Andrew

Landry

The Texan is not known for his consistency, arriving with five missed cuts and a WD in 12 starts this season. Even the missed cuts have fizzled out with nothing better than a T40 (Puerto Rico Open) on his resume this season. Perhaps that will change as he turns his attention back toward Harbour Town where he is 4-for-4 with a trio of T33 finishes. He’s played well here in the past but he’ll have the face tougher competition this year, now that the event has received designated status.

This is the 34-year-old’s third mid-tourney WD in 128 events, first since the 2018 Wells Fargo after a 7-over 78/R1 (illness), and was 4-for-4 at the John Deere with a couple of top 10s, including a solo 3rd two tries ago in 2019 as a 54-hole co-leader (65-65-67-69). The Texan, who is fully exempt thru the 2022-23 season from his most recent win at the 2020 American Express, arrived 152nd in the FedExCup standings and off a missed cut by three at last week’s Travelers (74-67), his first action since a missed cut at the Valspar 14 weeks prior at the end of March. There’s been no indication as to why he was off for that amount of time, but notably was in the field at the Valero (first week of April) in his home state but withdrew the Wednesday before (no reason), and hasn’t made a cut since a T7 at the WWT at Mayakoba back in November. This week, the Arkansas alum opened with an 8-over 79 (1 birdie, 5 bogeys, 2 doubles), and was actually 2-under today thru nine holes (4 birdies, 2 bogeys) when he called it quits, still well outside the cut line at 6-over total. At press time, he is in the published field at next week’s opposite-field Barbasol.

The Texan won the 2018 edition of the Valero. More recently, he’s missed the cut in six straight events. That came directly after top 10s in two tournaments in a three-event stretch last fall. There is no official reason cited for this pre-tourney WD but gamers should remove him from all weekly consideration and probably keep him off the radar until he at least earns another payday. In his place, Jared Wolfe will be making his tournament debut although he did snag a top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour last season when the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio hosted an event.

The 34-year-old Landry made six appearances in the fall series and made just two cuts, but he made them count: He finished T-4 in the Sanderson Farms Championship and T-7 at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. He missed cuts at the Houston Open and RSM Classic prior to the holiday break, but will look to get back on track at the site of his second and most recent Tour title. After missing the cut in his previous five starts leading into the 2020 AmEx, Landry carded four rounds in the 60s to finish at 26-under 262, beating Abraham Ancer by two strokes. He led by six strokes with six holes to play before making three straight bogeys to fall into a tie with Ancer, but Landry birdied the last two holes to capture his second career title. Landry made 31 birdies during the week, the first player to make that many birdies in a 72-hole Tour event since Steve Stricker in the 2010 John Deere Classic. Landry’s first win came at the 2018 Valero Texas Open, where he birdied four of his first six holes in the final round to grab the lead and finished at 17-under 271 to beat Trey Mullinax and Sean O’Hair by two strokes. Last season, he went 12-for-24 cuts made and was 155th on the FedExCup standings.

The Texan, who ended with 10 straight pars, heads home off his second top 10 of the season in four events, joining a T4 two starts ago at the Sanderson Farms. Since racking up a career-high five top 10s in 2018, including his maiden win at the Valero Texas Open, he’s only mustered one top 10 in each of his next three seasons (in 70 total starts), so notching a second top 10 this early in the campaign is noteworthy. This was the 34-year-old’s fifth Mayakoba and first cash, and wrapped the week with laps of 66-68-67-68, carding 21 birdies against six bogeys. He is in the published field at this coming week’s Houston Open.

The 34-year-old’s previous form at Mayakoba was non-existent, missing three cuts along with a mid-tourney WD, and hadn’t recorded a score better than 2-under 69 (x2). This week, he’s tossed up laps of 66-68-67, and while a distant seven in arrears of leader and defender Viktor Hovland, is in line for a second top 5 of the season in four starts, joining a T4 at the Sanderson Farms two starts ago, where he posted rounds of 68-68-66-66. The Arkansas alum, who’s totaled 16 birdies versus four bogeys thus far, owns two TOUR wins in 119 events, most recently the 2020 American Express 40 starts ago as a 54-hole co-leader. He’ll play out of the fourth-to-last pairing in R4 with Aaron Wise.

Three missed cuts have accompanied a WD in 2017 as Landry has failed to make it to the weekend in each outing at Mayakoba. Hoping this year will be different, the 34-year-old arrives with a mixed bag. Missing the cut in his season debut at the Fortinet Championship, Landry bounced back in his next start at Country Club of Jackson. Finishing in a tie for fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Landry captured his first top-5 finish in nearly a year. Unable to carry the momentum to the Shriners Children’s Open, the former Arkansas Razorback missed the cut in Las Vegas. He will look for his Mississippi form to show up in Mexico as Landry posted +5.1 Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, his best performance since the 2020 RSM Classic.

This was the Texan’s fourth SFC and second cash, brushing aside a prior-best T59 two tries ago in 2018. It’s his 10th career top 10 in 118 events, first since a T4 at last season’s RSM Classic 20 starts ago. For the week, the Arkansas alum carded rounds of 68-68-66-66, tallied one eagle and 22 birdies versus four bogeys, and ranked 26th in SG: Off-the-Tee (1.289), 10th in SG: Approach (3.482), 35th in SG: Around (0.350), 6th in SG: Putting (5.726), and 19th SG: Tee-to-Green (5.114). In R4, he began T10, four adrift, and camouflaged a lone bogey with an eagle-3 at hole 3 (from 6'1") and five birdies on 10 (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, gaining 2.907 strokes tee-to-green and 0.509 with the flat stick. The 34-year-old is in the published field at this coming week’s Shriners.

The Texan started his day with a three-putt bogey and three-jacked again for bogey just five holes later. He offset those blemishes with four birdies before making the turn, including a 24'1" bomb at the 7th to help ease the pain of those early three-putts. Landry’s irons and wedges were dialed in all day as he walked off the course gaining 3.7 strokes approaching-the-green. That would go in the book as his second-best measured approach round of his PGA TOUR career (+4.4 SG:APP in R4 of the 2019 Valspar). Landry started the week outside of the top 150 in the FedExCup race and would need at least a top-3 finish to play his way into the Playoffs. However, he does have his card locked up through the 2022-23 season so that alleviates a bit of pressure this week.

Landry had a close call at this event back in 2018 when he lost out to Jon Rahm in a playoff. He returned the next year to post a T28 finish and then last year he finished the job. The Texan posted four rounds of 67 or better to reach 26-under for the week and win by two shots. Overall, Landry has posted a score that was better than the field average in 12-of-15 rounds played at the AmEx so these courses appear to fit his eye. It was tough for anyone to see last year’s win coming as he arrived with missed cuts in seven of his eight lead-up starts. This time around he has five paychecks in his last eight starts including a T4 at The RSM Classic to end his fall schedule. Landry cracked the top 100 in the OWGR after his 2018 Valero Texas Open win and he has a chance to reenter the single digits as he currently sits at 111th in the rankings. Gamers should give Landry a look in weekly leagues if they want to lean on course history but his week-to-week results are still rather volatile.