A look at the highest rated recruits in Tennessee football history.
Third-year head coach Josh Heupel is on pace for a top 10 2024 recruiting class.
Tennessee has 19 commitments for its 2024 recruiting class ahead of the upcoming season. The Vols’ 2024 class ranks No. 8 nationally and No. 5 in the Southeastern Conference.
Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class is headlined by five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews. Matthews ranks as the No. 13 overall prospect in 2024. He is the Vols’ ninth-highest rated commit all time.
Prior to the 2023 season, Vols Wire looks at Tennessee’s highest rated recruits all time. The list below excludes players who committed to Tennessee and did not sign with the Vols.
Brice Garnett views this week more like a vacation rather than a golf tournament.
Brice Garnett views this week more like a vacation rather than a golf tournament.
How could he not at Puntacana Resort & Club? There’s food everywhere surrounding the resort. There’s beautiful views at the Corales Golf Course. And it’s a trip to the Dominican Republic, where Garnett has his only PGA Tour win back in 2018.
“Yeah, it’s just so easy. I feel like it’s an easy week,” Garnett said. “It’s kind of how I approach the weeks outside the (U.S.). I’ve had quite a bit of success really playing island golf.”
After an opening 6-under 66 in gusty conditions, it’s hard to argue against his case. Garnett tied for the lead with Ben Martin and one shot in front of Matt Wallace after the opening round at the Corales Puntacana Championship, this week’s opposite-field event.
A month ago at the Honda Classic, Garnett was in contention before a closing 77 at PGA National. A week later, he once again shot 77 in the final round at the Puerto Rico Open.
“Just waiting and patiently hoping that we can get all four days together here before long,” he said. “So just kind of keeping our nose down and keep on grinding. We know it will all come together eventually.”
Martin joined Garnett with a bogey-free performance. Martin also has one PGA Tour win, coming at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
“This is why I play. I want chances to win golf tournaments.” — Patrick Rodgers
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The fact that Patrick Rodgers still is seeking his first PGA Tour victory after 225 career starts is one of golf’s great mysteries. But that could change on Sunday at the RSM Classic as Rodgers made four straight birdies on the back nine Saturday to shoot 6-under 64 and shares the 54-hole lead with Ben Martin. It’s Rodgers’s first 54-hole lead since the 2017 John Deere Classic.
“This is why I play. I want chances to win golf tournaments,” he said. “That was one of the big things my coach (Jeff Smith) and I talked about during the offseason – to get my nose in there a little more often and this is a really fun opportunity.”
Big things were expected of Rodgers, 30, a member of the ballyhooed “Class of 2011” that includes major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Rodgers equaled the record of Tiger Woods with 11 victories during his college career at Stanford, but the closest he’s come to lifting a trophy on the Tour is losing in a playoff here to Charles Howell III at the 2018 RSM Classic. That week, Rodgers shot 61-62 at Sea Island’s Seaside Course, the lowest 36-hole weekend score in Tour history. (Three times in all he’s been a runner-up on Tour.)
RSM Classic co-leader Patrick Rodgers has six rounds of 65 or better this season (including two this week), the most of any player on TOUR.
What has kept the 30-year-old Rodgers from living up to the high expectations placed upon him? Poor iron play has been the biggest culprit. Until improving to 94th in the rankings, he’d never finished better than 117th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach.
“He extends early, left hip goes up early, spine angle goes back and he doesn’t trap his irons,” Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said. “He flat out is going to have to learn to hit his irons better to have the sort of success that was anticipated for him.”
This season, Rodgers has made seven straight cuts and finished T-3 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship three weeks ago. After rounds of 69 at the Plantation Course on Thursday and a tidy 65 at Seaside on Friday, Rodgers got hot on the back nine on Saturday, going on a birdie binge that began at 13 and continued through the 16th hole.
“I’m hoping it plays difficult tomorrow because I feel like that plays to my advantage but I’m looking forward to the fight,” Rodgers said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Patrick Rodgers is making his 199th start since joining the PGA TOUR at the start of the 2015-16 season, the most of any player without a win in that span.
Nine months after his first Korn Ferry Tour win, Chad Ramey now has a win on the PGA Tour.
The tiny Mississippi town of Fulton, population about 4,000, has now produced two professional golf champions.
