Brady

Schnell

This is the Nebraska alum’s first mid-tourney WD in 25 events. Beginning off No. 10 tee, he was 1-over thru four holes, 4-over total, when he called it a day. The 34-year-old, who opened with 73 (4 birdies, 2 bogeys, 1 double, 1 triple), entered the week 190th in the FedExCup standings and is projected to drop to 194th with just two events left in the regular season. He is in the published field at next week’s opposite-field Barracuda.

Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Nebraska alum hit nine (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, recording -3.173 SG: Off-the-Tee, -0.281 SG: Approach, 3.383 SG: Around, and 0.030 SG: Tee-to-Green. He squared two bogey-5s at 10 and 17 (tee ball in the water), and double bogey-6 at 12 (tee ball OB), offset by four birdies at 13, 16, 1 and 3, and a hole-out eagle-2 at 15 from 51 yards away. The 34-year-old posted 1.400 putts per GIR and 1.702 SG: Putting, converting three scoring tries from between 10 and 20 feet.

The PGA TOUR rookie started his afternoon with a 14'4" birdie splash and followed it up with three more to complete a four-hole train. He then went 13 straight holes without another birdie look inside 15 feet before ending his day with a missed birdie look from 13'4" at the par-4 18th. He did add a bonus birdie from 20'10" along the way. Overall, this wasn’t the kind of ball-striking effort you’d expect from a blemish-free 65 but he found a way to get the job done. Beating the field average by 4.3 shots today, that will go in the books as his career-best round. His previous best was +4 SG Total (R1 of this year’s Corales and R3 of this year’s Byron Nelson). Schnell entered the week ranked 185th in the FedExCup race, just 5-for-19 on the season.

The 34-year-old has missed six of his last nine cuts but in that run there are some worthwhile finishes too. He opened with 67 for T28 at Pebble Beach, shot four consistent rounds for T12 at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and thrashed a third-round 64 on the way to T23 at the AT&T Byron Nelson on his last start. He was a combined 30-under for those three events. A straight hitter (27th Driving Accuracy), who can perform well on the greens (70th SG: Putting), this week’s short par 70 could be a good one for him and he has plenty of experience in Canada having played the Mackenzie Tour in 2014. One special memory was holing out for eagle on the 18th hole at the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary to shoot that tour’s first ever 59. This is his first start at a Canadian Open however.

The 33-year-old rookie had a wild ride around Corales Golf Club. Starting on the 10th tee he traded birdies at 10 and 11 with bogeys at 13 and 14. After the turn, he went into an all-or-nothing mode with six birdies and two bogeys on his final nine holes. Making the 16th start of his PGA TOUR career, Schnell has never been better than T16 after any round. That will change after today as he currently finds himself in a share of second on the live leaderboard. Schnell played twice at Corales while on the Web.com Tour (MC/2016; T16/2017).

The 33-year-old first-timer began 45th on the Web.com Tour priority list and now sits 39th after the first reshuffle post-RSM Classic. He went 1-for-3 in the fall portion of the wraparound schedule, missing the cuts at the Safeway and the RSM, and cashing a career-best T45 at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms in between. In nine career TOUR events, the Nebraska alum (2008) has made just two cuts, adding a T57 at the 2007 John Deere. He’s a one-time winner on the Web in 110 events, claiming last season’s Wichita Open in a playoff, and also won two times in 16 starts on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, both in 2017.

Schnell began his round on the back nine, where he happened to do his heavy lifting at TPC Wakefield. He rattled off four birdies in five holes beginning with the par-3 12th hole. When he made it to the front, he was nearly out of gas with just one birdie and one bogey interrupting seven pars. He’s figured out how to hit fairways this week, ranking T1 in driving accuracy with 24 of 28 fairways. He enters the week ranked 142nd on the Web.com Tour money list, so a win this week would completely change his season.