C.T.

Pan

Pan is not familiar with final-round pairings but kept himself in the mix today. “I was nervous. And that’s good. That means I care a lot. Just having a hard time to find my rhythm and a lot of in between club distances on the front nine or the first 14 holes. Even the read is kind of tough. Just can’t leave myself in a bad spot, even for the birdie putts. So just kind of hard to read. But that’s just, it’s a nonstop working, learning process in golf. So I will keep learning.” Pan opened with 13 pars and two bogeys today before storming the finish with four birdies in the last five holes. He ended up one shot out of the playoff and now has back-to-back top 5s on his tournament log, not too long after returning from an early-season wrist injury.

Pan started strong this week with three sub-69 rounds but really took advantage of preferred lies in the final round. He piped 13-of-14 fairways on his way toward 14 greens in regulation. For gamers wondering where he has been for most of the year, he talked about his wrist injury after the round, “I had five months off because of my left wrist, and just really cool to be in contention again because you never know. Once you get hurt, you never know what’s going to happen in the future. It’s really cool to be back, and I finally found my game. First two events coming back, a little bit rusty, a little bit rough. But it’s coming on nicely.” This matched the low round of the day (Jason Day) and will go in the books as his seventh career top 5 on the PGA TOUR.

Pan was 4-for-4 this season before snapping that streak last week at the Mayakoba. Despite the early paydays, he’s just 142nd in the FedExCup race since none of his finishes have been better than a T44 (Butterfield Bermuda Championship). Gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups. There is no word on what caused this change of heart but he is somewhat active in sharing on his social media accounts so keep an eye on those for any updates.

Pan had his wedges dialed in to start the day with two kick-in birds on the first three holes. He followed that up with a 50-foot birdie bomb at the fourth. He coasted on that momentum, adding four more circles before his day was over, without dropping a single shot along the way. “Hit a lot of good iron shots out there with today’s condition. Pretty soft and no wind, so you can go right at a pin.” Pan started the week at 84th in the FedExCup race. He hasn’t found himself in this position lately, though, as this will be his first time posting inside of the top 10 thru 36 holes since the 2020 Masters.

Pan made the trip to Toronto but won’t tee it up, sharing the news via social media, “After the physical therapist’s examination, the waist is still in a tight state and needs to rest, Canadian fans, see you next year.” Pan has posted a steady 14-for-18 record this season so gamers should be willing to reinvest when he returns to action.

Pan arrived with five straight cuts made on his game log but he won’t get a chance to extend that streak this week. He shared the news via social media, citing illness as the culprit for this WD. Given it’s illness-related and not an injury, gamers should be willing to reinvest when he returns to action. He currently sits at 66th in the FedExCup race with a 12-for-16 record on the season.

Known to play these shorter, positional courses well, Pan has often performed his best on courses such as Harbour Town, Sedgefield Country Club, Colonial Country Club, and Sea Island. Struggling around this Pete Dye design since his victory, Pan has posted finishes of T-52 and MC the last two seasons. Capable of flipping the script, the 30-year-old found something in his full swing once the Tour traveled to Florida. Always reliable around-the-green, the Olympic bronze medalist has now gained strokes with his iron play in four consecutive tournaments. Capturing finishes of T-16, MC, T-48, and T-41 in this span, he will look to carry this form to Hilton Head Island.

The 30-year-old Pan finished T-16 last week at the Honda Classic following a 69 on Sunday. His top 20 comes on the heels of a ninth-place finish at the Genesis. In five previous appearances at the Arnold Palmer, Pan has made two cuts with a best finish of T-41 in 2019. Streb finished T-72 at the Honda after missing back-to-back cuts at the Genesis and Phoenix Open. The 44-year-old Byrd missed the cut in his most recent start – at the Phoenix Open – but he was T-9 early in February at Pebble Beach. He’s 2-for-2 in four previous starts at Bay Hill with his best finish being 31st in 2003. The 29-year-old Mullinax finished T-30 last week at PGA National and he’s 5-for-11 on the season. This week will mark his tournament debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The University of Washington alum records his second top 25 at the Genesis in five visits, second straight after a T20 last year, and improves to 6-for-9 on the season with two top 10s, joining a T6 at the season-opening Fortinet in Northern California eight starts ago. For the festivities, he signed for rounds of 67-70-69-67, totaled 19 birdies against six bogeys and a double, and ranked a commercial 57th in SG: Approach (-0.937) but 6th in SG: Around (3.568) and 8th in SG: Putting (5.099), highlighted by a 1.993 SGP on Sunday. The Olympic bronze-medalist is in the published field at this coming week’s Honda Classic, where he finished T3 last year.

The University of Washington alum is out quick for a second straight time in the Golden State, joining the Farmers two starts ago, where he was T9 after R1 before cratering to 78th (of 79) as a former runner-up in the event (67-72-77-79). Post-round, he credited today’s effort to his driving (see link below), which is odd as he’s currently at a -0.396 SG: Off-the-Tee on six (of 14) fairways, but perhaps that’s why stats can be deceiving. The Olympic bronze-medalist did gain 1.005 on approach, 2.323 around and 0.864 with the flat stick, outpacing one square (missed par-saver from 5'5") with five birdies, two conventionally from between nine and 12 feet, adding a fringe-shot 3 at hole 8 from 45'1". This is his fifth Genesis with a best of T20 last year, when T47 after 18 holes (71-70-72-68).