Chad Ramey joins the LPGA’s Ally Ewing with a trip into the winner’s circle at the highest level of their professions.
In just his 16th start on the PGA Tour, Ramey had a Sunday to remember with six birdies over his last 15 holes, including four in a row on his back nine, to storm the finish line and claim the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship.
Fulton is situated in the northwest corner of the state and is home to Fulton Country Club, a 5,700-yard course run by Ramey’s dad, Stanley. The course has no practice range, so growing up Ramey and Ewing designed their own makeshift range across fairways. They aimed at trees and shagged their own balls, trying to stay out of the way of paying customers.
“During football and huntin’ season, it kind of clears out,” said Ramey, who, like Ewing, went to Mississippi State. Ramey once shot a 27 on the course, closing with an ace on the last hole.
Sunday, Ramey shot a 67 to finish at 17 under and win by a shot over Alex Smalley and Ben Martin. Jhonattan Vegas and Cameron Percy finished tied for fourth, two back.
Ramey, 29, is the eighth first-time winner this season. He’s the first rookie to win on Tour since Garrick Higgo claimed the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
Ramey tracked down Ben Martin, who led after each of the first three rounds. Martin opened the week with back-to-back 66s but posted back-to-back 70s over the weekend, opening the door for Ramey.
Alex Smalley briefly grabbed the clubhouse lead Sunday. He followed his second-round 65 with a third-round 73 and closed his week with another 65, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Ramey.
“I always had the self-belief that I could get it done,” Ramey said after his fourth top-20 finish of the season. “I proved that today.”
Ramey started the week ranked 203rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. His first professional win came nine months ago at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Live and Work in Maine Open, with his dad serving as his caddie. His last win before that was nine years ago when he was a junior on the Mississippi State golf team. He earned $666,000 for his win Sunday.
Martin, 34, was angling for his first win on Tour in eight years. He is playing out of the past champion category thanks to his victory at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this report.
Ben Martin leads by two heading into the final round of the PGA Tour’s opposite-field event in The Dominican Republic.
Ben Martin hasn’t won a PGA Tour title in nearly eight years. Could the dry spell be nearly over?
Martin shot 2-under 70 at Corales Golf Club in The Dominican Republic and holds a two-stroke lead over rookie Chad Ramey heading into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Championship.
Martin, 34, is playing out of the past champion category these days for his lone victory at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. It was good enough to get him in the field at this week’s opposite-field event for those Tour members that didn’t qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Ranked 565th in the world, Martin, who made only one start in 2019 with a back injury and has struggled to regain his previous form ever since, carded five birdies and three bogeys during Saturday’s round. He noted it had been a long time since he’d played in the final group and he felt the nerves early.
“I need to look at my Whoop and see what my heart rate was on the first hole, I bet it was up there a little bit, but I think after that I kind of settled in and played nice(ly),” he said. “Felt fine the rest of the round.”
Ben Martin of the United States lines up a putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Championship at the Corales Golf Course on March 26, 2022, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Ramey, 29, has recorded three top-20 finishes in his rookie campaign, including a T-5 at the Puerto Rico Open earlier this month, another opposite-field event. He also got a taste of weekend pressure after opening 63-65 and contending in Las Vegas before a closing 72.
Ramey is well positioned to make a run at being the latest first-time winner on the PGA Tour. After three birdies on the front side of his third round, Ramey made three bogeys on the inward nine, including a dropped shot at 18, but continued his domination of the par 5s with a birdie at 12 and an eagle at the par-5 14th, holing his third from 146 yards.
“It was just a perfect wedge,” he said. “Couldn’t have asked for a better shot, landed two short I believe and hopped on in.”
It added up to 3-under 69 and a spot alongside Martin in the final group on Sunday. Asked to describe the game plan for Sunday, Ramey said he wasn’t going to change a thing.
“Obviously I’m doing something right, so I’m just going to stick to my game plan and just see what happens,” he said.
Venezuela’s Jhonnatan Vegas made the biggest move on Moving Day, posting 7-under 65, and now sits three strokes back, alone in third place. The bogey-free round for Vegas, who last won in 2018, included an eagle at the par-5 seventh.
“I had a really perfect number, just tried to hit a perfect fade into a right-to-left wind and I just cut it absolutely perfect(ly),” Vegas said.
Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela plays his shot from the third tee during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Championship at the Corales Golf Course on March 26, 2022, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images)
For Martin, everything this week has felt pretty close to perfect. Playing here for the third time, he brought his wife and two daughters along – neither of whom were born the last time he won – and his mother came down to lend a hand.
“They were supposed to fly home tomorrow, but they already changed their flight to Monday,” Martin said. “After my first round Ann Pearce, my little girl, she ran out on 18. I was like, well, it’s only round one, you’re supposed to do that in the fourth round, but maybe that was some sort of foreshadowing.”
Added Martin: “This is really the reason I think I enjoy playing professional golf, like being around the lead on the weekend with a chance to win, you have a little nerves, but I think that’s why we all like to test ourselves and see where we are, so it will be a fun day tomorrow.”
Martin is trying for his first PGA Tour win since 2014.
While most eyes are on Austin, Texas, for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play this week, another PGA Tour event is being played in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
The Corales Puntacana Championship is the opposite field event and is currently being led by Ben Martin. Martin has missed two cuts in three appearances on Tour this season, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping him.
The 565th ranked player in the world has opened with consecutive 66s at Corales Golf Club with 16 birdies already through two rounds.
“This week the putter’s been nice. I think when you’re confident with the flat stick, it sort of takes pressure off of every other part of your game,” Martin said after his round Friday. “I’ve just been in a great mindset. I think more than anything, my swing feels in a good place, I’m rolling it nice. So everything kind of feels easy and I’m not putting too much pressure on myself and making some birdies when I have chances, but not trying to do too much.”
Ben Martin lines up a putt on the 18th green during the second round of the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship at the Corales Golf Course in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
When asked if he’ll make any adjustments over the weekend, Martin said he’s not going to try too hard.
“I’m in a great mindset. I think just trying to enjoy as much as I can. It sounds weird, but try like less, I guess, right? Like, not try too hard. I think a lot of us out here probably, and if you play golf at all you probably try too hard a lot of times. But enjoying the round and taking what comes. Hopefully, if I can continue to have that same mindset, the weekend will be pretty good.”
Martin does have a PGA Tour win under his belt which came at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Alex Smalley is the closest competitor to Martin thanks to a Friday 65 that included an eagle, seven birdies, and a double-bogey. His round started with the double-square, but it could have been worse if it wasn’t for his mom.
“Obviously it’s not start that I wanted. Hit it in the left bunker. Lie was fine, it wasn’t that bad. It was a little on the upslope and just went a little left,” Smalley said after his second round. “It was going towards a palm tree and it caught the palm tree and just happened to be a bunch of bushes at the bottom of the palm tree.
“Luckily, my mom found the ball. It was pretty thick. I thought I had to go back to the bunker because it was pretty bad, but she ended up finding it and I took an unplayable and knocked it up on the green two-putted for 6. Obviously, not how I wanted to start, not super happy, but she saved me a good 190-yard walk.”
Three back at 9 under are Adam Schenk and Chad Ramey, while European Ryder Cup legend and major champion Graeme McDowell sits four back at 8 under. Defending champion Joel Dahmen withdrew prior to the second round due to illness.
Martin needed just 26 putts to shoot a 6-under 66 on the Corales Golf Course in the Dominican Republic.
Ben Martin had six birdies over a seven-hole stretch Thursday in the opening round of the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship as he looks to end a PGA Tour winless streak of more than seven years.
The 2014 Shriners Children’s Open champ is making his fourth start on Tour this season. He needed just 26 putts and posted a 30 on his back nine en route to a 6-under 66 on the Corales Golf Course in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, to take a one-shot lead over Adam Schenk, who shot a 5-under 67.
Schenk is making his 400th start on the PGA Tour. He’s one of five golfers to make the cut all four times the tournament has been played.
Vaughn Taylor, Hayden Buckley, Graeme McDowell and Kiradech Aphibarnrat are all tied for third at 4 under.
Defending champion Joel Dahmen, who made the Corales Puntacana Championship his maiden Tour win a year ago, is tied for 32nd after shooting a 71.
All four winners of the @CoralesChamp were in their 30s when they won this event: 2018 Garnett 34 2019 McDowell 39 2020 Swafford 33 2021 Dahmen 33
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 22, 2022
