Emergency 9: THE PLAYERS Championship, Round 4

RIDGELAND, S.C. – At THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, Shane Lowry – who had his putter snap in the ninth fairway on Thursday – wasn’t the only player needing to make some equipment changes on the fly. Cameron Young felt as if something had gone awry with his driver during his back nine Friday in the second round at Congaree Golf Club. Young is one of the hardest swingers on the PGA TOUR – ranking fourth in swing speed average (123.68 mph) last season, and third in driving distance (319.3 yards) – so every few months he said he takes a hard look at changing out driver heads. Friday, he did not crack his driver face but somehow altered it enough to remove it from play. Early into his back nine, it seemed strange to him to see a few of his drives react as they did. “I hit a couple off the heel that didn’t act correctly,” Young said.” I know the ‘heely’ ones tend to cut a little bit, but I hit a couple that curved like 60 yards. It just didn’t seem right.” On Saturday, he had a newly assembled driver in the bag, having borrowed a TSi3 9.5-degree head from fellow Titleist staffer Webb Simpson, attaching it to his regular gamer shaft. Young instantly could feel a difference. It showed in his play, too. Young birdied four of his first five holes and shot his low round of the tournament, a 5-under 66 that moved him to 5-under for 54 holes. “As soon as I hit the other one, the driver flights were just a lot straighter,” Young said. “I think the (original) driver was not fully intact. He (Simpson) was nice enough to give me one.” It was Simpson, a captains’ assistant to Davis Love III at the recent Presidents Cup, who surprised Young during his Wednesday news conference by delivering the Arnold Palmer Trophy that Young had earned as 2021-22 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year. (Simpson was joined by former ROY Sungjae Im of South Korea). Young earned the vote of his peers as the top rookie after a solid rookie campaign in which he finished second five times (including a solo second at The Open Championship at St. Andrews) and third twice (once at the PGA Championship, where he was finished one shot out of a playoff). For Young, it has been a memorable year, and the last few months have been busy. He climbed into the top 20 in the World Ranking, made the TOUR Championship, and played in his first Presidents Cup. Off the course, he and his wife moved into a new home in Florida as they ready for the arrival of their second child later next month. This week, Young has managed to go lower each day, opening with 73, shooting 69 on Friday despite his driver troubles (he ranked 73rd in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee) and 65 on Saturday, even though he felt as if he left a few shots on the course. He said he has struggled to summon energy after a 15-hour return flight from Japan to start the week. Young will start Sunday too far back to earn that first victory this week, but many on TOUR expect him to notch that first win soon. Earning Rookie of the Year honors was nice validation that he is doing a lot of things he needs to do to break through. “I think mostly I just played some very good golf,” he said earlier in the week. “When I played well, I feel like I was able to kind of keep it going through the week and, you know, all it takes is a good start and then you can kind of hang around for a long time, or one good round Friday or Saturday. “Obviously, it takes a lot more than that to win a tournament, but I felt like I was able to take advantage of my good days and shoot some really low scores, and take advantage of my solid golf and put some really solid weeks together.”

