It took nearly four years for Sam Burns to break through on the PGA Tour. He’s hoping the sequel will come in much shorter order.
McKINNEY, Texas — It took nearly four years for Sam Burns to break through and win on the PGA Tour. He’s hoping the sequel will come in much shorter order.
Burns was simply scintillating on a warm, sunny day, bludgeoning TPC Craig Ranch on Friday during the second round of the AT&T Byron Nelson. By day’s end, the 24-year-old rode a 62 to take the lead into the third round.
Sure, Burns had squandered two previous 54-hole leads this season, but he proved he can close — making three birdies on the final nine holes to erase a one-stroke deficit at the turn and win the Valspar Championship by three strokes over Keegan Bradley last month.
On Friday, in front of a rowdy and sizable crowd, Burns posted a career-best 10 under. He’ll enter the weekend attempting to become the first player to win his first two events in consecutive starts since Camilo Villegas did it in 2008.
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“Everything out there felt great. I just feel like we got into a good rhythm throughout the round. I made a run right there on the back nine, and so it was nice to be able to finish it off with two birdies at the end,” Burns said. “A good way to end the day. Just trying to get a good game plan out here for tomorrow and let’s see what happens.”
Giving chase are K.H, Lee, Alex Noren, Doc Redman and J.J. Spaun. Six golfers, including Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar, are six bac at 11 under.
The understated Burns insisted he’s simply reaping the rewards from some quality work investment.
“The biggest thing for me is just seeing the hard work that we put in it, to start seeing results from that. A lot of times you don’t know how long the results are going to take. Golf is a fickle game,” he said. “It’s cool to see some feedback from the progress we’ve made back home and seeing it in tournament play as well.”
But don’t expect to see much different from the former LSU star on Saturday, even with some potential weather blips on the radar. It’s likely he’ll follow a similar game plan, one that netted four birdies on the front during the second round and six more on the back.
“I think we just continue to do what we been doing. Don’t do anything more than I have to. Don’t try to play outside what I’m capable of,” he said. “Just continue to put ourselves in the right spots and see what happens.”
Jordan Spieth followed an opening-round funfest at the AT&T Byron Nelson with a more pedestrian 70 on Friday.
McKINNEY, Texas — Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man … well, grumpy.
At least that was the case for Jordan Spieth, who followed an opening-round funfest at the AT&T Byron Nelson with a more pedestrian 70 on Friday, although it was good enough to keep him near the top of the leaderboard after the second round’s early wave.
After having the opportunity to sleep in a bit on Thursday before enjoying a rousing 63 alongside ol’ buddies Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris, Spieth heard the alarm go off well before sunrise in advance of Friday’s second round. Yes, this week at TPC Craig Ranch is something of a home game for the three-time major champ, as he’s a Dallas native and lives in the area, but it’s never fun to get out of bed too early. Even if it’s your own.
“When I wake up at 4:30, I’m in a bad mood just as most people probably are and I needed to kick that today,” Spieth said. “I think yesterday even when I wasn’t playing a good hole I was kind of laughing at the miss or chunked it and laughed. Today I had a shorter fuse. So hopefully. … I’ll just get some better rest tonight.
“There is no reason for me not to trust everything I’m doing. At this point, I’ve got an opportunity to contend here, and if I can get myself a chance on Sunday, that is the best prep for this tournament and also next week.”
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For Spieth — who tested positive for COVID about 10 days after leaving Augusta in April and was forced to quarantine in his Dallas home away from his wife, Annie — a lack of scoring had to do with a lack of putting success.
While making seven birdies and an incredible eagle on Thursday, Spieth needed 26 putts and holed 121 feet, 7 inches total. On Friday, the former Longhorn made 61 feet, 3 inches over the entire round. He did end on a high, however, posting a birdie on No. 9, his final hole of the day.
“I just had plenty of looks. I didn’t make many putts at all today. It was nice to cap off a birdie on the last hole to really feel like I had … within three is certainly a lot better as you head into a weekend when you got to score,” Spieth said.
With difficult weather conditions in the weekend forecast, Spieth knows he’ll need to tighten things up a bit heading into Saturday’s third round. He’s hoping to build on a recent resurgence, one that’s seen him post six top-10 finishes in his last eight events, including a victory at the Valero Texas Open and a T-3 at the Masters.
