David

Lingmerth

Lingmerth lives just 10 minutes from TPC Sawgrass and that local knowledge paid off this week. Steady striking was key as he piped 41-of-56 fairways (T6) and caught fire with the flat stick, gaining 5.1 strokes putting over the course of the week (7th). This adds to his PLAYERS Championship resume that previoulsy including a runner-up finish (2013), three missed cuts and a T72. Lingmerth is now 52nd in the FedExCup race and will look to maintain the momentum at next week’s Valspar Championship.

The Swede missed the cut last week in Houston but had posted back-to-back top 11s prior to that. A return to some shorter courses would suit his game, on paper, and that played out today. He split 13-of-14 fairways on his way to 14 GIR while taking on the Plantation Course at Sea Island. “I just gave myself a bunch of chances and wasn’t able to convert. You know, it was a clean scorecard and I never really got in any trouble at all, so it was a nice round.” Lingmerth arrrived with a 4-for-5 record at the RSM including a pair of top 20s. He’s on pace for another one with 54 holes remaining. He’ll turn his attention toward the host course (Seaside) for the remainder of the event.

Lingmerth’s lone PGA TOUR win came in Ohio (2015 Memorial Tournament) and he joked about needing more events in the area. His week at the NCHC was a ball-striking clinic as he ranked 1st in fairways hit and 3rd in GIR by week’s end. “I proved a lot of things to myself this week because I’ve honestly felt like I’ve made strides throughout this year and especially this summer I’ve played some pretty good golf, I thought, but I never really got too much out of it. I feel like I was able to play a really good round here and then not really back it up too well or, you know, letting myself down somehow.” Lingmerth had arrived with finished of T48 or worse in 10 straight events. With this win, he vaults from 598th to 270th in the OWGR and also reaches 2nd in the KFT Finals standings. That will assure him a PGA TOUR card for next season which will be nice for his schedule after living on the conditional bubble in recent years.

The 31-year-old Noh has made 22 starts this season, making 13 cuts with a best finish of T-30 at the Bermuda Championship in October. He had made four previous starts at Sedgefield CC and has never made the cut. For Lingmerth, the 35-year-old Swede will make his 14th start of the season, where he’s made nine cuts with one top 25 (T-16, Puerto Rico Open). Most recently, Lingmerth finished T-57 at the Rocket Mortgage. In four previous starts at Sedgefield, he’s made two cuts with a bet finish of 37th in 2018.

The Swede was steady off the tee with 11-of-14 fairways hit. From there, he gained 1.6 strokes on approach to set up a stream of mid-range scoring opportunities. He converted on three of them with two splashed home from outside of 15 feet. Lingmerth also recovered from a splash when he found water at the par-5 sixth and still saved par with a wedge to seven feet. He arrived with nine straight finishes outside of the top 40 but is flipping that script on day one at TPC Twin Cities. He started the week at 206th in the FedExCup race so there is a lot of work to be done over the next three weeks if he wants to crack the FEC Playoffs and earn full TOUR status.

The Swede lost strokes on approach today but made up for it with a hot putter. By round’s end, he poured home six putts from outside of seven feet and also holed out from off the green for birdie at the par-3 16th. “I was never really in big trouble, but I putted really well today, so the putter kind of kept me in it to begin with, and then I started making a few birdies.” Lingmerth walked off the course ranked first in strokes gained putting (+4.77). If this co-lead sticks then it’ll be his third career first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR but first since the 2017 season (T15/2017 Memorial; T5/2017 Quicken Loans National).

The 34-year-old was the only one of four OQers to make the weekend, and his walk-off 2 at the par-3 ninth from 9'1" got him there (video link below), a bounce-back variety after a bogey-5 at 8 (failed sand save). The birdie also moved the cut line to even-par 140, knocking out 13 players at +1, including playing competitor Danny Lee, who bogeyed the ninth (missed par-saver from 7'1") to fall one outside the cut line (T66). The Swede is making his sixth appearance, first since a T18 in 2017 at Eagle Point GC, and was notably the first-, second- and third-round leader at the 2017 Quicken Loans National contested at this course before a 3-over 73 out of the final pairing on Sunday (w/ Daniel Summerhays) to fall to T5. The one-time TOUR winner (2015 Memorial) has yet to recover from that final-round fade here, as that T5, 70 starts ago in July 2017, remains his most recent top-10 finish on TOUR.

The 34-year-old Lingmerth carded a 2-under 68 on Monday at Cattail Creek Country Club in Glenwood, Maryland, and secured the final spot in the field over Steve Marino, Brett Stegmaier and Lee Detmer. Other Monday qualifiers include medalist Drew Nesbitt, former Oregon standout Norman Xiong, and Nicholas Thompson, brother of the LPGA star Lexi Thompson. Lingmerth, winner of the 2015 Memorial Tournament, most recently missed the cut at the Mexico Open after shooting rounds of 72-72. He made the cut in three other Tour starts this season, with a best finish of T-16 at the Puerto Rico Open in March. He’s also made three Korn Ferry Tour starts this year, missing the cut in all three.

The Swede striped 11-of-14 fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation today. Both currently rank T35 or better while playing in tough weather conditions. “Yeah, yeah, extremely windy day out there. We were joking around a little bit, obviously the course is not similar at all, but it was almost like a British Open type, you know, way of playing today, just a lot of flighted shots and had to be a little creative. I don’t know, I swung it pretty nicely, didn’t get in too much trouble and was able to get a few to go. Happy to post a 3 under to start.” Lingmerth is playing in his fifth Corales with a pair of T28s on his resume (2018, 2021).

Replacing Lingmerth in the field will be D.J. Trahan, who’ll make his 14th start at Pebble Beach. It would have marked the sixth career start at Pebble Beach for Lingmerth, who last played the AT&T in 2020, where he missed the cut. He made just one cut in five starts there – finishing T-41 in 2015. The 34-year-old Swede, whose lone PGA Tour win came at the 2015 Memorial Tournament, made five cuts in 11 Tour starts last season, and he also went 9-for-20 in KFT starts. He kicked off his year last week at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club and missed the cut. Trahan made two starts in the Tour’s fall series, missing cuts at the Fortinet and RSM Classic. Also withdrawing their names from the alternate list to play the KFT event are Fabian Gomez and Michael Kim.