Tag: 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson

AT&T Byron Nelson: Jordan Spieth in contention to win his hometown event

The Texan is T-3 and in position to earn his best finish at the Tour’s stop in Dallas.

A decade after his coming out party at the AT&T Byron Nelson as a 16-year-old prodigy, Jordan Spieth is in position to win his hometown tournament for the first time.

Or, if nothing less, perhaps record his first top-10 finish in his 10th attempt at this tournament where in 2010 he finished T-16. Amazingly, he’s never done better, but this could be the year. Spieth finished off a third-round 6-under 66 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, in dramatic fashion, sinking a putt from 31 feet off the green for eagle to climb into a share of third place at 17-under 199, three strokes behind leader Sam Burns (69) and two behind South Korea’s K.H. Lee (67).

“When it got on the green, I thought, ‘Wow, if it has enough, it’s going to get there and it’s going to be electric’ and 4 feet to go I thought it was going to go in,” said Spieth, who lifted his putter to the sky in early celebration.

AT&T Byron Nelson: Leaderboard | Photos

On the day of the Preakness Stakes triple crown race, Spieth was slow out of the gate, making par on his first five holes, including a three-putt par from 64 feet at the par-5 fifth. But then he made his move, recording birdies on four of his next five holes. Just when he seemed poise to make another of his patented Saturday charges, Spieth lost his footing, though he opted for a car racing metaphor.

“I was leaking oil the last few holes,” he said.

Two bogeys at Nos. 15 and 16 – the first when he hung his tee shot at the par 3 to the right and failed to get up and down and the latter the result of an uncharacteristic three-putt from 17 feet – dropped him back to 15 under and four strokes back at the time.

Spieth battled a misbehaving putter on Friday, losing nearly a stroke and half to the field on the greens. So, he made an adjustment in his setup for the third round, widening his stance and bending over slightly more. The results were mixed. He took 29 putts on Saturday and lost ground to the field again (-0.385).

“I opened up a little bit and got worried on a couple missing left, so I ended up pushing them right,” he said. “If I was putting as well as I do in tournaments that I win, we would have a number of strokes better right now. Hopefully I can make up for that tomorrow.”

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He got a head start with the eagle at 18 after sending his second at the par 5 just over the green. Putting through the Zoysia grass had given him fits earlier in the round. Not this time. His latest magic act sent the hometown fans into a frenzy.

“Once it got on the green, it looked good,” Spieth said. “Started the putter raise and I wasn’t positive it was going in because the angle it was coming in at. I wanted to do the no look to the crowd, but, I mean, it was a really cool moment.”

Spieth’s eagle erased the two late bogeys in one fell swoop, climbing into a tie for third with Matt Kuchar (66), Sweden’s Alex Noren (70) and South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel (66).

Spieth still has ground to make up if he’s going to vault past Lee, who is seeking his first PGA Tour title, and Burns, who is trying to win in back-to-back starts. Burns followed up his sizzling 62 on Friday with a workmanlike 3-under 69, which his caddie, Travis Perkins, reminded him wasn’t too shabby at all.

“I told him, ‘Man, I didn’t really have my best stuff today’ and just left a few out there. He’s like, ‘Yeah, but it’s hard to follow up what happened yesterday. It’s important to remember that.’ ”

Spieth, who has won 12 times including three majors since his debut at the Byron Nelson as a teen sensation, knows he’ll have to keep going low to have a chance to win for the second time in his native Texas this year. (He won the Valero Texas Open last month.)

“It’s one of those rounds you want to control your own destiny,” he said of Sunday’s finale at TPC Craig Ranch, “but looks like I’ll be three back, and so you just got to go low or hope that Sam doesn’t go as low, right?”

About as right as his hole-out at 18.

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Rusty Brooks Koepka, struggling Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler lead the missed cut brigade at AT&T Byron Nelson

Brooks Koepka lead the notables that have the weekend off after missing the cut at the AT&T Byron Nelson near Dallas.

Brooks Koepka’s return to action this week at the AT&T Byron Nelson turned out to be a short visit to ‘Big D.’ The four-time major champion shot 71-70—141 at TPC Craig Ranch and missed the cut. It took 6-under 138 or better to play the weekend.

Koepka had some good company. Spain’s Sergio Garcia was among the first-round leaders but struggled to a 75 on Friday. Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick also can head to Kiawah Island, South Carolina, site of next week’s PGA Championship, early after snapping a streak of playing seven straight weekends.