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“I just have got to kind of get a little more compact with my golf swing. Just throw out today, go to the range, and just go back to yesterday’s feels and see if I can get a little more compact,” he said. “Then I really got to get dialed in with a putting feel. I’ve missed six or seven putts inside of 10 feet the last two days. That’s just kind of that, you know, when you get to playing more and more, instead of being a little uncomfortable you just start to … they’re just another putt.
“Tomorrow will be a really good test. Tomorrow the golf course will be more difficult than any other day, and I think that’ll be a test on where I’m at.”
Wadkins, a 21-time winner on Tour, takes a trip down memory lane to relive some of his finer moments.
The old saying for those who’ve relocated to the Lone Star state is “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.”
That’s certainly the case for Lanny Wadkins, a Virginia native who has maintained a residence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for decades.
It’s no surprise Wadkins has felt at home in the DFW — his second PGA Tour victory, one that solidified his standing as one of the game’s great emerging players, came at the 1973 Byron Nelson Classic when he edged Dan Sikes in a playoff.
We caught up with Wadkins earlier this week in Dallas at a Golfweek Raters event at Las Colinas Country Club.
Golfweek: Tell us your memories of that 1973 victory at the Byron Nelson (then played at Preston Trail Golf Course):
Lanny Wadkins:I won in ’72, which was my rookie year. I won in Las Vegas, and for my first win, I’d beaten Arnold Palmer by a shot, so then here at the Nelson, I was playing well coming in. I’d finished fifth the week before the Tournament of Champions in La Costa. So, I knew I was playing well. I came here and had a great week driving the ball. The last day was really windy. I was three back then I think I birdied five of the last seven holes on the last day and thought I’d won the thing, but Dan Sikes holed about a 40-footer from just off the back edge of the green on 18 to tie me.
Then I won on the first sudden-death hole, which was 15 back then. They went to 15 because that’s where TV started.
GW: What did that win mean for you?
LW: I was playing really well. In fact, I went to Houston next week and finished third, so I had a fifth, a first and a third right in a row as a 23-year-old.
So it kind of put me up there. I finished fifth on the money list that year. I finished 10th my first year, which was technically supposed to be my senior year at Wake Forest, since I left a year early. I was 10th on the money list and so it worked out well. But like with anything — you go through something where you’re feeling your way through.
Lanny Wadkins talks to a group of Golfweek Raters during an event at Las Colina Country Club. Wadkins won the 1973 Byron Nelson Classic. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
GW: To win in your sophomore season on the Tour, did you kind of feel like, “hey, wait a minute, this isn’t a fluke. I belong here.”
LW: I mean, I felt I did anyway. I was runner-up at the Heritage in 1970 when I was U.S. Amateur champ. So I had finished second at a PGA Tour event as an amateur. I finished 13th in a U.S. Open as an amateur. So, I knew I could play before I got out there — that’s why I went out there. So I was settled in.
GW: So, now let’s come full circle. In 1983, you think you’re going to win at the Nelson again. What happened?
LW: Yeah, well that was the first year they moved it (to TPC-Las Colinas). I played well there a number of times. And when it went to Las Colinas, I finished top two or three several times.
I lost to Payne Stewart by a shot one year (in 1990) and in ’83, the first year we moved the Nelson to Las Colinas. I actually had the 54-hole lead. I’d won at La Costa in the Tournament of Champions. I won that so I was coming in here thinking, you know, I was playing well, they just moved the tournament.
I knew the course. I had the 54-hole lead. You know, I thought I might take down back-to-back wins, but I didn’t do it. Ben Crenshaw played great on the final day and I think I ended up finishing third. That’s one I really thought I had.
GW: So when a tournament like this keeps moving — and it’s in its first year at TPC Craig Ranch — does that lose its luster for you, personally? Or doesn’t it really matter?
LW: I think they’ve been trying to figure it out. I think, you know, they had to move away from Preston Trail. We didn’t have the room for anything out there anymore. We had no room for parking. The neighborhood was growing up. The size of the venue wasn’t large enough and the footprint got much larger at Las Colinas because eventually, they had 36 holes of this so that gave them ample room and they even used both courses during the tournament several times. It gave them other venues for pro-ams and they had plenty of room out there for corporate hospitality, so it all worked, you know. The corporate hospitality is a big part of it today, you’ve got to take that into consideration when you’re planning a PGA Tour event.
