Sungjae Im and Brandon Wu (both through 11 holes when play was suspended for the day) share the lead at 12-under, and while Im is on the verge of completing another of his standard exceptional seasons — this time with less of an insane schedule, featuring “only” 22 events played — Wu has shot up 54 spots in the projected Fed ExCup standings, from 78th all the way to 24th. Considering that the top 30 make the lucrative Tour Championship, his performance at the Wyndham could be a game-changer. The key word in all that standings talk, though, is “projected.” It’s not official until the tournament is over, and if Wu can’t hold it together in his last 25 holes on Sunday, he could watch all that potential evaporate into thick air.

With a few more moments like the one he experienced on 11, though, just before the weather horn blew, he’ll be cruising into Atlanta:

Perfection from @BWu97 ?

Just before the horn blew to suspend play, Brandon Wu ties the lead with a hole-out eagle ? pic.twitter.com/L8TJy1yjkH

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 6, 2022

And comparatively, you could even say Wu has it easy — he’s at least clinched his spot inside the top 125, which means he’ll make the trip to Memphis for the first leg of the playoffs next week. Brian Stuard started the Wyndham in 137th place but has surged up to 120th by virtue of a 65-68 start that sees him at 10-under with 11 holes completed in his third round. If things ended now, he’d retain his full tour status and make the playoffs with a chance to do some damage.

Kiradech’s Hail Mary

You absolutely do have to love Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the big man who comes and goes out of the American golf consciousness, but who looms large when he’s relevant. It’s been tough going for him outside of Thailand in recent years, and we haven’t even seen him at a major since 2019. But with a shocking 63 on Saturday, he’s suddenly very much in the mix at the Wyndham, trailing the leaders by two.

To put in context how unlikely this is, Aphibarnrat is currently ranked 359th in the world, and in 18 tournaments this year between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, he’s missed 10 cuts and peaked with a T-28 at the Puerto Rico Open. Saturday’s 63 was his best-ever round on the PGA Tour, and he’s been laid up with everything from COVID to a knee injury in the last two years. He regained his tour card last September at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, but the struggles have continued. Now, it appears as though he’ll need a solo second place finish at the Wyndham to keep his card and make the playoffs. It always looked unlikely, but after his scintillating Saturday, a Greensboro Hail Mary is officially in play.

Runnin’ Max McGreevy captures our hearts and minds

There are rare situations, I guess, in which running to mark your ball could save it from camping out for a bit before betraying you wholly and rolling down a slope. There are not, however, many such scenarios that can be envisioned in which the ball would stay put for an entire jog from tee to green on a 224-yard par 3.

None of that stopped Max McGreevy from taking a 55-second run on the 12th to make sure his ball wouldn’t go rogue at the minute mark.

This earned rave reviews from Jim Nantz and especially Nick Faldo, and it wasn’t long before the comparisons to Sam Snead started flying. Check it out:

Faldo and Nantz can't get enough of Runnin' Max McGreevy pic.twitter.com/AyEn77RH9b

— Shane Ryan (@ShaneRyanHere) August 6, 2022

McGreevy started out the week as the first man out in 126th place in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s 113th now and has a great chance to make the playoffs. If he pulls it off by a stroke, I think we can collectively agree to revise history and pretend it’s all because of his heroic run.

Ryder Cup captains cannot be stopped

We’ll start in Europe with Luke Donald, who pulled off this gem to prove that he’s more than just “management”:

Short game magic from @LukeDonald ? pic.twitter.com/qQN9fl6G10

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 6, 2022

And then there’s Zach Johnson, who we all now can still stroke it, and who was within whispering distance of the lead after this putt:

Moving Day fist pumps ? @ZachJohnsonPGA is one back of the lead @WyndhamChamp. pic.twitter.com/ekzfvrTz0f

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 6, 2022

Both caps are at six-under, six shots off the lead, and would have to get really hot to have a prayer of winning. If nothing else, though, this proves that while they’ll be neck deep in tactics for the next year, they can still hack it on the course.

Smalley’s gesture

An understated, sad, and heartwarming story from Helen Ross at PGATour.com feels like a good way to close things out. Alex Smalley, who is very much in the mix at eight-under, joined Sedgefield Country Club (the Wyndham venue) in 2020 and played with a man named Jeff Womack several times over the course of the last two years. About two weeks ago, he heard sirens while practising on the putting green, and the news was awful — Womack, 50, had collapsed and died on the course. He was a lumber salesman and a father of two, and this week, Smalley decided to wear the initials JW to honor a fellow member, a man he knew and liked, and who meant a lot to the club.

“I had a couple good breaks yesterday and I kind of thought, just kind of said, thanks Womack,” Smalley told Ross in reference to his first round. “I feel like whenever you can play for something more than yourself you kind of forget about golf.”

