Tag: Wesley Bryan

YouTube star Wesley Bryan is rocking a mustache, has a new putter and, oh, is winning this week

The changes in Wesley Bryan’s life seem never-ending these days. But it’s all working out just fine.

The changes in Wesley Bryan’s life seem never-ending these days. Sure, the co-star of the Bryan Bros Golf YouTube channel is still creating crazy content, like when he and brother George recently tried to break 50 from the front tees at Aiken Golf Club, just a half-hour east of Augusta National.

But Bryan and his wife Elizabeth just welcomed a third baby girl into the world eight weeks ago, he’s dropped a new putter in his bag and he’s sporting a new facial hair look.

How is all this change affecting his golf game?

Just wonderfully, thanks.

Bryan followed up a 63 in the opening round of the Corales Puntacana Championship with a second-round 66 on Friday, one that included him going 4 under on the day’s final three holes to get to 15 under at the event’s midpoint.

The week in the Dominican Republic started with a new L.A.B. putter that has Bryan leading the field in putting through two days at Puntacana Resort and Club.

“This is week one with the L.A.B. in the bag. It cooperated, it’s going to stay in there for the forever future at this point, that’s what it feels like,” Bryan said. “I just saw a lot of people that are switching to it and I was like, man, I’ve got to at least give it a try.

“To be fair, it’s a little bit polarizing on the internet and a lot of people love it or hate it, whatever. Art, science, whatever it is, I just wanted to try it.”

Bryan’s consecutive low rounds have him in a good position to claim his second PGA Tour title as Justin Lower continued his run of solid play and is a stroke behind Bryan at 14 under, but the field drops off from there. Coincidentally, Bryan’s first win came back in 2017 at the RBC Heritage, where the top players are playing this week without him.

But he’s shown no signs of holding a grudge. In fact, he and his burgeoning family seem to be living the life at the beachside resort. Bryan said his crew spent plenty of time at the pool on Thursday and the group was planning to hit the nearby lagoon on Friday.

“I don’t know how life gets any better than that, honestly,” he said.

As for his new look, Bryan said the new mustache came by circumstance, but it’s potentially a look he could stick with. Especially if he continues to play like he has thus far this week. Bryan missed the cut in his only other PGA Tour start this year in Puerto Rico and missed the cut in 11 of  19 starts last season.

“It started with a beard to start the week and my wife, she doesn’t like when I have a beard, so I said I would shave it off,” he said. “I brought a really bad razor blade down here and a trimmer and anything so I tackled the cheeks a few days ago and it was brutal, and I went for the chin yesterday. Now unfortunately I think the stache is here to stay for the rest of the week.

“Sorry, Elizabeth … but I feel like until we shoot over par or whatever, then we’ll shave it off, but right now it’s here to stay. Shout out, Carson Young.”

Schupak: PGA Tour Q-School, where money took a backseat to childhood dreams being achieved

Heartache and jubilation both made an appearance on Monday at PGA Tour Q-School.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Heartache and jubilation both made an appearance Monday at PGA Tour Q-School.

For one week at host courses Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club the greed that has consumed professional golf gave way to job seekers desperate to improve their status for next season. Money took such a backseat that on the walk to scoring veteran pro Erik Compton asked his caddie after finishing T-38, “Did I make anything?”

“You made enough for extra guac and double barbacoa at Chipotle tonight,” he said.<

For the record, Compton banked $6,214.28 from a purse of $550,000, which should cover that Chipotle order but the purse equaled what Nick Taylor made for finishing 25th out of 30th at the Tour Championship in August. Here’s the rub: what Compton really cared about was hanging on to the top 40 and eight guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts to begin the 2024 season.

“If I get eight starts at the beginning of the year and don’t have to stress about it, I can get a (full) card back,” said Compton, breaking into a smile and with renewed hope of a clear path back to the PGA Tour for 2025.

Julian Suri, who grew up in Jacksonville before going to Duke, needed a par at the last hole at Dye’s Valley to earn eight starts too. But he made triple bogey and is relegated to conditional status and uncertainty over how many starts are in his future on KFT.

More Monday meltdowns

Wesley Bryan was in the hunt for one of the five full Tour cards but shot 79 and will have to rely primarily on past champions status next season instead. Spencer Levin, 39, entered the final day T-3 and played in the last group, but he airmailed the ninth green and pitched 12 feet past the hole. There were 28 spectators ringing the green and as Levin’s par putt stopped short of the hole, one fan clapped. With that few fans, Levin heard it and he glared daggers at the spectator.

