Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood

Chez Reavie wins 2022 Barracuda Championship, becomes oldest golfer to win on PGA Tour this season

Chez Reavie adds the Barracuda Championship to his PGA Tour resume.

TRUCKEE, Calif. — After several lead changes on the back nine, Chez Reavie clamped down when he needed to and emerged as the champion.

Reavie picked up his third win on the PGA Tour when he took the Barracuda Championship on Sunday at the Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood golf course.

Reavie finished plus-43 points after picking up 6 in Sunday’s final round. He edged Alex Noren, who was second with plus-42.

Reavie, 40, is the oldest player won in the PGA Tour this year. This was his third career win on the Tour. He also had the lead after three rounds in his two previous wins.

Reavie had plus-37 points after Saturday’s round, but struggled a bit on his front nine Sunday.

He said staying patient was the key.

“I knew I was going to have to. I knew some guys were going to make a lot of birdies early. I was hoping to be one of those guys, but the putter was kind of letting me down early,” Reavie said. “Just tried to keep it as close as I could to the hole and give myself some good looks.”

Chez Reavie kisses the championship trophy after winning the 2022 Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mt. Club’s Old Greenwood in Truckee, California. (Photo: Tom R. Smedes/Special to Reno Gazette-Journal)

Reavie said he didn’t look at the score until after the first nine, but then started checking every other hole.

He picked up 300 points in the standings and moved up to 49th in the FedEx Cup rankings with the win. He also won $666,000 for his efforts.

He also won the 2008 RBC Canadian Open and the Travelers Championship in 2019.

Noren scored 14 points on Sunday. He was making his 132nd PGA Tour start and was trying to become the Barracuda’s sixth straight first-time winner.

Noren, from Stockholm, Sweden, turned 40 last week. He had been the first alternate at the British Open, but decided to play in the Barracuda, thinking nobody would drop out at St. Andrews.

He said the Old Greenwood course was a little tricky Sunday as the wind picked up early and held steady most of the day

“It’s been a roller coaster of a week, obviously, but when you make the cut, you think, well, this is a great week anyway, and then I played good on the weekend and had a blast,” Noren said. “If it was another tournament, I might not have gone there, but I just love this week, and I wanted to have a vacation at home with the kids before the Playoffs start. I wanted to be able to grab some points, either at the Open or here. I didn’t want to just sit out the Open and then having to add a week.”

Martin Laird was third with plus-38 points; Mark Hubbard took fourth with plus-37 and Scott Gutschewski was fifth with plus-35.

Reavie is the first player 40 or older to win on the PGA Tour since Lucas Glover at the 2021 John Deere Classic.

He finished 43rd last year at the Barracuda and his best finish in the event was 42nd in 2009.

The Barracuda went to the Modified Stableford scoring system in 2012.

This was Laird’s best finish of the season.

He played with Reavie on Sunday and said the wind gusts made it a little tougher than earlier in the week.

Both Reavie and Laird said they plan to play in the 3M tournament in Minnesota this week.

Laird said getting away form the golf course for a while earlier in the week paid off for him.

“I feel like my game has been pretty good for a while. It was funny this week, my family has been out and I’ve literally not done any practice, just had a very relaxed week and had my best week of the year. There’s a lot to be said for that,” Laird said. “Sometimes we kind of get stuck in a rut and almost try and practice our way out of it, and sometimes it’s the opposite; you just need to kind of get away. I’m kind of going to take that philosophy the next few week and just kind of be a lot more relaxed and go and enjoy it.”

It was his first time playing at Old Greenwood.

“I really enjoyed the old venue, but this Old Greenwood golf course is fantastic. It’s a really good fun golf course for this format, so look forward to coming back,” he said.

What about 2023?

The dates for next year’s Barracuda have not been set. This is the last year on the current contract with Barracuda as the tournament title sponsor.

Tournament director Chris Hoff told the Reno Gazette-Journal that negotiations are ongoing and he said it is likely that Barracuda will return as the title sponsor.

“We’re in renewal talks with them right now,” Hoff said. “We’re optimistic and they’ve had a great time this week and the last nine years have been incredible.”

The deal to hold the tournament at the Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood course runs through 2023.

In August 2021, it was announced that from 2022 onward, the event would become a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour.

Scoring

The Barracuda Championship is employing the Modified Stableford scoring format, the first PGA Tour event to use the format since The International in 2006. Players are allocated points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole with the goal of achieving the highest overall score. Albatross +8, Eagle +5, Birdie +2, Par 0, Bogey -1, Double bogey or worse -3. It’s the only PGA Tour event to use the scoring format.

Streak broken

The last six winners of the Barracuda Championship were first-time PGA Tour winners.

2016 Greg Chalmers
2017 Chris Stroud
2018 Andrew Putnam
2019 Collin Morikawa
2020 Richy Werenski
2021 Erik van Rooyen

It was the longest streak on Tour.

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‘I didn’t think anybody would withdraw’: British Open first alternate Alex Noren, who skipped St. Andrews, is in contention at Barracuda Championship

Alex Noren: “Golf is a long career, and I’ve played a lot of British Opens, and I’ll get to play it again.”

