Hello everyone!
Checking in after a really busy Q2 of 2024. This has been a particularly busy year with the condensed schedule and trying to maximize my playing opportunities, not being exempt for the signature events. The good news is that my game has been trending better each week, and I am positioned with the playoffs well within striking distance in 10 weeks. Here is a short recap from each tournament I’ve played this year:
Mexico Open: T13
This week was a return to a golf course that I’ve played well at, and really favors long-hitters. I continued to roll my good driving into a week with a lot of opportunities, and finishing 67-66 on the weekend vaulted me up the leaderboard after making the cut by a shot.
Cognizant Classic: T41
This was a fairly consistent week where I played solid, but didn’t make enough birdies to get high enough on the leaderboard. The real excitement from this week came Sunday evening as we were leaving the golf course for the airport, when Maya walked into the lobby of PGA National Resort only to spot a lady stealing all of her baggage right from the bell desk!! With good luck and the help of the Palm Beach PD, we got all of her things back.
PLAYERS: T9
After a week off, we returned to TPC Sawgrass for the Players. I entered the weekend in 4th place after two days of nearly flawless ball striking. It fell apart a bit on the weekend though, but some great scrambling, course management, a few gut-check moments and timely hole-outs held my position in the top 10 for a huge boost and 187 FedEx Cup points.
Valspar: T45
This was the week that I found out exactly how much the PLAYERS had taken out of me. Not only was it a long, grueling and exciting week, but the adrenaline crash must have set me up to get some sort of bug that really kicked in on the weekend here. I shot 69-71-71-72, and was so exhausted that we decided (in the 11th fairway on Sunday) that there was no way I was going to be able to compete the following week in Houston. This ended up being the right call (other than the fact that a flight cancellation led us to spend the night on the floor of the MSP airport), as I didn’t leave the house for 5 days when we got home!
Valero: T58
Well, I showed up to San Antonio at a course I’d had success at before, but still wasn’t myself after getting sick. Physically I felt better, but the energy levels just hadn’t returned. I struggled to finish 1 over par and walked away with a whopping 4 FedEx Cup points!
Zurich: MC
I had two weeks off for the first time all season, and showed up to New Orleans with my game (and my partner Tom Hoge’s game) in fine form. Unfortunately, we didn’t exactly ham and egg it, making birdie on the same hole 4 times in round 1 and not really getting any momentum going. It also didn’t help that I played the first round with a cracked driver, and just couldn’t get any putts to fall round 2. This was also our 7th delayed or cancelled flight of the season, but things were about to turn for the better!
Byron Nelson: T41
Another made cut here in Dallas, and marked my switch back from the ProV1x to the ProV1 to try to knock a little more spin off the golf ball. There was a bit of an adjustment period, but it really was my putting from 5-15’ that let me down this week, despite a lot of good birdie looks.
PGA Championship: T23
I showed up to Valhalla after another week off with a new Odyssey putter (and an on-time travel day!!), as we began experimenting with new mill patterns to better interact with my new golf ball. We made progress, but the putter still didn’t feel perfectly comfortable in my hands. My first round 66 (despite a 3putt from 20’) put me in the top 10, and I continued to ball-strike my way to my best finish in a major championship.
Charles Schwab: T17
The following week, we showed up to a completely new Colonial Country Club. It was extremely firm being completely regressed and renovated (it was a minor miracle that they were even able to complete the project in time for the tournament!) but that led to some crazy bounces and conditions, especially with winds gusting over 30mph. I made the cut on the number, and after shooting even par on Saturday, shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday to vault up the leaderboard over 50 spots on the weekend. I had switched to a new prototype Odyssey putter with a different shaft, and all of a sudden, my speed control was back to being my best weapon. I got off to a hot start on Sunday before the wind picked up, and it turned a frustrating week into a solid one.
RBC Canadian: T7
I showed up in Canada with a pretty absent-minded 74 to start round 1. But my game was feeling so good, as now my ball-striking, short game, and putting felt like they were firing on all cylinders, that I was not worried. I shot 65 to make the cut by 2, and 66-65 on the weekend for my 3rd top 10 of the season. The finish was also good enough to grab one of the three qualifying spots for the British Open, which was a nice bonus!
Now, I am home for two weeks before I head back on the road. I will play:
Rocket Mortgage
John Deere
Off
The Open Championship
3M
Off
Wyndham
Then hopefully I will be in the top 70 of the FedEx Cup to make the playoffs. I am currently 57th on the list, but expect I will fall a few spots not playing the next few weeks.
Thanks for following along! If you haven’t done so recently, please log on to your account and make your Birdies donations! This will really help the Curriki team as they wrap up their fiscal year fundraising. Please reach out to Karen Hallstein, khallstein@curriki.org, 1-408-655-0233 if you have any questions or need any assistance.
Thank you again, and see you out there!
Mav