It’s possible to overstate the import of these things — initials on a hat can only do so much to mitigate a much larger strategy — but there’s something moving about the fact that Smalley took it on himself to acknowledge the life and presence of someone the golf world might otherwise never know. You can’t go wrong pulling for Smalley on Sunday.

The post PGA Tour: As storms hit Wyndham, FedEx Cup playoff hopes hang in the balance amid a crowded leaderboard appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matt Smith
While Xander Schauffele was wrapping up his third title on the trot at the Scottish Open in North Berwick, there was another tussle going on which was a little under the radar.

The final four spots for the 150^th Open Championship were still to be decided — on both sides of the Atlantic.

The three top players not otherwise qualified or exempt at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick booked their ticket for the Old Course this week, and they were Scottish Open runner-up Kurt Kitayama, his fellow American Brandon Wu (-3) and Welshman Jamie Donaldson (-3).

Over in the US, the final Open place went toTrey Mullinax at the DP World Tour/PGA Tour-sanctioned Barbasol Championship. The American won the event on 25-under in Kentucky.

The 150^th Open Championship begins on Thursday.

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The post Kitayama, Donaldson, Wu and Mullinax tie up final Open Championship spots — on both sides of the Atlantic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
The game isn’t scripted, obviously, though on rare occasions it allows a story to unfold as though it had been worked out in advance. Sunday on the Korn Ferry Tour was one of those days, tying together a victory, a U.S. Open and a homecoming.

Brandon Wu, 23, shot a final-round seven-under par 65 at Victoria National GC in Newburgh, Ind., to win the Korn Ferry Tour Championship by one.

It allowed him to finish first in points in a three-tournament competition from which the top five earned invitations into the U.S. Open at Winged Foot GC in Mamaroneck, N.Y., in two weeks.

No doubt it is special for all five, including Stephan Jaeger, Curtis Luck, Dan McCarthy and Greyson Sigg. But for Wu, it is a different category of special.

Wu is a native of Scarsdale, N.Y., which isn’t precisely a par-5 from Winged Foot, but close enough. His home course, Scarsdale GC is about five miles away.

“The U.S. Open is so special for me,” Wu said. “I got to play last year, my first one, which was awesome. Then this year, going back to Winged Foot, I grew up five minutes from Winged Foot, so it’s going to be super nice going back home and playing in my hometown U.S. Open.”

Wu previously was best known for missing his Stanford graduation to play in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, then receiving his diploma from USGA president Stu Francis by the 18th green moments after completing his final round and finishing tied for 35th.

His winning on Sunday only generously would have been in the category of possibility at the outset of play. He began the final round trailing by five and was 134th on tour in final-round scoring average at 72.25.

Yet he played a bogey-free round that included birdies at 14 and 15 to overtake the leader, Sigg, who double-bogeyed the 14th playing behind him. Sigg would finish second by a stroke, after narrowly missing a tying 12-foot birdie attempt at the 18th hole.

“I just tried to go out and minimize my mistakes,” Wu said. “I made a couple bogeys earlier in the week. Today I was trying to hit every fairway and hit every green. I think I only ended up missing two greens. I stayed patient.

“At 16, I felt I was playing pretty well, but I didn’t know what everyone else was doing. There are no scoreboards out there, but I thought I might be in the mix. So I was just trying to keep the pedal down.”

Wu, incidentally, also finished fifth in on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. The top 10 finishers in points earn PGA Tour starts in 2020-’21 in alternate field events.

“I’ve been able to come a long way for sure this year,” Wu said.

The post Brandon Wu wins Korn Ferry Tour Championship, earns homecoming start in the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Four more players have tested COVID-19 positive at PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour tournament sites this week.

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour announced Chad Campbell has been withdrawn from the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Campbell, 46, was not yet in the field as he was listed as the tournament’s first alternate. Alex Cjeka now takes his place.

In a statement, Campbell said that while the positive test is “unnerving” he feels physically fine and is asymptomatic. “I support the tour’s protocol during this time and will be quarantining myself to protect others until I am well,” Campbell said.

Campbell is the third player attempting to play in the Rocket Mortgage Classic to test positive for COVID-19, joining Harris English and Dylan Frittelli. Seven players dropped out of last week’s Travelers Championship, although only two (Cameron Champ and Denny McCarthy) were the result of a player’s positive COVID-19 test. Campbell is the sixth PGA Tour player to be diagnosed with coronavirus in the past 12 days.

At the Korn Ferry Tour’s TPC Colorado Championship, Brandon Wu, Taylor Montgomery and Jonathan Hodge have withdrawn due to testing COVID-19 positive during the on-site screening process.

