Two triples, three doubles and six bogeys amount to an 18-over mark through 17 holes.
How hard is TPC Sawgrass playing in the second round of the 2023 Players Championship? Just ask Max McGreevy.
The 27-year-old, second-year PGA Tour pro shot 3-under 69 in the first round in Ponte Vedra Beach and was in great position on the leaderboard. That is, until Pete Dye’s Stadium Course fought back.
McGreevy, who finished T-33 in Puerto Rico last week and T-8 earlier this season in Bermuda, was 20 shots worse during Friday’s second round, carding a 17-over 89. Just as impressive was the birdie on his final hole, the par-5 ninth.
Two triples, three doubles and six bogeys amount to an 18-over mark through 17 holes. Triples at the par-4 14th and par-4 fifth. Doubles on Nos. 4, 6 and 8.
It equals the highest score at TPC Sawgrass in tournament history. Michael Campbell shot 89 in 2003.
A frustrating round, but at least it ended with a birdie. Even for the best players in the world, golf is hard.
The situation happened on the 11th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
A scary situation unfolded on Friday during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
A caddie for one of the amateurs playing alongside pros Beau Hossler and Max McGreevy collapsed on the 11th hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links, according to Paolo Uggetti of ESPN.
Geoff Couch and Lukas Nelson are the amateurs playing with Hossler and McGreevy.
He’s still receiving CPR as they stretcher him to an ambulance here at the 11th. Play has been stopped pic.twitter.com/z4wIYVJvWg
Uggetti reported that the caddie was receiving CPR while being taken to an ambulance. He also chronicled that PGA Tour rules officials were encouraging Hossler and McGreevy to resume play, but neither Hossler nor McGreevy were comfortable doing so.
Uggetti also reported that PGA Tour officials offered to let the players step aside so other groups could play through, but McGreevy told Uggetti that he couldn’t see his group resuming Friday.
Players and caddies now hugging each other. Lukas Nelson, the other amateur, just told me the caddie who collapsed is “doing better.” The group is headed back to the clubhouse to regroup. Unclear if they’ll continue play.
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported Hossler and McGreevy would take a break and then return to the 11th hole once all groups had played through and they resume their second rounds. Lewis also said the group received a phone call stating the caddie would be OK.
Several players are still angling to make the PGA Tour postseason. Some are just inside the cutline while others have work to do.
The PGA Tour regular season is coming to an end Sunday, meaning the FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week.
The Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, will offer some PGA Tour players one last chance to improve their position or perhaps even make it into the field of 125 for the playoffs.
Since the points structure changed in 2009, an average of fewer than three players per year entered the final week of FedEx Cup regular season outside the top 125 in the standings and went on to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Some players also will look to crack the top 200 in the FedEx Cup Eligibility Points List to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which is set for September 1-4 at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana.
Scottie Scheffler, who has four wins this season, leads the FedEx Cup standings by more than 1,000 points over second-place Cameron Smith. Tony Finau, who has won the past two weeks, is up to No. 7.
The three-event playoff series starts at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, next week, but many in the field at the Wyndham Championship this week will be angling to keep their seasons alive.
Here’s a closer look at some interesting names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including some who are in the field and others who need a big week to make the playoffs.
“This is a market we’ve been targeting for some time.”
The Korn Ferry Tour is heading to Norman, Oklahoma.
Compliance Solutions and the Korn Ferry Tour announced Wednesday a new five-year partnership to host a professional golf tournament, the Compliance Solutions Championship, beginning in June 2023. The inaugural event will be played June 22-25, 2023, at the Jimmie Austin Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma. Jimmie Austin is the home of the University of Oklahoma’s men’s and women’s golf teams.
“We are thrilled to partner with Compliance Solutions to bring Korn Ferry Tour golf to The Sooner State,” said Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin. “Oklahoma is home to incredibly passionate golf fans, and this is a market we’ve been targeting for some time. Our membership is excited about the opportunity to compete at the Jimmie Austin Golf Club at The University of Oklahoma.”
The Compliance Solutions Championship will be a 72-hole tournament featuring 156 players.
The course has previously hosted the 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links, the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, and NCAA regionals in 2012, 2018, 2022 (men’s) and 2013, 2019 (women’s) and is already scheduled to host NCAA regionals in 2023 and 2025.
