Tag: Aaron Rai

From worst to first, Jon Rahm struggles and welcome back Lanto Griffin among 5 things to know after Day One at Farmers Insurance Open

Here’s everything you may have missed from Wednesday at Torrey Pines.

SAN DIEGO – Sam Ryder says most of his great rounds usually start with a birdie. On Wednesday, at the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open, he did one better than that.

Starting on the par-5, 10th hole at the North Course at Torrey Pines, Ryder rolled in a long eagle putt.

“Well, that’s it for me. I’m done for the day,” Brendan Steele, one of his competitors in his grouping, recounted what Ryder said. “I was like, ‘Dude, this isn’t a best ball. You’ve got to keep playing.’ So, he just decided to go crazy.”

Ryder tallied six birdies to go along with the eagle to post a bogey-free 8-under 64 and share the lead with Aaron Rai and rookie Brent Grant. Steele did his best to keep up with Ryder, rolling in a birdie at 10, the first of seven on the round to shoot 65.

“He was always in front of me the whole day,” Steele said. “His good play was helpful. It’s nice to see balls go in the hole.”

“You do feed off that,” Ryder added of a comfortable pairing where both players were dialed in. “There’s truth to that, for sure.”

Ryder, 33, entered the tournament in a slump, having missed three straight cuts and four of his last five, but his confidence remained intact.

“I felt like I was shaking holiday rust off,” he explained. “I’ve been working hard since the start of the new year and felt good about my game. It was just, it started off the tee for me, it was drive it in the fairway and I felt like I could attack.”

Ryder tabbed it a stress-free round and it all began with the opening-hole eagle.

“There wasn’t much to the putt,” he said. “It was actually fairly straight and it was one of those when it was halfway there, it looked pretty good and it just kind of fell in perfect.”

Farmers: Thursday tee times, how to watch | Leaderboard

How low did Patrick Cantlay go? That and more in Saturday’s takeaways from the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open

Here’s what we learned from the third round in Las Vegas.

If Saturday was any indication, Sunday is going to be a heckuva finale in Las Vegas.

Moving day lived up to its mantra on Saturday at TPC Summerlin in the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open. There was a course record-tying round. There were numerous birdies and hardly any bogeys. Past champions are in the mix, and a young star is looking for yet another statement early in his career.

There’s plenty of golf left to be played, and with how many birdies and scoring chances there are in Vegas, there’s no telling who can come out on top Sunday evening. Yet the pair at the top could be a thrilling show themselves.

Here’s what you missed on moving day from Sin City.

It’s a party in New Orleans: Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay lead, but six teams sit within 3 shots

“I felt like we just have had good vibes all week and we’ve been playing really solid golf.”

AVONDALE, La. — Any follow up to a record-breaking 59 may look like a disappointment, but in a difficult format and tough conditions, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay fought for a second-round 68 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“I think we just wanted to hit a bunch of quality golf shots, and we did that today,” Cantlay said after their round. “We really fought hard and made a bunch of those mid-range putts, especially in the middle of the round, and that kind of kept the momentum going.”

After opening with three birdies in their first four holes, the pair made six straight pars before writing another circle on the card at the par-5 2nd. They closed out their 4-under effort with six pars and a birdie.

“Alternate shot is an opportunity to do some cool things if you’re making a lot of birdies,” Schauffele said, “but for the most part you’re trying to leave your partner in a good spot to make an easy par.”

Zurich Classic: Leaderboard | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

They did just that, limiting the mistakes to a lone bogey on the par-4 12th, their third hole of the day.

“I felt like we just have had good vibes all week and we’ve been playing really solid golf. Same game plan for the weekend,” said Cantlay.

The best-buddy tandem enters the weekend with a one-stroke lead.

One of the pairs just a shot back is David Lipsky and Aaron Rai. Lipsky has had an interesting week — it started with a car accident and now he’s in a great spot to earn his first PGA Tour win.

“This is such a fun week for us. You play with a friend, different format, and I think we’re just enjoying it,” Lipsky said. “Wherever Doc and Sam finish, I know we’re one back of Xander and Pat, but I think we’re just having fun out there. We’re both playing pretty well right now, and I’m looking forward to what we can do this weekend.”

Rai is also searching for his first win on Tour.

Doc Redman and Sam Ryder are the other tandem that sits just one back. Like the Lipsky/Rai team, both players are searching for their first win.

Wyndham Clark/Cameron Tringale and Garrick Higgo/Branden Grace are at 15 under, while Jason Day/Jason Scrivener and Sam Burns/Billy Horschel are at 14 under.

Jay Haas and Bill Haas prepare to putt on the ninth green during the first round of the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

The feel-good story of the week goes to the Haas team, as Jay became the oldest player in history to make the cut at a PGA Tour event (68). He had to do it in dramatic fashion, too, needing to drain a four-and-a-half footer for par at the last.

“That was probably as nervous as I’ve ever been over a putt of that length certainly. It sounds silly just to have a chance to make the cut,” he said.

He is just one start away from 800 on the PGA Tour.

The top 33 teams and ties made the cut to play the weekend. Saturday’s round will be Four-balls with Sunday’s final round will be Foursomes.

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Despite a car accident earlier in the week, David Lipsky feeling ‘all right’ atop the leaderboard at Zurich Classic

“Yeah, it was a little bit of a hectic beginning to the week.”

AVONDALE, La. — David Lipsky was on his way to TPC Louisiana on Tuesday morning when he was passing a scene of a broken down car. When he went to change lanes to get out of the way, he was then hit from behind, causing damage to the left rear of his rental car.

“I was driving here on Tuesday morning, and there was a car right in front of me that had broke down,” Lipsky said in his post-round press conference Thursday, “so I started changing lanes, and the guy behind me, I guess, wasn’t paying attention and slammed on the brakes and smoked me.”