It was Levin’s fifth bogey of the day but he seemed more enraged about the clap. As one of his playing partner’s lined up his putt, Levin continued to express his disgust at the fan. He shot 73 and fell to T-10, which did him no good as he already had full status for next season on KFT.

There would be no one clapping for him at 18.

Q-School will mess with your head

It makes your palms sweaty and your stomach turn. Kevin Velo, who recorded just two top-25s on KFT this season and finished dead last at the Nationwide Championship to end his regular season, had to go back to First Stage but fought his way back to Final Stage and finished T-21. It wasn’t enough to earn a PGA Tour card but it beat the alternative.

“Losing your job is one of the worst things in the world that can happen to you,” said Velo.

Imagine having to wait an extra day for the final round after a storm washed out play Sunday. Velo tossed and turned at night and turned to YouTube around 3 a.m., scrolling videos of a guy who unclogs drains for a living and of others mowing lawns.

“They’re super-satisfying,” he said.

Whatever gets you through the night.

The five PGA Tour cards, which were offered to top finishers for the first time since 2012, were the carrots dangled to attract a field of 165, who were guaranteed at least conditional KFT status by making it this far. As Sam Saunders said, “We’d have been there if there was one PGA Tour card.”

Childhood dreams achieved

Each of the five players who earned cards fittingly played on a different tour last season:

  • Harrison Endycott gets to go back to the PGA Tour with full status
  • Trace Crowe finished 38th on Korn Ferry Tour
  • Hayden Springer topped the money list on PGA Tour Canada
  • Raul Pereda spent the season on PGA Tour Latinoamerica and showed he had game at the Mexico Open
  • Blaine Hale Jr. toiled on the mini tours

Each had an emotional story of their journey to the big leagues but none struck the chords like that of Springer, whose 3-year-old daughter Sage died on Nov. 13. How he kept it together to perform the way he did at Q-School, we’ll never know. His caddie, Michael Burns? Not so much. He burst into tears on 18.

“My heart has never beated faster in my entire life,” Burns said.

Springer’s story ranks with Erik van Rooyen winning in Cabo for his dying friend and Camilo Villegas’s win in Bermuda, his first since his young daughter died, as the feel-good story of the year in golf.

Ecstasy and agony, Cinderella stories and nightmare finishes. Q-School had it all — except for talk about money.

Rank-and-file players hire lawyer to demand information from PGA Tour on outside investors

One of the 21 players has already removed his name from the list.

A handful of former and current PGA Tour players are so fed up with leadership they’ve hired a law firm to try and get some answers.

Susman Godfrey, the firm representing 21 players, recently sent a letter to the PGA Tour Policy Board demanding “full disclosure of the details and analyses of any proposals by prospective capital partners, which should be shared promptly with all Tour players.”

The players, who are all rank-and-file members at best, also demand a meeting with the independent directors on the Policy Board to discuss the process of selecting outside investors and what conflicts of interest may be present.

“The PGA Tour players who have been kept in the dark about this process are the lifeblood of the Tour,” the letter claims. “They deserve to know what is happening.”

No Laying Up’s Tron Carter shared the letter, dated Dec. 10, on social media Tuesday morning. The demands came the same night the Tour announced it had “unanimously selected an outside investment group to further negotiate with” and that talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would continue, as well.

The firm sent the following statement to Golfweek: “The PGA Players we represent want transparency from the PGA Tour Policy Board before it makes any decisions impacting the permanent structure, economics, or competitive rules of the PGA Tour. Only with additional information can the PGA Players ensure that the right decisions are made for the right reasons and that no players are left behind.  Our clients know their sentiments and goals are shared widely by most PGA Players.”

Tiger Woods, one of the player directors, was adamant a few weeks back that the dealings in the dark with potential investors had to end. Player directors, who are voted on by the membership, have been sending updates since the shocking June 6 framework agreement with the PIF was announced. So why is this group of players so special that they deserve a meeting and privileged information?

Lynch: Jon Rahm’s greed isn’t the PGA Tour’s biggest problem, it’s the guys who want Saudi-sized money for staying

After the way the framework agreement was handled and announced, players have voiced their displeasure with and lack of trust in the Tour’s leadership. But let’s look at their careers by the numbers.

