THE FLATS – Matt Kuchar and Stewart Cink play the weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship … Cink recruits his wife, Lisa, to caddie for him … Tyler Strafaci and Ben Smith pick up GPro Tour paychecks … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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KUCHAR, CINK PLAY THE WEEKEND AT WELLS FARGO
Matt Kuchar and Stewart Cink, Georgia Tech’s most veteran players on the PGA Tour, both put themselves in contention after 36 holes and played solidly at last weekend’s Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C.
Kuchar shot 67-68 in the middle rounds and posted a tie for 23rd place with a 5-under-par total of 279, maintaining his position at No. 45 on the FedEx Cup points list, the highest standing of any Tech alumnus on tour. Cink, with his wife Lisa on the bag, opened with rounds of 71-66 to reside in the top 15 after Friday, but fell back with 78-74 over the weekend and finished 67th at 289 (+5).
Chesson Hadley, playing in his home state, Richy Werenski and Paul Haley II did not make the cut for the weekend.
All five will be back in action for this weekend’s AT&T Byron Nelson, and will be joined by Vincent Whaley, playing in his hometown of McKinney, Texas. Whaley has not played since the Shriner’s Hospital Open last October while recovering from a wrist injury.
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STEWART CINK’S WIFE LISA CADDIES FOR HIM AT QUAIL HOLLOW
Stewart Cink, who shot a five-birdie, no-bogey 66 Friday to reach 5 under par at the Wells Fargo Championship – three behind early second-round leaders Tyrrell Hatton, Nate Lashley and Wyndham Clark – has an unusual arrangement with his caddie.
If he makes a particularly great shot, his caddie, who happens to be his wife, Lisa, will give him a kiss. And even if he makes a pretty darn good shot, then … well, erm, we’ll let him explain.
Stewart: “She’ll make a deal with me if I get a super-long putt inside three feet, she says I get a peck on the cheek. And if I make a long one it’s grabbing my butt cheek.” (Laughs)
Lisa: “You really just told him that.”
Stewart: “Either way the cheeks get action.”
Lisa: “I can’t believe you just told him that. That’s lovely. We have no secrets.”
Stewart: “That’ll be my goal this weekend, is to get one very public …”
Lisa: “Oh, good.”
Welcome to the latest edition of Stewart Cink and the Family Caddie Corps. For the last two seasons Cink walked the fairways with his youngest son, Reagan, with whom he captured the Safeway Open (now Fortinet Championship) in 2020 and RBC Heritage in ’21.
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STRAFACI, SMITH MAKE CUT IN GPRO CHALLENGE EVENT
Tyler Strafaci and Ben Smith both picked up paychecks last week at the Challenge at Belle Meade on the GPro Tour. Strafaci, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion, tied for 16th place while Smith, who graduated in 2021, finished 19th.
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BETWEEN ASIAN TOUR AND LIV, OGLETREE GETTING REGULAR PLAY
The International Series is now the way for Andy Ogletree in terms of reaching the next level of their careers.
Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion, won in Egypt late last season, then claimed his second International Series win in Qatar in February. The latest win moved him to the top of the Order of Merit standings.
“The International Series is great,” said Ogletree said. “It gives me somewhere to play and somewhere to build my schedule, somewhere to have events to look forward to. It’s been very beneficial in my career.”
Even if it wasn’t exactly the career path he expected after winning the U.S. Amateur. Having grown up in Mississippi, Ogletree expected to cut his teeth on American-based circuits. But he could never gain status, and when he decided to play the inaugural LIV Golf London event last season, it gave him an opportunity to change directions and try something different.
“I didn’t realize how good the competition was in Asia,” Ogletree said. “Growing up, I didn’t get to see the Asian Tour much on TV in America. But now that I’ve been over here, played with a lot of the players and see the guys that have played the Asian Tour for 15, 20 years – all of them are really good play. Surrounding myself with those guys has definitely made me better.”
