But for one man, Scottie Scheffler could have pulled off the repeat victory at Maridoe Golf Club this week. Closing birdies for Brandon Wu on two of Maridoe’s final three holes – and a bogey from Scheffler on No. 18 – prevented it from happening.
This time last year, Wu and his Stanford team were gearing up for the NCAA Championship – an event they eventually won. Wu has had a lot of experiences since then – from making the cut at the U.S. Open as an amateur to representing the U.S. at the Walker Cup. He was T-17 in the Houston Open, his pro debut, and made the cut in three more PGA Tour starts.
Leaderboard: Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational 2.0
At Maridoe, a course Wu had never seen before this event, rounds of 67-70-66 left him at 13 under and one shot ahead of Scheffler. In Thursday’s final round, Wu had seven birdies, with his lone bogey coming at the par-4 13th.
Wu was just as pleased, perhaps, with the interaction – at a safe distance, of course – as he was the opportunity play golf, a sentiment he expressed after the first round.
“I think it’s cool to play golf again and see some of my friends that I haven’t seen since the quarantine started,” he said. He next plans to tee it up at the Korn Ferry Tour’s TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes over Fourth of July weekend, with perhaps a few Monday qualifying appearances in between.
Scheffler hasn’t won a title yet on the PGA Tour, but his 2020 season had been going well so far with four top-10 finishes in 13 starts. After he won last month’s Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational, he donated his entire $9,000 winner’s check to the club’s caddies.
Behind Wu and Scheffler, Texas sophomore Parker Coody finished third at 10 under. The Plano, Texas, native also garnered low-amateur honors for this week.
Korn Ferry Tour player Will Zalatoris, runner-up at last month’s Maridoe event, was fourth at 9 under.
Version 2.0 of the Maridoe event also featured another twist: Eight of the top junior players in the nation (two each from the next four graduating classes) were invited to play, too. Jacob Sosa, a Texas commit representing the class of 2020, was the low junior player after a 3-under 69 in the final round left him at even par. He finished in a tie for 16th with a group of players that included four-time PGA Tour winner Ryan Palmer.
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