I was surprised by the move to Trinity Forest and I’m not surprised by the move out to Craig Ranch. I believe Craig Ranch — it’s a Tom Weiskopf course — it’s a very good straightforward golf course. I think it’s going to be an excellent venue for the tournament. I think the players will love it. Right down the road in Frisco there’s hotels, there’s restaurants, there’s, you know, 10 to 15 minutes away there’s everything in the world you could want, so I think all in all it’s a wonderful spot for the tournament.
Lanny Wadkins on the range on Wednesday during the PNC Father/Son Challenge at The Ritz Carlton Golf Club of Orlando.
GW: You now have an interesting perspective, you were a player at a time when it was all about the golf course, pure and simple. People came to tournaments for the course. Now, it’s much more about the staging and the hospitality and TV. Do you see a difference in the way players treat their schedules?
LW: The players are still coming because of the golf course and how they how the course suits them. The players themselves aren’t coming because of the hospitality, right? I mean now this with the Nelson, it’ll be a bigger venue, a bigger show on Tour, if you will. Like Phoenix, for example, is sometimes it’s a show. It’s a happening.
GW: Would you have changed your schedule if you played today?
LW: My schedule always revolved around if I liked the golf course. Did I play it well? I mean when you get down to the bottom line, it’s a business and you’ve got to make money. I’m not going to go someplace where I miss the cut every year. That doesn’t make sense to go spend $5,000 of your own money to make nothing, right?
So I mean even here in Dallas when I was living here, I was having a run at Colonial where I just played horribly. I love the golf course, but I played terrible at Colonial. I missed the cut every year. So finally, in ’86 and ’87, I just didn’t play Colonial. Even though I was here, I didn’t play Colonial. I went back in ’88 and won. I hadn’t made the cut there in forever but I needed a break from it. And I went back an ’88 and won, and then played good there from then on.
GW: How come?
LW: I have no idea. I love the course. I like the grasses. I mean, I’m here. I just went over there the first year back in ’88 and had a good first round, I think I shot a 67, and was like now I can shoot a score here. And that’s all I needed. I just needed to know that I could and then it was OK.
From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for the AT&T Byron Nelson second round.
The PGA Tour is in the Lonestar State this week before heading back east for the year’s second major next week at Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship.
TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, hosts this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson for the first time, with 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, world No. 3 Jon Rahm and rising stars on Tour Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler among the 156-man field.
Texan Jordan Spieth got off to a strong start in the opening round, and at 9 under is tied for the lead with J.J. Spaun. Sergio Garcia is also in the mix at 7 under after holing out for eagle at the sixth hole.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, below you’ll find everything you need to know for the second round of the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson.
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Scheffler, Spieth and Will Z combined to play 199 times in Northern Texas PGA junior tournaments, with 63 wins between them.
McKINNEY, Texas — On a sunny PGA Tour Thursday, it was just three longtime junior golf buddies, now all PGA Tour young stars and multi-millionaires, Dallas’ Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler. All enjoyingarelaxing, historic stroll at the TPC-Craig Ranch Thursday during the first round of the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Together, they combined to play 199 times in Northern Texas PGA junior golf tournaments, with 63 wins between them, but before the opening PGA Tour round, they had never played in the same group in a competitive tournament, much less a professional event.
That was enough Lone Star golf history to bring out the vast majority of the 12,500 COVID-limited fans, lining the fairways six-deep at points to see the former Dallas golf prodigies turned young PGA Tour kings.
Three major golf championships (Spieth), a rookie of the year honor (Scheffler) and a breakout Masters runner-up in your first appearance (Zalatoris) will do that for you.
World No. 3 Jon Rahm and defending Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama might as well have been in a witness protection program for the lack of fans following them all while playing at the same time as the Texas threesome. Early first-round leader J.J. Spaun’s 63 was merely a distant rumor.
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All eyes were on the trash-talking, rib-poking, high-fiving group of friends.
“You could have given me that putt,” Zalatoris, 24, told Scheffler, also 24, as they walked off the par 5 fifth hole — after Will Z nearly holed an eagle chip. “I said, are we good?
“Sorry, I tried,” Scheffler replied with a wide grin.
Spieth, 27, could only smile at hisbuddy’s trash-talking, adding in his remarks,while walking between holes,his thoughts on the recent Dallas Cowboys draft and the best places to eat near where all three live in Dallas.