Max McGreevy, a PGA Tour pro who earned his card on the Korn Ferry Tour, said he and others associated with the OU golf program are excited because this is something they’ve wanted for a long time.
“I’ve talked to some of the grounds crew, and they’re super thrilled,” McGreevy, an Oklahoma native and former OU golfer, said. “It’s a golf state; I think you saw that at Southern Hills a little bit, and I think you’ll see it at Jimmie Austin, as well.
“It’s tricky, but you can get after it if you get it going.”
While others struggled with the wind, Brehm calmly maneuvered the course, all with his wife Chelsey on his bag.
The winds were howling. The palm trees were swaying. The galleries were growing.
But Ryan Brehm seemed unfazed by it all.
Needing a top-two finish to maintain his PGA Tour status, the former Michigan State star navigated a figurative minefield at Grand Reserve Golf Club with ease on Sunday, all despite tremendous stakes. While others struggled with the wind, Brehm calmly maneuvered the course, all with his wife Chelsey on his bag.
Ranked 773rd in the world coming into the week, Brehm closed things out in style, firing a bogey-free final round 67 to finish the tournament at 20 under, capturing the Puerto Rico Open by a comfortable margin for his first PGA Tour victory.
Brehm was playing in the last event of his minor medical exemption, meaning he would have been forced to return to the Korn Ferry Tour with a finish of third or lower. This was his 68th start on Tour.
But on Sunday, knowing he’d nearly completed the incredible feat, Brehm and his wife talked about taking things one shot at a time, and he looked surprisingly cool and collected amid the chaotic conditions.
Max McGreevy (14 under), favorite Brandon Wu (13 under) and Tommy Gainey (also 13 under) were the closest to Brehm, but none really mounted a charge to challenge the 35-year-old.
Brehm turned pro in 2008 after helping lead Michigan State to three Big Ten titles, and he later served as an assistant and even interim head coach for the Spartans.
Brehm finds himself just two more days away from his first win on Tour.
What do you get when you mix 36 holes of bogey-free golf with a 3-3-3 second-round finish? The 36-hole lead at a PGA Tour event.
Midway through the 2022 Puerto Rico Open – an opposite-field event to the elevated Arnold Palmer Invitational – Ryan Brehm finds himself just two more days away from his first win on Tour and first victory since the 2019 LECOM Health Challenge on the Korn Ferry Tour. The 35-year-old fired a 5-under 67 on Friday, aided by a birdie-eagle finish at Grand Reserve Golf Club.
“It was kind of boring until the end,” said Brehm of his round. “I feel like I had to scramble quite a bit, had some difficult up-and-downs, got them up and down, made a few good putts for par, kept the momentum going and finished with a birdie-eagle, made a bomb on the last hole. You add it up, it’s pretty good.”
Michael Kim, Satoshi Kodaira and Max McGreevy are in hot pursuit, just one shot back at 10 under. Callum Tarren rounds out the top five at 9 under.
“As much as you want to take a giant leap at the start, I’m definitely one to take a lot of steppingstones, for sure,” said McGreevy, who fired his career-low on Tour on Friday with an 8-under 64. “This is just one of those in that direction that’s just going to gain more confidence for myself and for my game and I’m excited for the next steppingstone. Hopefully another low round tomorrow and keep building on those steppingstones and hopefully keep giving myself chances.”
Adam Svensson won his first Korn Ferry Tour event in more than two years Sunday at the Club Car Championship after surviving a playoff with Max McGreevy.
Svensson shot a final-round 6-under 66 at The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia, to finish 72 holes with the lead at 17 under until McGreevy, who finished Sunday a 2-under 70, birdied his final two holes Sunday to send the tournament into a playoff.
In the playoff, Svensson and McGreevy each missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th. On the second playoff hole, McGreevy wasn’t able to match Svensson’s birdie to further extend the playoff, handing Svensson the win.
Svensson, 27, last won on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2018 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club.
Finishing one shot back in third at 16 under were George Cunningham, Shad Tuten and Brett Coletta. Taylor Moore finished in solo sixth at 15 under followed by Dawson Armstrong, Zecheng Dou and Carl Yuan – who tied for low round of the day with 8-under 64 – at 14 under in seventh. Six golfers rounded out the top-10 at 13 under.