The cutline moved late in the day and sent Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Luke Donald packing. Cameron Champ birdied the last hole to make it on the number along with Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama and Masters runner-up Will Zalatoris. Sam Burns (-17) is setting the pace for the 70 golfers who will compete on the weekend for the trophy.

AT&T Byron Nelson field, by the rankings

Check out the Byron Nelson field broken down below according to the Golfweek/Sagarins and the OWGR.

The PGA Tour stops in Texas this week for the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship. Many players will use this as a tune-up for next week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, the second major of 2021. Given that, the Bryon Nelson features a relatively strong field, with top players like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama.

The entire field is broken down below according to the Golfweek/Sagarins and the OWGR.

So far in the 2020-21 Tour season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which he won a PGA Tour event has been 95 in the Golfweek/Sagarins and 87.6 in the OWGR.

Players GW/Sagarin OWGR
 Jon Rahm 2 3
 Bryson DeChambeau 6 5
 Daniel Berger 9 16
 Will Zalatoris 10 30
 Matt Fitzpatrick 22 17
 Ryan Palmer 25 31
 Jordan Spieth 26 28
 Harris English 29 24
 Scottie Scheffler 30 22
 Hideki Matsuyama 31 15
 Si Woo Kim 37 50
 Sam Burns 47 44
 Alex Noren 52 102
 Patton Kizzire 55 191
 Sergio Garcia 57 46
 John Huh 61 321
 Brooks Koepka 64 12
 Talor Gooch 65 73
 Thomas Pieters 67 88
 Sepp Straka 68 154
 Charles Howell III 70 128
 Matt Kuchar 78 49
 Doug Ghim 79 236
 Lee Westwood 86 23
 Jason Day 87 62
 Scott Stallings 91 269
 Charl Schwartzel 93 157
 Jhonattan Vegas 94 181
 Sebastián Muñoz 96 68
 Scott Piercy 101 185
 Erik van Rooyen 102 75
 Peter Uihlein 106 234
 Carlos Ortiz 107 54
 Antoine Rozner 108 70
 Pat Perez 109 229
 Wyndham Clark 110 149
 James Hahn 112 153
 Wesley Bryan 116 371
 Adam Schenk 117 230
 Rickie Fowler 120 122
 Doc Redman 122 168
 Marc Leishman 123 38
 Luke List 126 145
 Camilo Villegas 127 213
 Mark Hubbard 128 175
 Ryan Moore 129 202
 Rory Sabbatini 130 143
 Josh Teater 133 392
 C.T. Pan 135 162
 Aaron Wise 137 130
 Roger Sloan 139 365
 K.H. Lee 142 137
 Vincent Whaley 143 384
 Troy Merritt 144 169
 Martin Laird 145 95
 Tom Hoge 146 108
 Kevin Chappell 151 581
 Tyler Duncan 153 183
 Brice Garnett 155 243
 Cameron Champ 157 89
 Brandt Snedeker 159 127
 Russell Knox 169 204
 Will Gordon 170 217
 Tom Lewis 171 112
 Andrew Putnam 172 142
 Hank Lebioda 174 332
 Ben Martin 176 301
 Keith Mitchell 178 156
 Brian Stuard 179 203
 Patrick Rodgers 184 216
 Danny Lee 185 178
 Nate Lashley 189 152
 Anirban Lahiri 192 333
 Joseph Bramlett 193 298
 Harry Higgs 196 148
 Cameron Percy 199 299
 Bronson Burgoon 200 317
 Padraig Harrington 202 253
 Bo Hoag 210 247
 Austin Cook 221 238
 Kramer Hickok 222 336
 Ryan Armour 224 257
 Chesson Hadley 228 302
 Andrew Landry 229 138
 Tim Wilkinson 244 513
 Kris Ventura 251 278
 Rafa Cabrera Bello 256 131
 Vaughn Taylor 257 198
 John Catlin 268 78
 Wes Roach 277 403
 Satoshi Kodaira 287 374
 Sam Ryder 288 200
 Scott Harrington 305 369
 D.J. Trahan 306 568
 Tyler McCumber 309 274
 Michael Gligic 311 387
 Scott Brown 320 283
 Beau Hossler 325 382
 Aaron Baddeley 326 473
 Seamus Power 330 437
 J.J. Spaun 335 478
 Ryan Brehm 342 495
 Jimmy Walker 351 510
 Jonathan Byrd 354 750
 J.B. Holmes 355 443
 Roberto Castro 365 716
 Rob Oppenheim 367 429
 Fabián Gómez 371 379
 Jamie Lovemark 378 455
 Xinjun Zhang 386 324
 Rafael Campos 399 270
 Bill Haas 401 656
 Kelly Kraft 405 677
 Ted Potter Jr. 406 351
 Chris Baker 409 536
 K.J. Choi 410 577
 Johnson Wagner 411 987
 Ricky Barnes 419 1129
 Hudson Swafford 423 189
 Mark Anderson 424 682
 Sean O’Hair 428 660
 David Hearn 434 501
 Bo Van Pelt 436 600
 Ryan Blaum 437 1303
 MJ Daffue 440 705
 Sung Kang 441 184
 Kevin Tway 448 469
 Luke Donald 452 658
 Kiradech Aphibarnrat 466 435
 Zack Sucher 474 463
 Rhein Gibson 484 592
 Grayson Murray 487 373
 Sebastian Cappelen 488 547
 Ben Taylor 494 988
 Greg Chalmers 518 672
 Nelson Ledesma 534 530
 Michael Gellerman 550 742
 Jonas Blixt 577 884
 Hunter Mahan 588 1291
 Shawn Stefani 589 654
 Michael Kim 590 1409
 Nick Watney 598 489
 Kevin Stadler 638 1855
 Martin Trainer 643 1003
 Matt Every 666 772
 John Senden 673 1855
 J.J. Henry 708 1644
 Dominic Bozzelli 748 1043
 Pierceson Coody N/R N/R
 Cole Hammer N/R 1855
 Tom Lovelady N/R 1855
 Ryan Lumsden N/R 556
 John Lyras N/R 1153
 Dylan Meyer N/R 1855
 Shane Pearce N/R N/R
 Tyler Strafaci N/R N/R