“These positive test results serve as a distinct reminder that we all need to continue to be vigilant in this ever-changing climate,” said Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin. “We will further reinforce the elements of our health and safety plan to all constituents, and deliver our full support to those who test positive for COVID-19.”

Wu, Montgomery, and Hodge are the only players to test positive through the Korn Ferry’s on-site testing protocol.

The post Four more players test COVID-19 positive at PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour events appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Brandon Wu opted for a more circuitous route to professional golf than his college contemporaries — Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, among the more notable of them. But now that he has arrived, he, too, is worthy of attention.

Wu, 22, made his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor exemption at the Houston Open and flirted with a top-10 finish. An 18th hole bogey at the Golf Club of Houston dropped him into a tie for 17th, a more than respectable debut.

“I would say I think I just go out and try to play my best,” he said following Saturday’s third round, which he finished tied for sixth. “I’m not too concerned with where I end up falling. I think, just kind of add them up at the end and see how it goes. Yeah, I think if I’m playing well, I can definitely compete out here, so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

On Sunday, Wu bogeyed his opening hole on Sunday and was never in contention. He shot an even-par 72 to finish at eight-under 280, six strokes behind winner Lanto Griffin.

Wu, who famously received his Stanford degree after finishing the final round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June, made his professional debut two weeks ago, in the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He played well for two rounds, then shot 76 in the third round at Carnoustie and missed the cut.

In the U.S. Open At Pebble Beach, Wu tied for 35th, second among the amateurs to Hovland, who tied for 12th. But unlike Hovland, who immediately turned pro, Wu preferred remaining an amateur so that he could compete for the U.S. in the Walker Cup in England. He went 3-1 for U.S. Captain Nathaniel Crosby’s team that won by five points.

A week earlier, he finished 30th in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic, playing there, too, on a sponsor exemption.

Wu was fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking when he finally turned pro. That and his contributions to Stanford’s NCAA championship in June, his U.S. Open showing, qualifying for the British Open (he missed the cut), and finishing in the top 20 in his PGA Tour debut, more sponsor exemptions are likely in his future.

The post Brandon Wu is the latest college star to impress at start of his pro career, tying for 17th in PGA Tour debut appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
PINEHURST, N.C. — Austin Squires woke up at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning uncertain if his amateur golf career was already over. Thirteen hours later, he was the talk of the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship.

The in-between was a crazy odyssey that began by finding out the cutline for match play at Pinehurst Resort had moved from four over to five over when stroke-play resumed at 7:20 a.m. A few dozen players had to wrap up their 36 holes after a weather delay on Tuesday prevented everyone from finishing. With the new cutline, Squires was one of 27 golfers who would playoff for the last three match-play spots.

The 22-year-old, who finished up school at the University of Cincinnati in the spring, then survived a four-hole, three-hour, 46-minute playoff to get the 64th seed, an ordeal that included waiting for roughly an hour between holes as the huge group whittled its way down.

RELATED: The U.S. Amateur playoff might be the most sadistic thing in golf

His reward? Facing medallist Brandon Wu, fresh off arguably the best summer of any amateur golfer in the world.

To his credit, Squires didn’t flinch, bolstered by the confidence that he regained from surviving the playoff. He never trailed in the match with Wu, taking the lead for good on the 10th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 and closing out the recent Stanford grad with a par on the 18th hole for a 2-up victory.

“It was a very long, stressful day,” Squires said. “It was kind of nice that I already played a couple holes before the match. Granted it was No. 4, which is a little different. but it was still nice. It was a little easier to get in a rhythm.”

It’s hard to call Squires’ win much of an upset. He did reach the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur last year at Pebble Beach.

“Obviously anything can happen in match play,” said Wu, who was only able to make one birdie during the match. “All 64 guys that made it to match play are incredible players.”

Brandon Wu

Had the cutline not moved, and Squires not found his way into the playoff, he said that this would have been the end of his amateur career. He is set to turn pro and play in a pre-qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School later this month. The reason he hadn’t turned pro yet was that he was exempt into the U.S. Amateur thanks to his quarterfinal berth last year.

“I knew I wanted to give this tournament another shot,” said Squires, who faces Stefano Mazzoli of Italy in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning. “I love amateur golf. I wish I could stay an amateur forever, but I want to make a career out of golf. There is not a lot of money in amateur golf.”

Wu was one of several top seeds who fell in the first round on Wednesday. Six of the 10 highest-ranked players in the match-play bracket fell on Wednesday.

Additionally, 2019 U.S. Walker Cup team member Stewart Hagestad lost to Maxwell Moldovan. Hagestad, at 28, was the oldest player to reach match play (and the lone mid-amateur to do it), but fell to the second-youngest player (17) remaining in the field.

