Brice

Garnett

The past champ (2018) arrived on the heels of six straight finishes outside of the top 45 but flipped the script today. He split 11-of-14 fairways and peppered 16 greens in regulation (4th). “We just have a lot of good vibes around here. We do a pretty good job guessing the winds, always putt pretty good on this grass, so it was a great day to start off a fun week.” If this early lead holds then it would be his second time holding a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR with the other being his wire-to-wire win at this event back in 2018.

Garnett steadied 14 GIR but it was far from stress-free today. He gave himself just three scoring chances from inside of 20 feet, with only one of those being inside of 18 feet. He made the most of a tough scoring day, though, with four birdie bombs converted from outside of 19 feet. He walked off the course ranked 3rd in strokes gained putting. “Drove the ball really well, kind of hit my places on the greens. Couldn’t be super aggressive with some of the wind and the pins, and made two really good putts on 16 and 17 to finish the day.” Garnett arrived with a perfect 3-for-3 record at TPC Twin Cities with all three finishes doubling as top 30s.

Garnett bagged an early eagle (5 points) at the par-5 second hole which accounts for 50 percent of his round-end total today. He traded four birdies with three bogeys on the remaining holes. Steady striking has been the recipe for Garnett who ranks T18 in fairways hit and T33 in GIR. While his irons have been steady, based on that GIR rank, there is room for a go-low round if he gets really dialed in as he’s pelted just 12 or 13 greens in each day. Garnett’s lone PGA TOUR win came at the 2018 Corales (alternate-field event) and he’ll try to add another alternate win to his resume tomorrow in Tahoe.

Garnett surged out of the starting gate with birdies on four of his first eight holes played, erasing a lone blemish along the way. He made the turn and added three more circles with one bogey on the homeward half. Steady driving was the key today, or at least made his task a bit easier. He split all 14 fairways today en route to 13 GIR. “It’s a tricky golf course, and it’s tough to get comfortable at times with the wind and then calculating 10 percent. We were just trying to get comfortable, and today the wind was down, and we took advantage of some really good conditions this morning.” Garnett arrived on the heels of four straight missed cuts and finds himself just 162nd in the FedExCup race.

The long-awaited completion of R1 came at 2:01 pm ET Saturday. On Friday, World No. 316 Brice Garnett had tied Fleetwood and Hoge (on 6-under) after a hole-out eagle-2 at 4 (his 13th hole) from 96 yards away, and hit his tee shot at 5 in the fairway when play was suspended. The 39-year-old returned Saturday at noon to four pars at 5, 6, 8 (par-saver from 7'4") and 9, and a bogey-5 at 7 (failed sand save), his lone dropped shot. His 5-under 67 is his best at the Stadium Course in 13 rounds, previously 69 (x3), while his best finish among two previous cashes is T35 in 2019 (71-69-73-70). The Missouri Western State alum checked in off a T7 at last week’s opposite-field Puerto Rico Open, his first top 10 of the season in 12 events and first since T5 at last season’s Travelers 19 starts ago.

The horn sounded at 11:15 a.m. local time this morning to suspend play. It was the late wave from round one that was still out on the course but the conditions became unplayable due to heavy rain in the area. They waited for a window to potentially return to action today but that window never came. The tournament officials are very confident they can finish the tournament before Tuesday but a Sunday finish is now out of the question. Adding to the madness of Mother Nature, there are heavy winds gusts of 30 MPH and greater in the forecast all day tomorrow. Expect for scoring to be tougher but the worst of the precipitation should be out of the equation now with a small window of rain possible tomorrow but nothing on Sunday or Monday.

The Missouri native enters the week 119th in the FedExCup race. Historically, that is usually a safe spot in terms of staying inside of the Top 125 and making the FedExCup Playoffs but he can control his own destiny with a big finish. His status from the 2018 Corales victory will expire at the end of this season so that Top 125 mark will have more meaning than just cracking the Playoffs. Working in his favor, will be his comfort at the course. He said this during the 2019 edition where he finished T6, “I’ve always played this golf course well just because I think it’s position off the tee and then it’s a second shot course, like you said. You have to hit the par 5 fairways and then get the long irons in on both par 5s, otherwise you’re hitting mid irons and wedges and I think that’s part of the strength of my game.”

The 38-year-old began the day two back (T6) and went out in 3-under (1 bogey, 4 birdies), now firmly in the hunt for the trophy. He stalled out with eight pars and a bogey-4 at 16, but gained another 3.807 with the flat stick, ending the week ranked No. 1 in SG: Putting with 13.900. In all, he lost 0.740 strokes off the tee on Sunday, lost 1.590 on approach, and finished the proceedings ranked 56th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-0.218), 73rd in SG: Approach (-3.074), 73rd in SG: Around (-1.616), and 77th (of 79) in SG: Tee-to-Green (-4.912). This was the Missouri native’s sixth Travelers and second top 25, bettering a T20 four tries ago in 2015, and improves to 15-for-24 on the season with three top 10s, matching a T5 at the Puerto Rico Open 11 starts ago. He totaled 19 birdies versus nine bogeys, carded rounds of 65-68-69-68, and heads off to the upcoming Rocket Mortgage with a tail-wind. In R4, Garnett canned three birdies from between 16 and 23 feet, and also saved par at 12 from 16'9". His three top 10s on the campaign are a new career high since joining the TOUR in 2014.

The 38-year-old is vying for his second TOUR win in 176 events, first since the 2018 opposite-field Corales 88 starts ago, where he won wire-to-wire after being the 54-hole leader by two. He’ll play out of the fourth-to-last twosome in R4 with K.H. Lee. On 11 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, the Missouri native led off with bogey-5 but chased with birdies at 2, 3, 6 and 7 to join the lead on 10-under. He stalled out from there, however, overshadowing one final birdie at 15 with three squares at 11, 13 (watered third shot) and 14. Garnett lost 2.759 strokes tee to green on Saturday but gained 3.822 on the green, maintaining his No. 1 spot in SG: Putting with a cumulative 10.093. His highlights were five scoring conversions from between nine and 28 feet, and also saved par two times from between six and nine feet, but lost another 2.418 strokes on approach, ranking 70th (of 79) in that stat thru 54 holes (-1.489).

The 38-year-old had missed his prior three cuts at the Travelers but now heads to the weekend looking to better a T20 in 2015 (66-69-66-71). He’s in the top 10 at the halfway point for a second time this season in 24 events, first since T10 at the Honda back in March, where he ultimately finished T25 (71-64-70-73). Prior to that, the Missouri native had not in the top 10 thru 36 holes since the 2019 Wyndham, where he was T2 before finishing T6 (64-64-66-70). He offset two bogeys with four birdies on 12 greens in regulation on Day 2, losing strokes in all categories with the exception of 2.773 with the flat stick, highlighted by two scoring conversions from between 19 and 26 feet, and three par-savers from between nine and 26 feet. At the midpoint, Garnett ranks No. 1 in SG: Putting (6.271) and 38th in SG: Approach (0.930), but 76th in SG: Around (-1.449).