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Jason Day, dealing with crisis of confidence, says he’ll skip U.S. Open qualifier for corporate day

The former World No. 1’s five-year U.S. Open exemption from winning the 2015 PGA Championship has run out.

Jason Day finds himself in an unfamiliar position.

The former World No. 1’s five-year U.S. Open exemption from winning the 2015 PGA Championship has run out and he’s slipped to No. 62 in the Official World Golf Ranking, which means he’s running out of time to climb inside the top 60 and receive an automatic invite.

Otherwise, he’ll have to join the great unwashed at one of several 36-hole sectional qualifying sites across the country. Except Day told members of the press via a pre-tournament Teams conference call ahead of the AT&T Byron Nelson that he wouldn’t attempt to qualify because of – wait for it – a previously scheduled commitment with NetJets.

“To be honest, if I don’t get in I’m not qualifying. I’ve got a scheduled event for NetJets that I’ve got on Monday after the Memorial, so I’m planning on doing that instead of going to qualify,” he explained. “I got to do it the other way around, which I got to play well or win a tournament in the next two weeks.”

It wasn’t that long ago that Day was one of the favorites to win the U.S. Open, and this year’s venue, Torrey Pines, is the site of two of his PGA Tour victories at the annual Farmers Insurance Open. Day, who outdueled Jordan Spieth at Whistling Straits for his lone major, sounded like a man who no longer was obsessed with winning the big ones. (Clearly, he scheduled the corporate day assuming he would be exempt, but one would think he’d try to re-schedule it to give himself one last chance at earning a spot at Torrey, no?)

AT&T Byron Nelson: Tee times, TV info | Matchups, prop bets

When Day was asked to clarify if the majors were still important to him, he said, “I just feel like if I do it that way that in my mind my mindset will say, ‘Okay, it’s fine. You can just go qualify next year,’ and I’ll get used to qualifying instead of going, ‘No, I’m not going to qualify. I got to earn my way into that spot.’ ”

He continued: “It’s just that in my mind I’ve got to earn it. It’s like I never wanted to go and play Augusta before earning a spot there. I had plenty of opportunities, but I never wanted to go and play Augusta until I earned my spot, and I ended up earning it back in 2011.”

So, the pressure is on Day to perform and, so far this season, that hasn’t been a good thing for the 33-year-old Australian, who’s in the midst of a crisis of confidence.

“When you have no confidence in your game it’s just really difficult to even think about winning,” Day said.

He explained that at the start of the year his game felt lost. He’s battled a myriad of injuries and began working with instructor Chris Como to make swing changes to prevent injuries and hopefully extend his playing career.

“I was trying to change my swing and putting hadn’t been the same and I got too technical with the putting,” he said. “It’s crazy because I feel like in my good putting days I was the best putter in the world. For me, putting was the middle of my universe, the sun for me. To be able to not have that killed a lot of my confidence.”

As his world ranking plummeted, Day said he had trouble sleeping and stressed over his lackluster results.

