Tag: major medical extension

Wesley Bryan fails to satisfy PGA Tour medical extension at Valspar Championship: ‘I’m just not good enough right now’

“It stings, but I’m not done trying.”

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – On a day when Wesley Bryan had to go low, he failed to make a single birdie.

Bryan, making his final of 21 starts on a medical extension after undergoing surgery on his left wrist last year, signed for 2-over 73 and a 72-hole total of 2-under 282 at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. He sits T-62 at the Valspar Championship.

“I’m just not good enough right now,” an understandably dejected Bryan said after the round.

Bryan, 31, needed to finish sixth or better this week to satisfy his medical extension and regain his exempt Tour status for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. Bryan made the cut on the number after making birdie at his final hole on Friday. Beginning the final round T-49, Bryan likely would’ve needed to shoot one of the lowest rounds of the week to make up ground. (Matthew NeSmith shot 61 on Friday and Davis Riley 62 on Saturday to make the final group on Sunday.) But Bryan could’ve retained conditional status in the Nos. 126-150 category by finishing 51st or better. Asked if the windy conditions might help his chances of improving his position on the leaderboard, Bryan said, “No chance.”

Valspar: Leaderboard | Best photos | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

When Bryan replays what went wrong in his mind, he’ll start with his driving. He ranked last in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (-3.829) of the 72 players who made the cut this week. Bryan was paired in the final round with Tour rookie Austin Smotherman, who noted, “You could feel the pressure mounting on every hole. At the end, he needed every putt to go.”

All is not lost for Bryan to keep playing at the PGA Tour level. As the winner of the 2017 RBC Heritage, he still has past champion status. Despite being lower in the pecking order behind the 126-150 category, Bryan should get a handful of starts, including at next week’s opposite field event at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, before the FedEx Cup playoffs in August.

On Saturday, Bryan said he’s healthy enough and prepared to play as much as he can until the end of the season. He echoed that sentiment on Twitter on Sunday.

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Despite coming up short at Sony Open, Chris Kirk keeps PGA Tour card with last start on major medical

Chris Kirk took a months-long break from the PGA Tour to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and depression. He has secured his card again.

Professional golfers make a challenging game look simple on a daily basis, so it’s just as easy to lose sight of how difficult it is to remain among the game’s elite.

Even four-time winners on the PGA Tour have to grind for membership.

That was Chris Kirk’s situation this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The 35-year-old needed to finish in a two-way tie for third place or better this weekend at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu to retain his PGA Tour membership. Playing on the final start of his major medical extension after taking a months-long leave of absence to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and depression, Kirk took a share of the lead into the clubhouse at 20 under on Sunday night at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kevin Na would end up making birdie on the final hole for his fifth PGA Tour win, and while there aren’t any trophies or oversized checks for second place, Kirk’s T-2 was almost as good as a win.

Sony Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag | Money

“I never felt like it was a do-or-die type of situation,” Kirk said of his weekend challenge. In fact, he didn’t know where he needed to finish to retain his membership until he received an email from the Tour. “I wasn’t looking. I was just going and playing.”

“I’m so thankful to have the support of my family through these last few years, especially. It’s been incredible.” added Kirk. “You could have called them crazy for supporting me, but my wife Tahnee, my boys Sawyer, Foster and Wilder, I just love them so much and can’t wait to see them.”

Kirk has earned $18,130,139 throughout a PGA Tour career that features wins at the 2011 Viking Classic, 2013 McGladrey Classic, 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship and 2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. In June 2020, Kirk ended a five-year victory drought, winning the King & Bear Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The Athens, Georgia, resident said he was on his way to being an alcoholic from 2013-15 when he was at the peak of his career, noting how alcoholism is a progressive disease.

“After the next few years things kind of got worse,” said Kirk. “Being able to hit a reset button for me and get myself into a great place mentally and physically and just to be able to wake up everyday and just be okay with who I am and what I’m doing, I feel like I’m starting every day doing the best I can and trying to do the best I can for my family. That’s allowing me to potentially get back to the form that I had before and actually using the skillset that I’ve been blessed with.”

While an ultimatum wasn’t quite how Kirk planned his return to full-time membership on Tour, his lack of expectations when he returned to competition freed him up to enjoy a game he loves.

“I wouldn’t exactly have pegged this is the fashion that I did it, but when I came back, I came back with absolutely no expectations,” explained Kirk. “I knew I wanted to play golf again and I knew I wanted to compete. As long as I stuck with that and tried to make sure that I was enjoying what I was doing, that was all that mattered to me.”

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