‘It’s remarkable, it really is,” said Northern Texas PGA executive director Mark Harrisonwho was following the group. “To see three kids who started out as juniors, playing in front of thousands at home, you almost can’t believe it.”
How remarkable? PGA Tour stats guru Jordan Ray estimated the odds of three players, who began in the same junior golf section, at the same time, playing in the Masters Tournament in the same year, as all three did in April, at 24 — then followed by 12 zeros — or an astronomical number.
May 13, 2021; McKinney, Texas, USA; Scottie Scheffler plays his shot from the second tee during the first round of the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
“Play well,” Zalatoris told Scheffler with a large dose ofsarcasmon the first tee before they began their round under the watchful eye of Peggy Nelson, the former wife of golf legend and tournament namesake Byron Nelson.
“You’ll play better,”Scheffler, said even moresarcastically.
“Yeah, right,” added his constant golf buddy and comic foil.
“Scottie kicked my butt a lot more times than I kicked his when we were juniors,” Zaltoris said before the round started.
Large gallery following the Spieth/Zalatoris/Scheffler group. At least five deep all around the green. Pretty impressive, especially given the 20-25% capacity this event is operating at. pic.twitter.com/wt4cDIUBOM
Spieth, who won their 2006 Ewing Junior Classic junior golf showdown in nearby Garland, 74-77-86 over Zalatoris and Scheffler respectively, could only chuckle in the background before quickly taking the lead again.
He poured in a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 first hole and never trailed in the opening nine holes, shooting a 31 on the front nine with Scheffler at 32 and Zalatoris at 35.
Publicly, the three said there was no side bet to be won on Thursday.
“Not this time,” added Zalatoris.
But golf bragging rights among friends, multi-millionaires or not, last forever.
Sergio Garcia is getting a jump on his PGA Championship prep in his home state of Texas.
Sergio Garcia got a jump start on his PGA Championship prep on Thursday.
With birdies at Nos. 12, 14 and 18, Garcia (who started on the back nine) made the turn at the AT&T Byron Nelson at 3 under. He then added birdies on Nos. 1 and 5 before coming upon the 348-yard par-4 sixth hole. A 293-yard drive left him 52 yards from the hole. From there, he wedged up past the hole, put a little backspin on the ball and seemingly even surprised himself when the ball rolled in for an eagle 2.
“As soon as hit it I knew it was going to be close,” Garcia said. “Didn’t know if it was going to go in or not, but knew it was going to be close.
“It was nice to hear the crowd go a little bit crazy there, because we couldn’t see it go in.”
Garcia, who lives in the Austin, Texas, area, made the three-and-a-half-hour drive to the north side of Dallas for the event, where he is a two-time winner. His eagle hole-out tied him for the lead at 7 under. J.J. Spaun would later birdie his final hole to get to 9 under and take the clubhouse lead with a 63 but Garcia is right there after the first round.
Garcia closed with three straight pars and walked off the course in a seven-way tie for second at 7 under.
“It was obviously a great round,” he said. “I would’ve loved to birdie the last hole, I’m not going to lie. But, you know, I think overall it was a solid day. A lot of good things.
“Couple of things that could have been better, but overall it was nice and putted nicely. So very happy with the way it went.”
After his round, Bello talked about how this year has been tough for him but “today felt really nice.”
He went on to say that he hoped his opening-hole birdie wasn’t actually a bad sign.
“To be fair, the last two events I missed the cut and I started with birdie first hole that I played, so I told my brother, I hope this doesn’t mean that we’re going to play bad the rest of the day,” he said. “So that was the first thing that went through my mind.”
J.J. Spaun later took the lead at 9 under after shooting a 63.
“I haven’t been in this position in a while,” Spaun said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do what I been doing last week and this week. … just stay in the present. You know, don’t be scared. Fire away. Make as many birdies as I can. If I do it, great. If I don’t, well as least I tried. That’s the mindset I’m going into for the rest of this week.”
Koepka, Spieth, Matsuyama make returns
Brooks Koepka, who suffered a right knee-cap dislocation and ligament damage that forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship on March 7, is playing for the first time since he missed the cut at the Masters.
Koepka birdied No. 9, his final hole, to shoot an opening-round, 1-under 71. His scorecard had four birdies and three bogeys.