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Curtis Thompson, the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson, spoke for the field when he said, “We’re not living the dream. We’re chasing it.” Thompson and Stuart Macdonald shot 6-under 66s in Thursday morning’s opening round of …
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Curtis Thompson, the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson, spoke for the field when he said, “We’re not living the dream. We’re chasing it.”
Thompson and Stuart Macdonald shot 6-under 66s in Thursday morning’s opening round of the Club Car Championship at The Landings. The tournament is being played on the Deer Creek course.
But Thompson and Macdonald and the rest of the field are chasing former Oklahoma All-America Max McGreevy, who shot a seven-under 65 on the wind-swept course to take the lead with the afternoon starters yet to go off when he finished.
Crowd favorite Shad Tuten, a former All-America at Armstrong State before it was merged with Georgia Southern, turned in a solid 67 to share fourth place with Matthew Short.
Kris Blanks, a former assistant pro at the Landings Club, carded a one-over par 73. Blanks played in last October’s tournament, then known as the Savannah Golf Championship, but he missed the cut.
Jonathan Griz, a 17-year-old high school junior from Hilton Head, carded an even-par 72 to put himself in a position to make the cut.
Griz, who last year at age of 16 became the youngest player ever to win the South Carolina Amateur state championship, got into the tournament by being the runner-up at Monday’s qualifier at the Georgia Southern course in Statesboro.
Kris Blanks blasts out of a bunker on the 9th hole during the first round of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Club Car Championship at the Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia. (Photo: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
After playing at even par on the front, Griz shot five-under on the back nine to finish second and earn himself a spot in the field. Although graduation is a year away, he has already committed to play at Alabama.
The other amateur in the field, 16-year-old Reed Lotter of Savannah, shot an opening round 1 over 73 and is T-108.
Roberto Diaz, who won last week’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open for his first victory in his 194th start as a professional, let a good round get away from him down the stretch and finished at 2-under 70.
“I’ve not been getting off to a good start,” Tuten, who missed the cut last week, said. “The plan was to get off to a good start and I did.”
Tuten had a group of followers and he rewarded them with an eagle on hole No. 7, which was his 16th of the day.
“You want to play well even if you’re playing without anyone following you,” he said. “But for me to have people watching it motivates me.
“I live for this tournament. It’s a huge deal for me to come out here and have fun. Everyone here makes you feel great. I’m in a comfort zone and it helps me to perform better playing in front of friends and family.”
Tuten said the weather was ideal at the beginning but that the wind started picking up and gusting around his seventh hole and it never let up.
“It was like playing two golf courses,” he said. “This is not a bomber’s course which suits me. I just tried to stay steady.”
In talking about his round Thompson uttered what every player loves to say: “When I won in Chicago…”
Thompson turned pro in 2014 and earlier this season he won the Evans Scholar Invitational for his first win in his 103rd start.
“There was a lot of wind,” Thompson said, echoing the thoughts of nearly all of the early finishers. “I didn’t expect the wind when we started. It was really calm.
“We had four or five holes straight into the wind and all you want to do there is make par,” Thompson said. “Then we went downwind and that’s when you try to make some birdies.”
Thompson hit mostly three-wood off the tee and hit 13 of 14 fairways which enabled him to turn in his best round at Deer Creek. He was 15th at last fall’s tournament.
“I’m just trying to do what I did when I won in Chicago,” Thompson said. “I’m not forcing anything. Today I had great ball striking and putted well.”
When he gets home from the Price Cutter Charity Championship, he’ll be walking in the door with some hardware.
Just like his first round on Thursday, the former Oklahoma Sooners star signed for a 64 on Sunday at Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Missouri, claiming the PCCC title at 21 under for his first win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
McGreevy was bogey-free on Sunday, carding three birdies on both his front and back nines with an eagle on the par-5 11th. In fact, McGreevy made just two bogeys all week – both on Saturday, both on the front nine. The 25-year-old played his final 30 holes 10 under.
The Korn Ferry Tour is known for its low scores. How low? McGreevy’s final-round 8 under was just the third-best score of the day. Paul Haley II shot a 10-under 62 and Dylan Wu got in the top 10 with a 9-under 63.
Jose de Jesus Rodriguez came in solo second at 20 under, followed by Chad Ramey at 19 under, Daniel Sutton at 18 under and four players T-5 at 17 under: Austen Truslow, Anders Albertson, Taylor Moore and Dan McCarthy.
The Korn Ferry Tour action continues on Thursday at The Club at Indian Creek in Omaha, Nebraska, with the Pinnacle Bank Championship.
