David

Lipsky

Lipsky split 11-of-14 fairways to put himself in a position to attack but mustered up just 8 GIR to fall flat. The highlight of his day was early when he splashed home a 37'6" birdie bomb at the second but gave two shots back with a three-jack double at the 7th. He traded three birdies with one bogey on his way into the clubhouse from there. Despite the dip in striking on Sunday, he still walked off the course ranked 4th in strokes gained approach this week and he’ll remain a name to consider on shorter courses that put an emphasis on iron play. This matches his T4 from last year’s Zurich Classic team event as the best result of his PGA TOUR career.

Lipsky found two birdies while playing the host course today but that was offset by an eight-pack of bogeys. He missed five putts from inside of five feet before his day was over. He was arriving off back-to-back top 25s but couldn’t keep the momentum rolling. This will be his first career mid-tournament WD on the PGA TOUR, in 54 total events played.

Lipsky opened his day with a 47'11" hole out from the fairway for a birdie at the par-4 first hole. His short game would remain sharp all day as he led the field with 3.1 strokes gained around-the-green. “Took advantage of the birdie holes on the front nine and hung in there pretty well on the back nine. I think there was a stretch where I missed like three greens in a row, got them all up and down. Had some good looks as well, just didn’t go in from about mid range, 15 feet or so, and that’s what happens. Overall, pretty happy.” Lipsky signed a T10 finish last week at the Mayakoba and showing no signs of slowing down just yet. He has six career top 10s on the PGA TOUR but still searching for his first podium finish.

The Los Angeles native, who is making his tourney debut, drafted fellow Cali native and playing competitor Kurt Kitayama (67), or vice versa, each navigating Detroit Golf Club error-free. On nine (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, he did most of his damage on approach (2.014) and around-the-green (1.440), highlighted by a hole-out birdie-3 at 12 (from 99'8" away), but did let the flat stick speak from 23'4" for eagle-3 at 14. The Northwestern alum is in the top 10 after R1 for the first time since the Valspar 13 starts ago, where he was T1 before cratering to T68 (64-71-74-76), and checked in 85th in the FedExCup standings with three top 10s in 26 events, most recently a backdoor T6 at the Mexico Open nine starts ago (69-68-69-64).

This two-time European Tour winner bags a fifth career top 10 in 36 events on the PGA TOUR, second straight after a career-best T4 at last week’s Zurich teamed with Aaron Rai, and third in his last four starts. It’s also his third of the season in 18 events and an individual best on TOUR, clipping a T7 at this season’s opposite-field Corales, and got there by posting laps of 69-68-69-64, the 64 matching a career low in 118 rounds (x3). For the week, the Los Angeles native tallied two eagles and 16 birdies against six bogeys, and ranked 31st SG: Off-the-Tee (1.772), 1st SG: Approach (9.983), including a 2.834 on Sunday, 68th SG: Around (-2.363) and 40th SG: Putting (1.380). Today, he rang up seven birdies on 10 (of 13) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, gaining 3.549 strokes TTG and 1.992 with the flat stick, highlighted by three scoring conversions from between eight and 16 feet. The Northwestern product is in the published field at this coming week’s Wells Fargo at TPC Potomac in Maryland. See link below to post-round comments.

The PGA TOUR rookies, both tourney debutants, recorded laps of 61-67-65-72 to end six in arrears of wire-to-wire winners Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. They got an up close and personal look at the eventual champs, playing out of the final group on Saturday, and despite the up-and-down finish on Sunday (4 birdies, 4 bogeys), both players record their career bests on the PGA TOUR as well as their first top-5 finishes. For Rai, a two-time winner on the European Tour, the Englishman bags a second career top 10 in 24 events, bettering a T6 on debut at this season’s Farmers, where he played in the final threesome on Sunday, and for Los Angeles native Lipsky, also a two-time winner on the European Tour, this is his fourth career top 10 in 35 events, brushing aside a prior-best T7 at this season’s opposite-field Corales two starts ago. See link below to post-tournament comments.

The first-timers and PGA TOUR rookies had a chance to end with three straight birdies but each missed from inside of nine feet at the last, Lipsky’s a more glaring whiff from 37 inches. The significance is it dropped them six adrift of playing competitors and leaders Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, who continued to cruise and dusted them by five with a Day 3 60. Lipsky, whose best finish on TOUR is a T7 at this season’s opposite-field Corales, wrote down three birdies toward the cause, while Rai circled four, and will look to better a T6 at this season’s Farmers. They’ll switch back to alternate shot on Sunday, carding a R2 67 in that format yesterday, and will be in the third-to-last group on Sunday with Wyndham Clark and Cameron Tringale. While they might be too far back from the lead, barring a collapse by the front-runners, they’ll begin the final frame just one shot shy of second place.

This pairing of straight shooters eased into their week with three birdies and six pars on their first nine holes. They turned on the scoring machine after the turn with six birdies and an eagle on their way into the clubhouse. Lipsky did a lot of the heavy lifting for the squad today as six of the nine birdies were carded with his ball and he also holed out from 113 yards for eagle at the par-4 eighth. “I chipped in a couple things on the back nine, but it was great to see David be a part of it. We gelled together well, but David played some incredible stuff today.” This team formed through the friendship of their caddies and time playing together on the European circuit. They are now T2 on the live leaderboard as the afternoon wave takes to the course.

Lipsky had a colorful scorecard on day one (1 eagle, 3 birdies, 6 bogeys) and he kept doing his best to avoid pars today. He racked up eight birdies to offset a lone bogey in round two. Steady striking was the recipe as he piped 12-of-14 fairways and landed 15 greens. Due the coastal wind, the greens often play slower than TOUR average and Lipsky made sure to account for that today, “I didn’t adjust well yesterday and sort of took some more time this morning to practice on my putting and it ended up working out.” Today’s round falls one shot shy of his career-low on TOUR, which he’s done twice. When you compare his score to the field, he was 6.5 shots better which is the second-best round of his PGA TOUR career (+7.5 SG:Total in R2 of the 2021-22 Fortinet Championship). This is currently the lowest round record this week, edging out Ben Martin’s 66 from day one.

Lipsky slept on his first lead or co-lead after any round on the PGA TOUR so it’s understandable that he’d slow his pace today. The Northwestern product missed back-to-back putts from inside of eight feet to start his round before pouring home a 21'9" birdie bomb at the 12th. Lipsky landed just nine greens in regulation all day so it was always going to be tough to score from that positioning. The 33-year-old walked off the course with a score that was 0.634 strokes worse than the field average today. This is a round to forget but Lipsky is still T10 on the live leaderboard as the afternoon wave takes to the course so there is plenty of hope to rebound over the weekend. His career-best finish on the PGA TOUR is a T8 at last year’s Palmetto Championship so that may be a good target for him over the next two days.