Player Current OWGR ranking Best OWGR ranking Best FedEx Cup finish Cuts made Wins on Tour
Ryan Brehm 547 220 (2017) 128 (2022) 53/118 1
Wesley Bryan 704 36 (2017) 41 (2017) 59/113 1
MJ Daffue 249 141 (2023) 118 (2023) 29/49 0
Dylan Frittelli 409 44 (2018) 58 (2020) 78/152 1
Tommy Gainey 729 84 (2011) 62 (2011) 96/236 1
Brent Grant 440 320 (2022) 166 (2023) 12/37x 0
Lanto Griffin 307 49 (2021) 18 (2020) 79/126 1
James Hahn 316 52 (2016) 39 (2016) 150/262 2
Scott Harrington 664 185 (2020) 98 (2020) 36/87 0
Andrew Landry 740 37 (2018) 66 (2018) 76/160 2
Nate Lashley 186 70 (2020) 57 (2019) 79/141 1
Brandon Matthews 764 220 (2022) 192 (2023) 7/33x 0
William McGirt 553 24 (2016) 38 (2016) 166/277 1
Grayson Murray 134 85 (2017) 66 (2017) 58/128 1
Scott Piercy 305 25 (2016) 22 (2015) 249/396 4
Chez Reavie 111 8 (2019) 26 (2019) 244/397 3
Chris Stroud 638 74 (2014) 43 (2013) 208/402 1
Callum Tarren 153 141 (2023) 91 (2023) 27/62 0
D.J. Trahan 1,285 62 (2008) 24 (2008) 188/368 2
Richy Werenski 501 101 (2021) 39 (2020) 101/197 1
Danny Willett 182 9 (2017) 85 (2019, 2023) 79/135 1

Of the 21 players, just five are within the top 200 of the OWGR: Chez Reavie (111), Grayson Murray (134), Callum Tarren (153), Danny Willett (182) and Nate Lashley (186).

Ten players are ranked outside the top 500 in the world: Richy Werenski (501), Ryan Brehm (547), William McGirt (553), Chris Stroud (638), Scott Harrington (664), Wesley Bryan (704), Tommy Gainey (729), Andrew Landry (740), Brandon Matthews (764), D.J. Trahan (1,285). Seven of the 21 have never cracked the top 100.

Last season was the first on Tour for MJ Daffue, Brent Grant and Matthews, and each had seasons that left something to be desired. Stroud bad-mouthed the Tour last week before he flopped in the first round at the LIV Golf Promotions event.

The letter was mocked on social media by fans and golf media alike, and within seven hours of the letter going public, Bryan said he’s removed his name from the list of players.

We don’t know what the PGA Tour will look like in the near future, but we do know the Tour these players once knew will no longer exist. Instead of biting that hand that’s fed them for years, maybe it’s time for the journeyman to either venture on or plot a new course in the evolving game.

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Alex Noren leads, Camilo Villegas back in the mix and more from Saturday at 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Catch up on Saturday’s action here.

Alex Noren has 11 international wins, he has played in the Ryder Cup and he has represented Sweden at the Olympics. But come Sunday, he’ll have a chance to do something he has never done before — win on the PGA Tour.

After rounds of 61-66 over the first two days, Noren shot a 4-under 67 around Port Royal Golf Course on Saturday and holds a one-shot lead at the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship with 18 holes to play.

The Swede, who tied for third at the Shriners Children’s Open a month ago in Las Vegas, kept the bogeys off the card during his third round. Despite only hitting eight fairways (T-43 in the field), Noren was crisp with his irons, missing just four greens (T-12).

In 27 previous starts this season, Noren has six top-25 finishes and three top-10s. His last worldwide win came at the 2018 HNA Open de France.

If you missed any of the action on Saturday, no worries, we have you covered. Here are some takeaways from the third round of the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal.

This PGA Tour pro has been playing OG Fortnite to prepare for Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Where we dropping?

The Bryan family is in for a special week in Bermuda.

PGA Tour professional Wesley Bryan will play for the first time alongside his brother in a PGA Tour event, who is making his debut this week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton, Bermuda, at Port Royal Golf Club. The duo is famous for their YouTube channel, Bryan Bros Golf, and they have the game to back it up.

Their parents are also on the island this week, along with George’s wife.

This marks George’s first time in Bermuda, and he’s making sure to take in the island and enjoy his first Tour start.

Wesley, meanwhile, has been getting his prep in on the Lazy Links.

Classic Golfweek: Back in 2009, we hit the range with George and Wesley

“I’m solo (this week) and OG Fortnite just dropped this past week,” Wesley said. “Been catching copious amounts of dubs with the boys, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Lazy Links is a point of interest in Fortnite, an online, battle-royale video game released in 2017. Last Friday, Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, changed the game’s map back to one from one of the first seasons, and Fortnite’s player base hit record highs over the weekend.

Seems like Bryan is one of those who picked back up the controller to play.

“I’m a little jealous,” George said. “I wish I was doing that, but I’m enjoying what I’m doing as well.”