Four up-and-coming professional golfers all live in the same house in Dallas. Experience what life is like at “The Dirty Meadow.”
It’s not long after you walk in “The Dirty Meadow” – more on that later – that you realize it’s a golf-friendly house. Maybe 5-10 seconds.
“The hitting net in the living room now is a dead giveaway,” said Charlie Saxon.
The house in Dallas on Clover Meadow (hence the name, and because, why not?) is home to Saxon and his former Oklahoma Sooner teammates Max McGreevy and Grant Hirschman, as well as former Texas standout Scottie Scheffler. Former Drake University players Will McDonald and Drew Ison also live there.
With Scheffler on the PGA Tour and Saxon, McGreevy and Hirschman on the Korn Ferry Tour, the Dirty Meadow just might be the most talented golf house in America.
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Scheffler led last season’s Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list and the overall season points list, earning his PGA Tour card for the 2020 season and 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year honors. Saxon played his senior year at Oklahoma with McGreevy and Hirschman in 2014-15. The latter two went on to win the NCAA Championship with the Sooners in 2017.
The Dirty Meadow
So why Dallas? Depends who you ask.
Scheffler says it’s because the Sooners just couldn’t handle Oklahoma anymore. The Oklahoma boys disagree. Dallas is a bit warmer in the winter, and flying out of Oklahoma City meant a lot of connections through Dallas anyway.
The hitting net in the living room of The Dirty Meadow, featuring Grant Hirschman’s dog, Pal. (Photo: Grant Hirschman)
It all started when Scheffler and Hirschman graduated in 2018. The two had talked about moving to Dallas for a couple months. As Hirschman remembers, Scheffler didn’t respond for four months (if you ask Scheffler, Hirschman forgot about him and only texted him once).
Hirschman then reached out to Saxon and McGreevy, as well as McDonald and Ison. With half the group on the road playing golf, McGreevy and Ison did most of the house hunting. Scheffler got back in the picture and the house was theirs on May 1, 2019. It wasn’t until late last fall that the entire group was together under one roof. Even then Scheffler was still gone a lot on Tour. The group doesn’t even have a picture of the four of them all together.
Six people in one house can be a lot to handle, not to mention six fiercely-competitive professionals all in their 20s. That said, the group doesn’t get in many big fights, just small minute-long spats where they soon end up laughing.
McGreevy said the most difficult part of being quarantined together is they don’t really have a getaway, other than the golf course. In fact, they’re even worse when they’re together at the course.
“Most of our arguments occur when the four of us go play,” explained Hirschman. “We play so slow because we sit there and argue on the green and then we argue on the tee box and before we know it we’re holding up the entire golf course and we’re most likely the four best players on the golf course.”
The house agreed Scheffler was the one who talks the most trash on the course, with McGreevy adding “he’s probably made four birdies in a row, so it’s okay, but he likes to dig.”
Off the course, the guys are just as competitive. During their time in quarantine they’ve started playing board games. One game in particular, Sequence, gets rather heated. Especially with a little action. They might be professional athletes, but the pot isn’t anything Michael Jordan Last Dance-esque.
“That doesn’t fit the Korn Ferry Tour salary,” joked Saxon.
Life together on tour
While the comment was made in jest, it’s true at the same time. The life of a professional athlete isn’t always a glamorous one, especially for a young golfer trying to make his way up the ranks. It’s normally a long season on the Korn Ferry Tour, traveling week after week with less-than-stellar accommodations to small cities across the country, rarely getting to be home.
“It’s been nice to be at home, and even though being on the road is difficult at times, we all love it,” said Saxon. “We love the competition and the grind and I know we’re all missing it.”
Drew Ison caddying for Max McGreevy at the 2019 Macau Championship on the PGA Tour Series – China.
“The biggest benefit is just picking each other’s brains,” explained Hirschman. “We’ve all been through quite a bit and had our own personal experiences with golf and we can learn a lot from each other.”
Even as these four housemates told their story over the phone, their tight bond was clearly visible in the way they spoke about each other and interacted. Not a minute of conversation went by without a genuine laugh and jab at someone’s expense. The great thing about the Dirty Meadow men is their friendship carries over to the tour, even as competitors.
“On the road if you’re struggling it’s good to have buddies to bounce thoughts and feelings off of,” added Saxon.
