Dylan

Meyer

The 26-year-old Meyer finished T-23 at 11-under 273 at the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank in Glenview, Ill., and he earned a spot in next week’s field – at the REX Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C. – via the top-25 result. It will mark his third KFT start this season, which also includes a T-53 at the Huntsville Championship. Meyer played primarily on the PGA Tour Canada last season, making four cuts in eight starts with one top 10. He also made three starts last season on the PGA Tour, making two cuts (Puerto Rico, Byron Nelson) but missing out at the U.S. Open.

Coming off a T-11 finish at the Forme Tour Championship in mid-September, the former standout at Illinois looked to continue this strong play at Orange County National for the Big Money Classic. With rounds of 71-69, the 26-year-old played his 36-holes in an even-par fashion, two-strokes off the eventual cut line. Standing at 2-under through his first 27-holes, Meyer carded three bogeys and only one birdie coming home, thus squandering any chances to play in the final round.

The 24-year-old Australian traded eight birdies with two bogeys to play his way in, one shot clear of the 7-for-2 playoff below him. Lyras only reached as high as 798th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro shortly after qualifying for the 2019 Wyndham Championship (MC). Lyras is currently spending most of his time on the Australasian Tour where he is 2-for-6 since the calendar flipped to 2021 with highlights being a T17 at the TPC Victoria and a T4 at the Moonah Links PGA Classic. The young Aussie will be a longshot to contend this week but as you can tell from his Australasia resume when his game is clicking it’s generally dialed in for a top-20 finish. Perhaps someone to consider in one-day showdown formats as a boom-or-bust option. Others to qualify on Monday included MJ Daffue (64), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

Daffue took full advantage of the par 5s at Hurricane Creek Country Club, circling eagles at the par-5 2nd, 15th, and 17th. He added three birdies on top of that to offset a lone blemish. The South African is building up quite the Monday Qualifier resume as he’s now played his way into 12 events through qualifiers in the last two years, across the Korn Ferry and PGA TOUR. The Lamar University product has two top 25s in eight career starts on the PGA TOUR. Others to qualify included John Lyras (66), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

The former Illini product traded seven birdies with one bogey to play his way into the playoff and then birdied the 18th hole three times during the 3-for-1 playoff to secure his spot. Meyer’s playoff opponents were Yohann Benson and Ben Cook. The Monday Qualifier was played at PGA National so Meyer will now hop on a flight to Puerto Rico and not have much prep time when he lands. There were three others who punched their ticket on Monday, Zach Smith (63), Donnie Trosper (64), and Dalton Ward (64). Notables to fall short of qualifying included Adam Svensson (66), Nick Hardy (67), Hayden Buckley (70), Akshay Bhatia (DNF), and Scott Jamieson (DNF).

The now-24-year-old made his TOUR debut here in 2017 (as an amateur) and missed the cut by two on even-par 142 (70-72). He returned last year on a sponsor invite and finished T43 (68-68-72-66). This is the Illinois alum’s 13th career TOUR start (11 pro), with a best of T7 at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms back in October (three starts ago). He subsequently missed the cut at the Shriners and most recently, at the Valspar. The World No. 754 is playing his first full season on the Korn Ferry Tour and is just 1-for-14 with his one cash a T57 six starts ago.

The Illinois alum (2018) is making his second appearance after a T74 last year in his final start as an amateur (70-74-76-71), also on a sponsor exemption. Fourteen weeks later, he made his pro and major debut at the 2018 U.S. Open (Shinnecock Hills) and finished T20 on 11-over 291 (77-69-71-74). Overall, this is the 23-year-old’s 12th career TOUR event (10th pro), and is 6-for-9 among the paid ranks with three top 25s. His best (and lone top 10) so far is a T7 at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms back in October. The Indiana native has made four starts on the Web.com Tour in 2019, missing all four cuts.

The 23-year-old is currently up 42 spots on the leaderboard to T6, three short of clubhouse leader Norman Xiong, who also shot 67. He opened with 71 (3 birdies, 2 bogeys) and carded five on Day 2, highlighted by three straight 13-15. On 11 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, the Illinois alum lost 0.684 strokes around-the-green but gained 1.052 on approach. His split included three conversions from between 10 and 27 feet, and also canned two par-savers from between six and 17 feet. The Indiana resident recorded 1.643 putts per GIR and 3.637 SG: Putting with 27 total putts and is currently No. 1 in SGP with a cumulative 5.771.

The Illinois alum gets his first start of the season and opened with 71 and bogey-free 67. On Day 3 at the CC of Jackson, he striped 13 (of 14) fairways, currently No. 1 in Driving Accuracy at 78.57 percent (33/42). That translated into 16 greens in regulation for the 23-year-old, where he converted five birdies against a lone bogey. He gained 1.429 strokes approaching and 1.327 on-the-green, converting three par breakers from between 13 and 29 feet, and saved par at hole 4 from 6'9".

This was the Illinois alum’s 10th career event (eighth pro), and first top 10, bettering a T17 at the 2018 QL National (sponsor invite). After opening with 71-67-68, he began in solo 7th, seven short of leader and eventual champ Cameron Champ. Playing out of the third-to-last threesome, the World No. 694 found seven (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, losing 1.344 strokes off-the-tee but gaining 1.665 on approach and 0.933 around-the-green. He squared a lone bogey-5 at 12, outpaced by two birdies at 3 and 8 (20'1"), adding eagle-3 at 11 from 4'7". The 23-year-old posted 1.800 putts per GIR and -0.003 SG: Putting and finished the week with one eagle and 15 birdies versus four bogeys.