“I’m all right. I think the other two drivers were fine. Yeah, it was a little bit of a hectic beginning to the week,” he said.

Lipsky must be feeling all right, because he and his partner, Aaron Rai, opened the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a best ball 11-under 61 to take an early two-shot lead in the Thursday morning wave.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans: PGA Tour Live streaming on ESPN+ | Thursday tee times, format | Leaderboard

“We did complement each other really well today. David played some incredible golf, hit some shots really close, putted well,” Rai said after their round. “And David made a lot of birdies, especially early on and around the turn, which really got things going for us. I chipped in a couple things on the back nine, but it was great to see David be a part of it.”

Lipsky made six birdies and an eagle, which came in the form of a 113-yard hole out on the par-4 8th.

Tomorrow the pair will be playing an alternate shot format, a type of golf neither one has an extensive history with.

“I’ve never played foursomes before,” Rai said.

“I played like two holes alternate shot like five years ago. That was the closest I’ve had to this type of format,” Lipsky said.

They’ll have to acclimate quickly if they plan to hold off the star-studded teams just a few shots back.

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PGA Tour rookies achieve their dreams, but can they keep their dream jobs?

Unlike some pro sports, there are no guaranteed contracts in professional golf.

NAPA, Calif. – Callum Tarren wondered when he might be getting his PGA Tour card.

The 30-year-old England native seemingly had worked a lifetime to gain admission to the big leagues. He finished tied for fourth at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship three weeks ago, a result that locked up one of the 25 PGA Tour cards given out in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals with one event still remaining. But he skipped the ceremony a week later to fly home and spend time with his first child, Sofia, born two weeks earlier.

Tarren’s friend, David Skinns, a 39-year-old journeyman pro from England who spent time during golf’s pandemic shutdown as both a bartender and DoorDash driver to make ends meet before earning his card too, made sure Tarren received the grand symbol of Tour membership at the Fortinet Championship, the first of 48 tournaments that make up the 2021-22 PGA Tour season. Skinns marked his golf ball on the putting green with Tarren’s card during a practice round at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course.

Tarren and Skinns aren’t the only ones who have waited a long time to achieve their dream of playing on the PGA Tour. Justin Lower, 38, attended Q-School six times, missed earning his card by a single shot in 2018, and needed to pitch to a foot from 30 yards to save par at the final hole at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana to secure the last card. Lower still wasn’t sure if he’d done enough until his fellow pros and caddies showered him with beer and champagne. When he finally grabbed hold of his coveted PGA Tour card, Lower said, “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

There are 27 rookies in this season’s class on the PGA Tour, the most since 2011 when 35 earned cards, and 26 of them are in the field this week (all but Matthias Schwab). Max McGreevy and Jared Wolfe are making their Tour debuts.

Some, like Aaron Rai, a 26-year-old Englishman who once holed a record 207 straight 10-foot putts at age 15, needed just three starts in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to graduate while others such as Scott Gutschewski, 44, is returning to the big leagues full time for the first time since 2011. He made just two PGA Tour starts in the past 10 years. How did he celebrate his success? He went to Denny’s.

“It ain’t Applebees, but still pretty fancy,” he tweeted.

Hayden Buckley was the last man to get into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Lecom Suncoast Classic in February and then birdied the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to jumpstart earning his Tour playing privileges. Membership has its privileges. It also means having to play against the likes of World No. 1 Jon Rahm and PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson, who headline the field this week in Napa.

But there are no guaranteed contracts in professional golf. Stephan Jaeger is back for his third tour of duty. He was the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, winning his sixth career title on the circuit, tied for second most all time, but he’s yet to record a top-10 finish in 62 starts on the PGA Tour. Still, he remains undeterred.

“I’ve done a lot over the last year and that’s given me a lot of confidence that like, ‘Hey, I can do this out here,’ ” he said.

Lower shares Jaeger’s never-give-up attitude. The 11-year-pro shed tears of joy when he finally secured the job he’d always dreamed of. This week marks the arrival at his destination, PGA Tour member, but the real work had just begun.

“It means everything,” he said, “and I don’t think this is it. I don’t think my journey is over at all. I think it’s just getting started.”

Tommy Fleetwood forces playoff with dramatic putt, but Aaron Rai takes Scottish Open

Tommy Fleetwood pulled off some late Sunday drama at the Scottish Open, but ultimately Aaron Rai had the last word.

Tommy Fleetwood pulled some late Sunday drama at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, but ultimately Aaron Rai had the last word. When Fleetwood, the European Ryder Cupper, holed a 20-footer for birdie at the closing hole to catch Rai at 11 under, it meant a playoff between the two Englishmen.

Fleetwood fell to Rai on the first playoff hole. Even though Rai hit it in a bunker off the tee to give Fleetwood the early advantage, Fleetwood three-putted from just off the green to give Rai the title.

For Rai, it’s a bit of redemption after finishing runner-up at last week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. His win at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, also moves him inside the top five in the Race to Dubai Rankings and into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Scores: Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open

“It’s incredible,” he said. “I played a lot in Scotland growing up, dreamed of playing in a European Tour event in Scotland. To be able to play in it was incredible a couple of years ago and to be able to go still further is an incredible feeling.

“I didn’t really see many leaderboards all the way around. I knew we had to play well and knew we had to cope pushing forwards but luckily I had a good couple of breaks and also played very well, so I’m very pleased.”

Rai moved up the leaderboard on the strength of a final-round 64. It followed previous rounds of 70-69-70. Fleetwood was under 70 all week (69-68-69-67) and was one of only two players to do that. The other was Marc Warren, who finished in a tie for fourth with Lucas Herbert at 9 under.

Robert Rock, another Englishman, was alone in third at 10 under.

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