TRUCKEE, Calif. — Chez Reavie continues to tear up the golf course, and Alex Noren has some added incentive this week.

Reavie leads the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship with plus-37 points at the Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood course, where they are using the Modified Stableford scoring system.

Martin Laird is next with plus-31 and Noren is tied with Cam Davis, both at plus-28 points.

But Noren was oh-so-close to playing in the year’s final men’s major, the British Open at St. Andrews.

Noren had been the first alternate for the British Open, but decided to fly to California to play in the Barracuda instead.

“I didn’t think anybody would withdraw,” Noren said Friday. “They actually did, and sad for them, but also I wanted to play this.”

When Justin Rose withdrew from the Open, that opened a spot that would have gone to Noren. Instead that spot went to Rikuya Hoshino. Erik van Rooyen, who won the Barracuda in 2021 to earn a spot in the 2022 Open Championship, also withdrew before the Open started.

“I wanted to get some more points. I’ve got three weeks of training after this before the [FexEx Cup] playoffs, and I wanted to play this week, and maybe that mindset made me have a little less patience that I needed this time. Golf is a long career, and I’ve played a lot of British Opens, and I’ll get to play it again.”

Noren tried to forget about what might have been and simply went to work at Old Greenwood, posting a score of plus-28 points through three rounds.

He admits it’s hard to escape the British Open, because it’s on TVs everywhere he goes around Truckee.

He said being contention in the Barracuda, somewhat eases the pain of missing The Open.

“Every time they show ‘The Open’ on TV, I get frustrated, but I love coming here. I think it’s one of the best courses on the Tour and a great tournament. It’s very enjoyable to play,” Noren said.

Noren, 40, is ranked No. 66 in the world, No. 75 in the FedEx Cup rankings.

Reavie, meanwhile, had his first bogey of the Barracuda on No. 15 on Saturday, this after he had five birdies in the third round. He said he expects to feel some nervousness on Sunday, while he waits for his afternoon tee time.

“I have to spend an hour or two at home just calming myself down because I’m so looking forward to coming out here and competing,” Reavie said. “I can come out here and try too hard if I get too excited.”

Reavie, who played golf at Arizona State, is one of only two PGA Tour golfers from that school who have not defected to the LIV Tour, along with John Rahm. Fellow former ASU golfers Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Pat Perez and Matt Jones have all jumped to the LIV.

Big leap

Michael Thompson had nine birdies, and nine pars, and totaled 18 points on Saturday. He has plus-26 points heading into Sunday’s final round.

Joshua Creel had two eagles on Saturday, on holes No. 8 and 16 and picked up 11 points on the day. He has plus -26 points through three rounds.

Harry Higgs also earned 11 points on Saturday, thanks to three birdies and an eagle. He is at plus-26 points heading into Sunday. Higgs said he is better off if he can avoid chipping.

“I’ve hit a lot of good iron shots and holed some kind of bonus putts. The first day I just hit a few balls just into a spot where I had to chip out,” Higgs said. “But this format is kind of fun. You can kind of get away with that.”

He enjoys the feeling of smashing the ball on his tee shots and watching it fly farther than it does at most golf courses he plays at.

“It’s fun when it gets in the fairways, too; you can hit a long, long way out here, bouncing and rolling and flying a little further with the altitude,” Higgs said.

Higgs said he has not played well this season and is worrying too much about the little things going wrong.

“I’ve just not been sharp, not been playing good golf, not been kind of playing like myself,” he said. “My attitude has been horrible. I’ve been pissing and moaning about little things that go wrong and then that builds and builds and builds. Been playing on the cut line way too much all year. I view myself as much, much better than that. But obviously there comes a time where talk is cheap and you’re now going to have to show it, more so to myself.”

Scoring

Albatross +8, Eagle +5, Birdie +2, Par 0, Bogey -1, Double bogey or worse -3.

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Chez Reavie has blistering round Friday, takes lead at 2022 Barracuda Championship

He was one of the first players on the course and Chez Reavie did not waste time.

TRUCKEE, Calif. – He was one of the first players on the course and Chez Reavie did not waste time.

Reavie scored 19 points in Friday’s second round and surged into the lead at the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship at the Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood golf course.

Reavie, 40, from Wichita, Kansas, who played his college golf at Arizona State, has plus-28 points after two rounds. Mark Hubbard and Henrik Norlander are tied for second with plus-25 points.

Reavie had seven birdies and an eagle on No. 6, and no bogeys on Friday.

The eagle, his second of the week, came after he chipped in from just off the green.

He said it was a little colder out, starting so early. Reavie teed off at 7:18 a.m. local time Friday, and his shots were not flying quite as far as they did Thursday when he started later in the day.

“Fortunately we kind of noticed that on the range and adjusted for it, and I was lucky enough to just trust the numbers, the clubs that we picked, and then as it warmed up, it kind of gradually kind of started getting closer to what it was yesterday afternoon,” Reavie said.

He said staying in the fairways and out of the rough is key to doing well at Old Greenwood because the greens are so firm.

Hubbard, 33, had seven birdies and two bogeys on Friday, en route to scoring 12 points.

