Ben

Kohles

Starting the week at 169th in the FedExCup race, Kohles needs a big week at the Wyndham. He would need at least a podium finish to have a shot at cracking the Playoffs but even landing inside of the top 150 would have its benefits. So far, so good, for Kohles who traded six birdies with one bogey today. It didn’t look like a great round initially though as he swallowed a bogey at the 12th and needed two par-savers from outside of 10 feet to save at 1-over thru five holes. He turned on the scoring hose from there with six birdies on his final 13 holes, without dropping another shot. He walked off the course ranked 2nd in strokes gained putting (+3.6). This will set a new personal best in round one of PGA TOUR events (previously a 66 in R1 of the 2013 Honda Classic). Kohles is still sitting on just one career top 10, a T7 at the 2013 Valspar Championship.

The Invitational frequently features many of the previous season’s top collegiate golfers and boasts past champions such as Daniel Summerhays and Harris English, both of whom champions as amateurs. Kohles, who played collegiately at the University of Virginia, turned professional just in time for this event. He fired a 1-under-par 70 in the final round and finished regulation in 12-under 272. Guthrie turned pro a few weeks earlier and parlayed all three of his PGA TOUR starts into top 25s (including one top 10) and $284,672 before setting foot on the Web.com Tour for the first time. Kohles’ win earned him $144,000 and the 13th spot on the Web.com Tour money list where the top 25 at season’s end will earn PGA TOUR cards.

His 24-under 65-66-67-62=260 included 26 birdies to just two bogeys, and he finished the week ranked in the top 10 in driving accuracy, GIR and putting. Just two professinoal tournaments into his career, he has virtually assured himself a PGA TOUR card via the Web.com Tour, as his $261,000 rank him second on that money list where the top 25 gain cards.

Kohles was given one of the last two sponsor exemptions into the field. After winning his first two starts in consecutive weeks on the Web.com Tour, he finally cooled to a solo 60th at last week’s Price Cutter. The former All-American at the University of Virginia will be making his PGA TOUR debut at Sedgefield Country Club.

The rookie has enjoyed a relatively tidy week in Fort Worth, hitting 28 greens in regulation and swallowing just two bogeys. He’s circled four birdies in each round, two of which in each round from outside 11 feet. His longest conversion of the week measured 23 feet at the par-4 seventh hole in his second round. Kohles entered the week on an 0-for-4 slide. He was the last to post 6-under 134, four strokes off Matt Kuchar’s 36-hole lead.

Kohles was the third alternate when the field was released on Friday afternoon, but he gained entry via a sponsor exemption today. The rookie may feed off good vibes in Columbus this week. It was at last year’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational on the Web.com Tour that he broke through for the first of two consecutive victories for what would lay the foundation for his current status on the PGA TOUR. He enters this week’s stop ranked 115th in FedExCup points.

The University of Virginia product won each of his first two events as a professional in 2012, eventually attracting a sponsors invite to the Wyndham Championship where he would tie for 70th. It seems that he is more accurate than long, but didn’t have enough rounds to officially rank in the Web.com Tour stats. It will be hard for him to duplicate the immediate success he experienced in 2012.

The rookie made his way around Trump International Golf Club-Puerto Rico in just under three hours, drawing his first blood with an eagle at the par-5 fifth. He would then trip over the upcoming par 3s, squaring bogeys on the sixth, eighth and 11th holes. A bounce-back birdie on the par-4 12th would give way to a bogey on he par-5 15th, but he would finish with birdies on his last three holes to reach the clubhouse with momentum for Sunday’s finale. This week marks the fourth time in six starts he’s secured a paycheck, and he will try and crack the top 40 for the first time this week.

Kohles was the ninth alternate when the field was released on Friday afternoon. He eked into the field as the final of four alternates to replace the four withdrawals today. D.H. Lee would have been given the spot, but he withdrew. Kohles showed considerable promise midseason on the 2012 Web.com Tour but has yet to deliver on it this year. He has zero top 40s among two cashes in four starts. The rookie will be making his first appearance at PGA National.

In need of a spark, Kohles found one at PGA National. Starting on the back side, after a his first of four birdies going out at 12, he holed a par save from 14'8" at 14. He then circled birdies from 29'4" at the 15th hole and 17'2" at 16. (He’d par the third and final leg of The Bear Trap.) His last birdie going out measured 11'10" at 18. Kohles got to bogey-free 5-under on the day after a fifth (and final) birdie at 2, but he gave the stroke back when he failed to get up and down for par at the par-3 seventh.