How SC golfers fared in PGA Tour’s fall events
Players in golf’s major league look at the PGA Tour’s nine-tournament fall schedule from various angles. Some choose to rest after the long summer grind that ended around Labor Day, while others hope to “make” their 2021-22 season in the autumn events.
Dustin Johnson, the state of South Carolina’s top performer who is ranked No. 3 in the world, belongs in the rest and relaxation crowd. He teed up only once on the Tour in the fall, sharing 45th place in the CJ Cup.
Among the tour’s 16-player Palmetto State contingent, Matt NeSmith, Doc Redman and Bill Haas took the opposite route. They each played seven times before Thanksgiving.
Overall, the state players’ results did not create a lot of excitement.
NeSmith, a former All-American at USC, forged the best fall among the state players. He made the cut in five of his seven starts, earned at top-15 in the Shriners’ tournament in Las Vegas and ranks 83rd in the season-long FedEx Cup standings.
Mount Pleasant’s Andrew Novak, a former S.C. Amateur champion who played at Wofford, got his rookie season off to a nice start with 22nd- and 26th-place finishes among his five starts,
Jonathan Byrd (20th in Bermuda) and William McGirt (17th at Sanderson) joined NeSmith and Novak with top-25 finishes.
Injuries, as well as lower status that limited opportunities, likely played a role in results. Scott Brown, Ben Martin and D.J. Trahan made only two starts. Tommy Gainey got into one field, and Wesley Bryan, playing on a major medical extension, played in one event.
The fall tournaments make up about 20% of the season-long schedule that resumes Jan. 6 in the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
Kevin Kisner, 41st in the world ranking, and Lucas Glover will be in the ToC field, thanks to wins last season — Kisner in the Wyndham and Glover in the John Deere. Surprisingly, Johnson did not win during the 2021 calendar year and did not qualify.
The Tour arrives in this area with the Masters (April 7-10) in Augusta and the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island (April 14-17). With the Presidents Cup set for Quail Hollow in Charlotte in September, the Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship moves from Quail Hollow to the District of Columbia area this year.
Chip shots. Jim Crow celebrated his 75th birthday in the best possible way for an avid golfer — with a hole-in-one. A starter at Fort Jackson GC, Crow aced the sixth hole on the Fort’s Old Hickory Course with a pitching wedge from 126 yards. ... The state’s golf community mourned the death of Mike Holland, a member of the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame who passed away Monday. An All-American at USC, Holland won the 1976 South Carolina Amateur, the 1981 PGA World Team title and twice qualified for the U.S. Open. ... Four former USC players — Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, Kristy McPherson, Katelyn Dambaugh and Anita Uwadia — along with former Furman golfer Haylee Harford will seek LPGA playing status in the Q Series, a 144-hole marathon on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama that ends Dec. 12. ... South Carolina Golf Day will be held Jan. 8 at Columbia CC. The program includes the SCGA’s annual meeting, introduction of 2021 players of the year, recognition of special honorees and induction of Gary Schaal into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame. For tickets, call the SCGA office at 803-732-9311. ... The CC of Lexington team — Ben Jett, Rusty Massey and Stan Rawl — won the SCGA’s Lathrop Cup at the River Club in North Augusta. Joined by professional Steve Hartwig, the Lexington team finished in a three-way tie for first with the Thornblade Club and Holly Tree CC in pro-am competition. ... A limited number of tickets remain for the SCJGA’s Oyster Roast, a junior golf fund-raiser scheduled for Dec. 11 at Junction 800 in the Vista. Call the SCGA at 803-732-9311 for information.