Added Wesley: “Dude, OG Fortnite might as well — it brings back — I got into it. I was going to be Call of Duty for life, I made that pact. Then I had shoulder surgery. They put me in this device where my arm was like this for six months and it just felt perfect to hold a controller. Right when shoulder surgery happened, it happened to coincide with when Fortnite came out. So George lured me in because he was 33, 32 years old and still playing video games, and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll get back into it.’

“Now it’s bringing back all of those fun memories in a sling, and it’s — gosh, it’s so much better than I can even describe.”

Here’s to seeing whether Wesley’s dubs in Fortnite can translate to the course, where he has one career win at the 2017 RBC Heritage but has missed 11 cuts in 17 starts this season.

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Billy Horschel, Lucas Glover scripting remarkable comeback stories among 5 thing to know at Wyndham Championship

Just two months after Billy Horschel opened with an 84 at the Memorial, he shares the 54-hole lead at the regular-season finale.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Just two months after Billy Horschel opened with an 84 at the Memorial and said through tears during his post-round press conference that his confidence “is the lowest it’s been in my entire career,” Horschel grabbed a share of the 54-hole lead at the Wyndham Championship.

One day after shooting 62 at Sedgefield Country Club, the low round of his career, Horschel backed it up with a bogey-free 7-under 63 on Saturday to tie Lucas Glover at 18-under 192. With time to kill at the end of the broadcast window, CBS re-aired the clip of Horschel’s emotional press conference, which included him saying, “I’m close.”

“That interview, that moment, as I’ve talked about a while, it was sort of like a release. I don’t fully understand why it happened then and there, because I had shared some of that with my team and my family before leading up to that, but right then and there it just happened,” he said. “From that moment I’ve been in a better head space, the game’s been going in the right direction since then.”

It doesn’t hurt that the putts have been dropping like old times. Last week, Horschel switched to an Odyssey putter and it’s been a game-changer this week. He ranks first in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining more than nine strokes on the greens and registered seventh straight under-par round.

“Just felt like needed a new look,” he said. “We sort of messed around with a Ping putter earlier this week and we thought we were going to use that, but I had a little hard time with longer putts, judging the speed with it, so we went back to this Odyssey and it’s working well.”

2023 Wyndham Championship
Billy Horschel sets to putt on the 8th green during the third round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

Indeed, it is. Horschel, the 2014 FedEx Cup champion has qualified for the playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons but he entered the week at No. 116 in the point standings. He enters the final round projected to jump 63 spots and move on to Memphis next week, but he can’t finish worse than a two-way tie for second. The way he’s rolling the rock, his eighth win of his career is well within his sights.

“I’m happy where my game is, I’m happy where things are trending, I’m happy where mentally I’m heading,” he said. “So hopefully it’s just another day of moving forward, it’s another steppingstone. I haven’t been here in a while, but I’m prepared for whatever, however I may feel, whatever comes tomorrow.”

Here are four more things to know from the third round of the Wyndham Championship.

The Bryan brothers, Wesley and George, battle in Wyndham Championship Monday qualifier

What a day for the Bryan family.

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Monday was an interesting day for the Bryan family.

The youngest, Wesley, is a PGA Tour winner — 2017 RBC Heritage — and has made 14 starts this season. His brother, George, on the other hand, plays most of his golf on YouTube these days.

That isn’t to say he isn’t a stick, because he absolutely is. He carries a +6 handicap.

And after shooting a bogey-free 4-under 67 at a pre-qualifying event at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, North Carolina, on July 27th, George earned himself a spot in the Wyndham Championship Monday qualifier.

Both Bryan brothers shot 5 under at Bermuda Run Monday, putting themselves in a six-for-three playoff.

Unfortunately, Wesley made it out of the playoff and into the Wyndham field while George did not.

“Well, one of us had to win and one of us had to lose. Well, I guess theoretically, both could have won, both could have lost, six-for-three playoff. Unfortunately, George did not make it through, fortunately, I did make it through. Sorry, George, still love you, but I’m always going to try to beat you until the day I die. In everything,” Wesley said on his Instagram Monday.

Although this one didn’t fall George’s way, he recently announced he signed up for PGA Tour Q-School. Through the program, he has a chance to earn a Tour card.

In four previous appearances at the Wyndham, Wesley has missed three cuts.

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Wesley Bryan had two 7 irons in his bag at Sanderson Farms Championship Monday qualifying, hit with four-stroke penalty

Wesley Bryan handled it well and was able to laugh at himself after the discovery.