A few big names as well as players with North Carolina ties did, however, win their matches and will be back on Thursday. They include Akshay Bhatia, the junior phenom from Wake Forest, N.C., and Alex Fitzpatrick, who plays at Wake Forest and is the younger brother of former U.S. Amateur champion Matt Fitzpatrick. Bhatia won his match over R.J. Manke, 3 and 2. While Fitzpatrick defeated reigning British Amateur champion James Sugrue, 5 and 4.

The post Austin Squires becomes the talk of the U.S. Amateur with his playoff heroics, ‘upset’ of No. 1 seed Brandon Wu appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
That Brandon Wu would hold a one-shot lead after Day 1 of stroke play at the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship is hardly a surprise. The recent Stanford grad who helped the Cardinal win the NCAA title in May is in the midst of an impressive summer run that includes becoming the first amateur golfer to qualify for the U.S. and British Opens in the same calendar year since 1967. Wu finished T-35 at Pebble Beach (and was awarded his college diploma behind the 18th green) before missing the cut at Royal Portrush.

But there’s a backstory that makes Wu’s opening five-under 65 at Pinehurst No. 4 on Monday all the more impressive. Just the day before, Wu, the eighth-ranked player on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, was competing in the final round of the Pan American Games . . . in Lima, Peru. A closing even-par 71 left him in fourth place as an individual and helped the mixed U.S. team win a gold medal in the four-day event.

Afterwards, Wu went to the airport and took a red-eye flight through Miami to Pinehurst, where he arrived mid-morning on Monday, a few hours ahead of his 2:45 p.m. tee time (USGA officials gave him an afternoon time to accommodate his schedule since he was representing the country in an international competition).

By participating in the Pan Am Games for the U.S., Wu had to forgo weekend practice rounds at Pinehurst. However, the 22-year-old from Scarsdale, N.Y., visited the North Carolina resort in early July, getting the chance to play the newly re-designed No. 4 and the fabled No. 2 course.

Wu showed few signs of fatigue on Monday, as he closed out his round with three birdies and an eagle on the 14th through 17th holes. A par on the 18th still gave him the competitive course record.

“I tried to manage my sleep as well as I could,” Wu said. “I slept great on the two flights up here, and then took a quick nap before I teed off for about two hours. I actually feel pretty good.”

He’ll need to as Wu has a quick turnaround on Tuesday morning, teeing off the 11th tee at the No. 2 course at 9:30 a.m.

The top-64 players after Tuesday’s second round of stroke play will advance to match play, which will be contested from Wednesday through Sunday’s scheduled 36-hole final.

Ed’s Note:  MENA Tour prodigy Rayhan Thomas had an opening round to forget, carding a 10-over-par 80 to sit in T-262 place – 15 shots off Wu’s first-round pace. It’s not all bad for the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club member even though he looks unlikely to advance to the matchplay phase at Pinehurst; Thomas is headed to Oklahoma State University for the next chapter in his golf education.

RELATED: MENA Tour trailblazer Rayhan Thomas is about to take his golf education to the next level

The post Brandon Wu arrives off red-eye flight from Peru, still shoots 65 to lead U.S. Amateur; Tough start for Dubai’s Thomas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Brandon Wu won’t have to wait for his diploma to come in the mail after all. The 22-year-old Stanford senior, who missed his graduation ceremony on the Palo Alto campus on Sunday because he was playing in the final round of the U.S. Open, was surprised by university officials behind the 18th green after he wrapped up a final-round 74.

Wu was given a graduation cap and then handed his diploma for his degree in product design by USGA president-elect Stu Francis (who got his MBA at Stanford).

Wu knew there would be a potential conflict with the graduation when he got into the U.S. Open via Sectional Qualifying. When he made the cut after opening rounds of 71-69, it became a certainty.

“This is a pretty cool experience, too,” he said on Saturday. “I wish I could graduate with my classmates, but I think they’ll understand and be cheering for me.

“They said they’d mail [the diploma] to me, so hopefully I get it in the mail.”

After missing his graduation from Stanford to play in the final round of the U.S. Open, Brandon Wu received his diploma after walking off the 18th green at Pebble Beach.

Wu played with Dustin Johnson on Sunday. Impressively, the 74 was his worst round of the week, as he finished with a one-over 285, but was passed for low amateur honours by Viktor Hovland.

The Open capped a wild month for Wu, who helped the Cardinal win the NCAA team title a few weeks ago in Arkansas and also competed for the U.S. in the Arnold Palmer Cup.

“It’s been a crazy two or three weeks,” said Wu, who will remain an amateur in hopes of playing for the U.S. Walker Cup team in September. “I didn’t really envision this, how to end my college career. I thought I would be taking exams and walking in graduation. It’s been surreal. It’s been an awesome few weeks.”

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