Brandon

Wu

Wu started three shots off the lead and made an early charge. He piled up three birdies and an eagle on the first seven holes but lost his mojo from there. “I knew I needed to make a lot of birdies and maybe a couple eagles to have any chance of catching the leaders. I feel like I was able to do that, but just a few too many loose swings. Satisfied with how I went today, I’m glad I gave myself a chance through nine holes and yeah, solid week.” Wu lost 1.3 strokes off-the-tee today and 2.4 strokes on approach but kept his name in the mix with a hot putting round (+4.18 SG:Putting). This will go in the books as his fourth career podium finish on the PGA TOUR, second at Vidanta, with all of them coming near the coast. Gamers should keep that in mind when the TOUR travels to another coastal track.

The Stanford product played alongside Condoleezza Rice for the first three rounds and finished it off with a strong round by himself at the host course. “I think I hit it really well this week which was helpful. I think I only missed one green this final round. Just kind of being in good spots and then giving yourself a chance with a couple looks here and there. Just tried to keep it stress-free as possible. Yeah, I love playing here at Pebble and it was an awesome week.” Saying he hit it well is an understatement as he ranked T5 in fairways hit and T1 in GIR. This matches his T2 at the 2022 Mexico Open as the best finish of his TOUR career.

The Stanford alum is playing his second full season on the PGA TOUR so he’s starting to get a second look at some of the courses. That is true this week at Port Royal as he posted a T34 here last year with a notable 5-under 66 in round three that jumped him from 46th to 22nd ahead of the final round. More recently, he’s played four events since the new season kicked off, earning a paycheck in three of them but is still searching for his first top 25 of the season (T29 at the ZOZO Championship). The youngster already has five top 10s on his PGA TOUR resume and will likely add quite a few more before his second season is over. He’s picking up some steam in the betting markets this week, being found anywhere from 29/1 all the way up to 46/1.

Wu rolled in his approach to the par-4 11th, holing out from 147 yards just minutes before weather horns halted play for the second time in the day. The eagle lifted Wu to 12 under and gave him a share of the lead alongside Sungjae Im, one shot ahead of John Huh and Joohyung Kim heading into a marathon final day in Greensboro.

Wu remains in search of his first career PGA Tour win, and a victory could put him inside the top 30 in FedEx Cup points heading into the postseason. Wu is making his 36th career start on Tour and is looking to become the first debutant to win Wyndham since Brandt Snedeker back in 2007. His best career finish came in April at the Mexico Open, when he finished T-2 behind Jon Rahm, and when play resumes at 7:30 a.m. ET Sunday he’ll start on the tee of the par-3 12th hole.

The Stanford product called out a putting change after his opening 64. He remained locked in, gaining 2.8 strokes putting in round two. While the putting performance is a nice bonus, he is known for his steady striking and he did that today with 11-of-14 fairways and 16 GIR. When asked if Sedgefield Country Club suited his game he had this to say, “Yes and no. I think it’s good because you have to hit the fairways. I think I usually drive it pretty straight and I putt well. The greens are perfect this week, they’re quick so they can be a little bit tricky, but I think that plays well into my game.” If this early co-lead holds then it would be his second time posting a 36-hole lead or co-lead on the big stage with the previous instance coming at last year’s Puerto Rico Open (T7).

Beginning on 10 tee, the Stanford alum ticked six birdies at 15, 16, 17 (from 23'7"), 1, 3 and 5 to match the low round from the later starters. On seven (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, he posted 0.516 SG: Off-the-Tee, 1.200 SG: Approach, 1.835 SG: Around (No. 1 in that stat) and 1.993 SG: Putting with 27 total putts, keeping the card clean with a pair of par-savers from between six and nine feet. Afterward (link below): “I switched putters this week. I’ve been using a 009 blade from Scotty Cameron for probably the last few years. Yeah, finally went to a mallet this week. I feel like it’s been a little bit easier to line up, just looks a little bit more square.” The 25-year-old, who arrived 78th in the FedExCup standings, is in the top 10 after R1 for a third time this season in 25 events, first since the Scottish Open three starts ago, where he was T7 before finishing T6 (67-72-71-67), his most recent of three top 10s on the season.

The Stanford product had been impressing with his irons all week but today he landed just 10 greens. Wu made up for it with a hot putter. He poured home five putts from outside of 12 feet including a 26'9" birdie from downtown at the 5th. He walked off the course gaining an estimated 3.4 strokes putting. Wu will now join Kurt Kitayama and Jamie Donaldson as the three top finishers to punch their ticket into next week’s Open Championship via the Open Qualifying Series. For Wu, it will be his second attempt at The Open, missing the cut in his 2019 debut.

Wu twirled a T30 finish last week at the John Deere Classic and he kept that momentum rolling today. He split 7-of-13 fairways but really did his damage with the irons. The Stanford alum landed all 18 greens, gaining nearly five strokes on approach along the way. The highlight was a 153-yard approach at the 13th that landed inside of two feet for a kick-in birdie. Wu’s only top 20s this season have come at the Puerto Rico Open (T3) and Mexico Open (T2). It appears that he just needs to leave the continental United States to get his game locked in.

The PGA TOUR rookie impressed with a runner-up finish at the Mexico Open but has followed that up with four straight finishes outside of the top 50. He was set to start his day at 1:39 pm local time alongside Callum Tarren and Rasmus Hojgaard but that honor will now go to PGA TOUR vet, Ted Purdy. Wu is still well-positioned in the season-long race, currently 90th in the FedExCup standings.