Wesley Bryan, competing for one of four spots in the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship via Monday qualifying, got hit with a four-shot penalty after it was discovered he had 15 clubs in his golf bag.

Specifically, he had two 7-irons, according to a video posted on Twitter by the PGA Tour.

Bryan handled it amazingly well. He laughed and said: “You can go ahead and add four to my score, boys.”

The video then shows him teeing off and, after not being terribly pleased with the result, saying “Maybe I should have teed off with the other 7-iron.”

Bryan was not among the five golfers who shot a 5-under 67 to advance to a 5-for-4 playoff. He was listed under the “did not finish” part of the leaderboard.

Bryan hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship seven weeks ago. He made his last cut the week before that at the Rocket Mortgage Classic where he tied for 57th but had had missed five straight cuts before that.

In March at the Valspar Championship, Bryan made the final of 21 starts on a medical extension after undergoing surgery on his left wrist in 2021. He finished T-62 in a week he needed to finish sixth or better to regain his exempt Tour status for the remainder of the 2021-22 season.

Adam Schupak contributed to this article.

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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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Wesley Bryan is living on the edge in quest to retain PGA Tour status in final start of his medical extension

Bryan needs a solo sixth to retain full status or a solo 51st to stay in the top 126-150 category.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Down to his final start on his medical extension, Wesley Bryan said he was feeling the pressure as he straddled the cut line on Friday at the Valspar Championship.

“I usually don’t sweat out cut lines,” he said. “Yesterday felt a little different, for sure.”

Bryan, who missed five months last year with a wrist injury, made birdie at No. 7, his 16th hole of the day at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, to improve to 3 under and right on the cut line, which came at 3-under 139, the lowest 36-hole cut in tournament history. But one hole later, he was in between clubs – deciding between 4-iron or hybrid – at the 224-yard par-3 8th and tried to cut a hybrid into the wind. He overcooked it long and left, 42 yards past the hole, across the cart path and under bushes.

“I was in a world of hurt over there in the left hedges,” he said.

But Bryan, who made a living performing trick shots with his brother, George, before making it on the PGA Tour, got on his knees and whacked it out and got up and down for bogey. Then all he did was rip a 3-wood to the left corner of the ninth fairway and wedged to 4 feet and made birdie.

“Bogey on the 17th hole was way better than the birdie on the last,” he said.

Bryan gathered himself and made the clutch birdie knowing full well he had to make the cut to have any chance of satisfying his medical and improving his status on Tour. In his final of 21 starts he was granted, Bryan needs a solo sixth to retain full status or a solo 51st to stay in the top 126-150 category. That Bryan, who had missed the cut in his last three starts, delivered with the proverbial gun to his head came as no surprise to his caddie, William Lanier.

“When he has to get something done, he gets it done,” Lanier said. “He’s got no quit. Even at his worst, he fights to the end. Rather than shooting 79, he’ll shoot 78.”

Where does that grit and determination with his back against the wall come from, Bryan was asked? “I guess I learned it from my dad,” he said. “He was always a real scrappy player. I mean, he had the talent of a squirrel and made something out of it.”

Bryan, 31, has had a promising career short-circuited practically since his breakthrough victory at the 2017 RBC Heritage, recording just one top-10 finish at the 2017 John Deere Classic since slipping on the tartan jacket at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In January 2019, he underwent shoulder surgery for a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Last year, he injured his left wrist hitting a tee ball at his home course in South Carolina.

“It just exploded,” he said.

If there was a silver lining in being sidelined for extended periods of time, it is that the injuries have lined up with the birth of his first daughter when he had shoulder surgery and his second daughter being born as he recuperated from wrist surgery.

“Those are times I’d never be able to get back and I’d have missed a lot and I was able to see them grow up under our own roof being home for an extended period of time,” he said. “That was a blessing, for sure.”

Valspar: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Bryan explained that it wasn’t playing golf that he missed so much as the simple act of competing and the camaraderie with his fellow pros. He said his wrist is “95 percent” better and he’s prepared to play as much as he can until the end of the season. How many events he can get into may come down to the final round of the Valspar Championship. Bryan shot a 1-under-par 70 in the third round and currently sits T-52, living on the edge once again. He strung together three straight birdies to start the back nine but finished with a bogey meaning he’s got no room for error.

“I had an opportunity to make some birdies today, didn’t, made some bad bogeys and I guess it will take a special one tomorrow,” he said.

Whether he retains some status this week or not, Bryan will still have past champion status but it is lower in the pecking order behind the 126-150 category. Would a return to doing trick shots be his backup plan?

“I hung it up a while ago,” he said. “I think if the phone rang, I could still do it.”

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