He played basketball at San Jose State and had a few friends from there up at Old Greenwood to watch him play golf this week.

Hubbard is winless on the PGA Tour. He was third last week in Kentucky in the Barbasol Championship.

Hubbard agreed with Reavie that the early start Friday morning took some adjusting.

“It was tough early, man, with the cold and the elevation. It’s hard to know how far the ball is going, and it seemed like every pin on our front nine, the back nine, was front with water short, so you couldn’t really play with it,” he said. “So it was just tough to get the ball close early. Once it heated up and started going another 10 percent I started making some birdies.”

Norlander, who has been working with a sports psychologist, is in his best position after 36 holes this season.

“First of all, I’m pretty excited to not make travel plans on Friday afternoon. That’s been sort of what I’ve been doing every Friday the last few weeks,” Norlander said. “But yeah, it’s a lot of pressure. I’m going to be nervous, but I believe I’m ready for it. … That’s why I practice, and I’m ready for the challenge.”

Under the Modified Stableford scoring system, players receive eight points for albatross, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for bogey and three taken away for double bogey or worse.

Kevin Tway is in fourth with plus-21 points, followed by Nino Bertasio, Maverick McNealy and Martin Trainer, each on the leaderboard with plus-19 points.

The cut was at plus-7 points with 70 players making it to keep playing on the weekend.

Noren was been the first alternate for the British Open this week, but decided to fly to California instead to play in the Barracuda.

When Justin Rose withdrew from the British Open, the final major of the year, that opened a spot that would have gone to Noren. Instead that spot went to Rikuya Hoshino.

Noren played nine holes of a practice round at St. Andrews, before flying to California.

“I didn’t think anybody would withdraw. They actually did, and sad for them, but also I wanted to play this,” Noren said. “I wanted to get some more points. I’ve got three weeks of training after this before the playoffs, and I wanted to play this week, and maybe that mindset made me have a little less patience that I needed this time. Golf is a long career, and I’ve played a lot of British Opens, and I’ll get to play it again.”

Erik van Rooyen, who won the Barracuda Championship last year, also withdrew from the British Open.

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Ollie Osborne, with his brother on the bag, making PGA Tour debut at Barracuda Championship

Ollie Osborne settled in at the Barracuda Championship, but he has work to do to make the cut.

TRUCKEE, Calif. — After a bit of a rough start, Ollie Osborne settled in and found his game.

Osborne, a 2017 graduate of nearby Bishop Manogue High School, is making his PGA Tour debut this week in the Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood golf course.

Osborne started his round Thursday with three bogeys on his first four holes, four on the front nine, and a double bogey on No. 7.

But he also mixed in two birdies on the front nine, then two more on the back, including on No. 18, to finish his round with +2 points in the Modified Stableford scoring system.

Golfers earn eight points for a double eagle, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and zero for a par. Golfers lose a point for a bogey and three points for a double bogey or worse. The top 65 and ties make the cut after Friday’s second round.

Osborne, 22, who had a large gallery following him around the course, played in the Barracuda as an amateur in 2019, the last time it was held at Montreux Golf & Country Club.

He graduated from SMU this past spring and turned pro. Playing on a sponsor exemption this year, he finished as runner-up in the 2020 U.S. Amateur, which earned him a spot in the Masters and U.S. Open in 2021.

“I didn’t play too well, but I feel a lot more comfortable out there, especially after having a couple Tour starts,” Osborne said. “I was feeling confident going in, so hopefully I can do (Friday) what I did to end (Thursday). I got off to a tough start but I was able to bring it back a little bit.”

Osborne was at minus-5 points on his front nine, but he said battling back like he did helps his mindset for Friday.

He had played Old Greenwood three times before this week.

His older brother, Stephen, who played golf in college at Nevada, is his caddie this week and he is more familiar with the course.

Ollie said having so much family and friends supporting him on the course also helps his attitude.

“It was a lot of fun, especially when you make a putt and you hear a couple claps,” he said.

He is tied for 80th place in the 164-player field (as of 6 p.m. Thursday).

As for the leaders

Mark Hubbard and Charley Hoffman are tied for the lead with +13 points. They each made seven birdies Thursday.

Three players are tied for second with +12 points: Brice Garnett, Sean Crocker and Aaron Cockerill.

Maverick McNealy, Jim Knous, Henrick Norlander, Michael Gligic and Callum Tarren are next, each with +11 points.

Former champions

There are nine former Barracuda champions in the field this week: Richy Werenski (2020), Andrew Putnam (2018), Chris Stroud (2017), Greg Chalmers (2016), JJ Henry (2012 and 2015), Geoff Ogilvy (2014), Scott Piercy (2011), Parker McLachlin (2008) Vaughn Taylor (2004 and 2005).

Ogilvy finished with-4 points Thursday, Henry is at +4, Stroud at +5, Werenski at +6, Putnam at -2, McLachlin is at -12, Chalmers is at +5; Ogilvy at -4, Piercy is at +8 and Taylor is at +4 .

Ogilvy, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, is making his first start on the Tour since 2018. He received a sponsor exemption into the field this week. He made three starts in Australia earlier this year.

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