“My big thing was I can’t fall outside of top 50. I can’t do that. If it’s not enjoyable for me, I may as well retire. I can’t play the way that I’m doing and beat my head against a wall essentially. But, then on the other hand I’m like, ‘No, you can’t quit. You got to keep pushing, stay persistent, stay positive, patient, keep moving forward, and it’ll come back.’ So right now I’m trying to do that.”

As if Day doesn’t have enough to stress about, he and wife Ellie are about to become parents for a fourth time. He knows he could get a call any day now and no matter how he’s doing in a tournament he will withdraw and head home to witness the birth.

“She’s full term on Friday, so, yeah, I’m on call waiting for her to – we have people staying with her obviously because she is not looking after three kids by herself, so we want to make sure that – I want to make sure that I can get back. That’s the biggest thing,” he said. “It might be a good little time away if the baby does come early or if the baby comes on time, you know, that I get to spend at home with Ellie and the newborn and obviously the family.”

Until then, Day said he’s begun to see some positives. He enters the Byron Nelson having missed the cut at his two previous starts, but he’s reunited with performance coach Jason Goldsmith, who previously worked with Day during his peak years, and he’s pushing on in his quest to qualify for the U.S. Open.

“Majors are very, very important,” he said. “They’re more important when I feel like my game is in a position to win. Right now I’m like feel like my game is in position to win if I get lucky. But that’s kind of before last week. What I’ve worked on this week, I don’t know how I’m going to play this week, but for the first time in a long time I feel really good about where my game is at.”

Confidence is knowing your best golf is still to come.

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Brooks Koepka: Knee still isn’t 100 percent but ‘dramatically’ better than at Masters

Brooks Koepka is making his first start since missing the cut at the Masters in hopes that his knee is improved and he can chase a third PGA.

Brooks Koepka returns this week to the site of one of his bigger disappointments, but he couldn’t be happier to be at TPC Craig Ranch in Dallas.

“It’s just nice to be back playing, to be honest with you,” he said.

Koepka suffered a right knee cap dislocation and ligament damage that forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship on March 7 and undergo surgery. He returned to play at the Masters, which he deemed “very satisfying” just to get back, but wasn’t himself.

“I don’t enjoy missing cuts,” he said.

With the PGA Championship, a major he’s won twice (in 2018 and 2019), just a week away, Koepka said an additional month of rehab has helped, but made it clear that he’s still not 100 percent.

“I still can’t squat down, get into a catcher’s position or fully bend down,” he said. “You know, still be a while before I’m 100 percent. It’s dramatically better than it was at Augusta. You know, I feel like the strength is getting there. The mobility is getting there. I’m ahead of schedule. Long ways ahead of schedule of where I should be at this point, so I’m very pleased.”

Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka stretches to line up a putt on the 14th green during the first round of the 2021 Masters Tournament on Thursday, April 8, 2021, in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: David J. Phillip/Associated Press)

Koepka went through a winless spell last season, but returned to the winner’s circle at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February and then was in the thick of the trophy hunt at the WGC-Workday Championship at the Concession. He looked on his way to returning to the dominant force that claimed four majors and reached World No. 1. And then another injury setback.

Koepka said he hasn’t made any swing adjustments to accommodate for the injury, but he’s struggling to load on his right side.

AT&T Byron Nelson: Tee times, TV info | Matchups, prop bets

“I get off it,” he said. “That happens with the longer clubs, mainly driver. But everything from about 7-iron in, no problem.”

Koepka is making his sixth career start at the AT&T Byron Nelson, with his best result being a playoff defeat to Sergio Garcia in 2016. That, however, was at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas. This year, the tournament shifts to TPC Craig Ranch, where Koepka has memories he’s buried somewhere in the back recesses of his mind.

“I remember leaving disappointed,” he said more than once.

In 2012, TPC Craig Ranch was the site of Koepka flaming out of the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. He wasn’t alone – Jordan Spieth was among the casualties. While Spieth took advantage of the sponsor invite route, Koepka wasn’t so fortunate and instead earned playing privileges on the European Tour’s Challenge Tour and worked his way up the golf ladder the hard way. It helped make Koepka the player he is today.

“I wasn’t nearly the same player I am today as back in ’12. Maybe I don’t get out here as quickly. You know, who knows? I could have gone through and failed in the final stage and still be stuck on mini tours. You never know,” he said. “It’s one of those crazy things. But it worked out, so I’m not going to complain.”

Nor is he complaining that his knee feels months ahead of schedule.

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