Jordan Spieth, who last played at Augusta National, contracted COVID-19 during his time off. About 10 days after the conclusion of the Masters, Spieth tested positive. He says he didn’t know how he got it, nor did he lose his appetite or sense of smell but he did have to quarantine in his Dallas home away from his wife, Annie, as he successfully defeated the virus.
The Byron Nelson is also the first tournament back for Hideki Matsuyama since he won the Masters. During his time off, he returned to his native Japan, where he received the Prime Minister’s award from Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo.
“I realize now the responsibility that goes with a major championship, especially the Masters,” Matsuyama said, “I’m honored. I’m flattered by the added attention, but at the same time, sometimes it’s difficult to say no. But it goes with the territory and, again, grateful that I have this opportunity and I’ll try my best to prepare well for what’s to come.”
Matsuyama said he planned to use this week at TPC Craig Ranch “to try to find my game again and prepare for the PGA Championship next week.”
Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio and Adam Schupak contributed to this article.
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?)
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.
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 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.
“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.
After a hectic week in North Carolina (and briefly in Texas), DeChambeau is ready to compete at home.
Bryson DeChambeau has an easy commute this week.
“It’s 27 minutes with no traffic on the toll roads, so not too bad,” DeChambeau said Wednesday of his route from his Dallas home to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, home to this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
Sure beats last week’s commute. Thinking he had missed the cut in the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, DeChambeau flew home some 1,000 miles to begin prep work for this week. Turned out he made the cut on the number and at 2:45 a.m. CT Saturday, he was on a private jet again for the 1,000-mile trip back to North Carolina and rushed to make his 8:10 a.m. ET tee time.
DeChambeau shot 68-68 on the weekend and his tie for ninth netted him $228,825 to blunt his expensive mistake of leaving early.
He has caught his breath and is ready to navigate his way around TPC Craig Ranch, which is making its PGA Tour debut. DeChambeau is familiar with the Tom Weiskopf track, having played it a dozen times during his days at Southern Methodist University.
From the sounds of things, the course is right up DeChambeau’s alley.
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“I like the golf course because the greens are in such great conditions. They’re bent. I love bent greens. They rolled pure today. They rolled so good. Made a lot of putts out there in the pro-am,” he said. “The golf course is for the most part wide open. There are areas you have got to be precise, but for the most part it’s a bomber’s paradise. Hopefully that plays into my hands. If I can hit it somewhat straight and have 190 ball speed, it’s going to be pretty helpful on par-5s.
“It was wet and rainy out here today and I had driver 7-iron and then driver 4-iron into 12 and 18 (both par 5s.) So if I can just get my irons good and driver good, little bit better than last week, I feel like I can be in contention.”
DeChambeau is certainly a bomber – he leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, SG: Tee-to-Green and in driving distance (322.1 yards). Other parts of his game are working just fine, too, as the No. 4-ranked player in the world is one of just two players – Stewart Cink being the other – to have multiple victories this season. DeChambeau won the U.S. Open at rugged Winged Foot in the fall and captured the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
Through it all, he’s continued to chase speed and gain strength. He said his calorie intake is down to between 4,500-5,000 per day – “It’s nothing crazy,” he said – and he’s down from 240 pounds to 230 pounds.
“I’m just sustaining that right now and trying to get stronger,” he said. “Just want my muscles to be firing a lot faster and more stable.”
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DeChambeau also has his eyes on next week’s PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. He’s never played the course and only seen it on TV when he watched Rory McIlroy win the 2012 PGA Championship there in 2012.
“I feel like I’m ramping up,” he said. “Every time I’ve (played) a few weeks in a row, that third or fourth week I seem to play pretty well. Hopefully this week kind of solidifies it, and maybe I play well and win this week and I am feeling really good going into next week.
“(McIlroy) played really well out there, and I think his game, his length, is a tremendous advantage, as well as mine hopefully will be next week. I think it’s one of the longest championships we’ve ever played. And I’m excited for that, because any time it’s a super long golf course I think it fits into my hand quite nicely.”
From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for the AT&T Byron Nelson first round.
The PGA Tour is bound for the Lonestar State before heading back East for the year’s second major next week at Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship.
TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, hosts this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson for the first time, with a field of 156 players set to compete including 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, world No. 3 Jon Rahm and rising stars on Tour Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, below you’ll find everything you need to know for the first round of the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson.
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