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ryan Moore didn’t exactly come to the Wyndham Championship with visions of playing his way into the FedExCup Playoffs. He was ranked No. 183 on the eligibility list, after all. Not that he’d done the math – Moore maintains he was “just trying to find a little form” this week — but only a finish of second or better would lift him into the all-exempt 125 category and send him into the Playoffs. “I’m trying to do whatever I can this week,” Moore explained. “I’m just trying to gain some confidence going into next season, to be honest.” Mission accomplished, then, at least through the first two rounds. Moore is tied for the lead with Brandon Wu, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim entering the weekend at Sedgefield Country Club. He’s currently projected No. 68 in the FedExCup and could become just the third player to ride a victory at the Wyndham Championship into the top 125. Davis Love III was the first to do so when he moved from No. 186 to 76th in winning the tournament for the third time in 2015. Jim Herman also booked a trip to the Playoffs with his 2020 victory, jumping from 192nd to No. 54. Moore has also won the Sam Snead Cup, capturing the PGA TOUR’s Regular Season finale in 2009, the first of his five victories. He’s battled a chronically bad back of late, though, and he’s been particularly affected this year, missing nearly four months of competition. Doctors have finally identified the problem – Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine. It won’t require surgery, but Moore will need to set aside six to eight weeks of treatment. “I basically just keep spraining it over and over and over again, which you can imagine doesn’t feel great twisting and swinging a golf club as hard as I can,” he said. “I’ll just try to finish out the year and deal with it and then hopefully have some time coming up here to do it.” Moore has missed as many cuts as he’s made this year, but the former NCAA and U.S. Amateur champ has yet to post a top-10 finish. His best is a tie for 24th at the John Deere Classic, a shotmaker’s course like Sedgefield where Moore tied for second last year. Moore’s rounds of 65 and 66 were a study in contrast. He drove it well on Thursday and had three approach shots on his second nine that nestled within a foot of the hole. Friday, though, was a little more “scrappy,” but he managed to scramble well and save par when it counted. “A day like today easily could have been even or so; instead, kept my momentum and ended up at 4 under,” he said. The 39-year-old Moore has never been a big hitter, and he says there are fewer and fewer courses he feels that he can be competitive on. Sedgefield, though, is one where he has a comfort zone – posting six top 10s and a scoring average of 68.25. “This one still remains like more of a shotmaker’s golf course, blind tee shots a lot and shorter and tougher angles,” Moore said. “So, they’re just harder fairways to hit at times and they’re not holes that you can just send it down there as far as you possibly can every single hole, so I think that helps me. It’s more of a position golf course and you don’t have to hit it far around here.” Max McGreevy came to Greensboro having missed the cut in six of his last seven starts. He’s found a comfort zone at Sedgefield, though, where he once played in an AJGA event. The 67 McGreevy fired in the second round of the Wyndham Championship put him in the hunt at 5 under. He’s also projected inside the top 125, moving four spots to No. 122. “I know it’s a stressful week, but I know my game’s been in the right direction the last couple weeks,” he said. “… Just my fiancée and I and our dog this week. It’s just kind of relaxing in a sense, just getting out here, taking care of business and going back and relaxing with them.” That said, McGreevy joked that his future wife should probably have taken his phone away from him the last few days. “I’m pretty bad about checking a lot,” he said. “I already deleted the PGA TOUR app this week and Twitter and all that stuff. Honestly, I’ll look at it a little bit, but at the same time I can only play my game, can’t take care of what everybody else does. “If I play like I did today the next two days, I know I’ll be in good shape.” NOTES: Charlie Hoffman’s streak of making the FedExCup Playoffs every year of its existence is still alive – but he faces an uphill battle. He’s 4 under after matching rounds of 68 but he was projected 146th and likely needs to finish fourth or better to get inside the top 125. … Adam Scott, who is tied at 2 under, and Matt Kuchar (who is 51st and not playing this week) are the other two who have played in the Playoffs every year since the program began in 2007. Scott came into the Wyndham Championship ranked No. 73. … Rickie Fowler shot even par and will miss the cut. While he is exempt for the 2022-23 season, he is in danger of missing the Playoffs for the second straight year. He came in ranked No. 123 and was projected 127th. … Justin Lower shot 4 under on his second nine holes Friday to keep his Playoff hopes alive. Lower, who came into the week ranked No. 128 and projects at 131, shot 66 and made the cut on the number at 2 under. He likely needs to finish 37th or better to play in Memphis next week. … Webb Simpson, who won the Wyndham Championship in 2011, withdrew during the weather delay. The recently named Presidents Cup assistant captain, who has never missed the Playoffs when he was eligible, entered the tournament ranked No. 117 and is projected No. 123. … Martin Trainer moved up nine spots to No. 126 thanks to his second straight round of 67. He likely needs to finish tied for 18th to retain his exempt status and make the Playoffs. PLAYOFFS BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players who were projected to move in and out of the top 125 at the end of Thursday’s first round at Sedgefield Country Club. PROJECTED IN Ryan Moore (No. 183, Projected No. 68): Moore made the biggest move of the day with his round of 66. Max McGreevy (No. 126, Projected No. 122): The rookie birdied his 17th hole of the day to move inside the top 125. Brian Stuard (No. 137, Projected No. 124): Stuard has now shot consecutive rounds in the 60s for the first time since the Valspar Championship. PROJECTED OUT Rickie Fowler (No. 123, Projected No. 127): Fowler bogeyed three of his first four holes but played his next 14 in 4 under to shoot 69. Still, he is 2 over for the tournament and likely to miss the cut. Matt Wallace (No. 124, Projected No. 128): Wallace had an adventurous back nine, making four birdies, four bogeys and just one par. Austin Smotherman (No. 125, Projected No. 129): He was 4 over for the day and 1 under for the tournament through 15 holes when play was called due to darkness. The current projected cut includes 65 players at 2 under or better and 88 players at 1 under or better. Four players can affect the cut on Saturday, including Smotherman, Bo Hoag (3 under through 16), Chris Gotterup (2 under through 17) and Joshua Creel (even through 17).

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