2021-22 PGA Tour season last weekend by tying for seventh place at the Valspar Championship. The eight-time Tour winner shot four rounds in the 60s on the difficult Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort for a 12-under-par total of 272.
It was the first top-10 finish of 2021-22 for Cink, who won twice and qualified for the Tour Championship in 2020-21 but has made just five cuts in 11 tournaments this season. The finish bumped him 47 positions to 132nd on the FedEx Cup points list.
Cink led a solid weekend for the Yellow Jackets at Palm Harbor, Fla., where Matt Kuchar turned in a tie for 16th place (10-under 274) and Richy Werenski tied for 21st (9-under 275). Cameron Tringale tied for 62nd (2-under 282), while Vincent Whaley, Seth Reeves and Chesson Hadley missed the cut.
Kuchar’s finish was his best since tying for seventh at the Sony Open in Hawai’i in January and improved his position on the FedEx Cup list 22 spots to 94th. He had missed three cuts in four events in between. Werenski notched his highest finish in 13 events in the 2021-22 season, in which he has missed nine cuts.
Burying it from the bunker 🦅
Perfection from Matt Kuchar. pic.twitter.com/kK0BbPtNgd
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 20, 2022
Tringale is the only one of the seven Jackets on tour to qualify to compete in this week’s first World Golf Championship event, the DELL Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas. Seeded 45th in the 64-player field, he opens pool play in the event against former Wake Forest star Will Zalatoris on Wednesday. Kuchar finished third in the match play event last year but did not qualify this year.
Cameron Tringale was 51st in the world ranking at the end of 2021, missing an invitation to this year’s Masters by one spot.
The top 50 in the world ranking after this week also get into the Masters. Tringale is currently ranked … 51st.
He made his lone Masters start in 2015.
— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) March 21, 2022
Match play cutoff was after Players, meaning Shaun Norris, Dean Burmester and Stewart Cink are ahead in the world ranking of 3 players in Austin. That happens.
— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) March 21, 2022
The 64-man field is divided into 16 four-man pools. Players face each member of their pool once, with the player with the best record advancing to single-elimination rounds starting Saturday. Ties in pool play will be broken by sudden-death playoffs. Two rounds apiece will be played Saturday and Sunday to crown a champion. All 64 players are ranked among the top 69 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, which is used to seed the field.
The Tour’s alternate event is the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic, where Hadley, Reeves and Whaley are in the field.
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HALEY CONTINUES SOLID KORN FERRY TOUR SEASON
Paul Haley II returned to action following a month off for the Korn Ferry Tour last weekend with a tie for 33rd place at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in Broussard, La. A former ACC Champion, Haley posted a solid 7-under-par 277, while Anders Albertson missed the cut.
Haley, who just missed earning his PGA Tour card at the end of the 2021 season and is a player to watch for 2022, has played well in the early going of 2022, sitting in 10th position on the Korn Ferry points standings. Playing four of the five events so far, Haley posted a runner-up finish at the Great Exuma Classic in the Bahamas, and tied for 14th at the LECOM Suncoast Classic.
Haley and Albertson continue on this week as the Korn Ferry Tour remains in Louisiana for the Lake Charles Championship. J.T. Griffin is on standby as an alrernate.
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DICKSON HAS ANOTHER SOLID GPRO FINISH
Will Dickson, who captured his first pro title two weeks ago at the Daytona Open on the GPro Tour, tied for 15th last weekend at the Statesboro (Ga.) Open, posting a 7-under-par 209 on the Georgia Southern Golf Club. A second-round 75 helped derail his attempt at victory No. 2 after he opened with a 65. The 2022 Tech graduate is No. 5 on that tour’s player of the year points list.
