Ethan

Tracy

In on a sponsor’s invite this week, Tracy grew up 20 minutes from the course in Hilliard, Ohio. In 2011, he bested Jordan Spieth to win the Western Amateur, a match-play event, so the pedigree is there. He’s been cited saying the Memorial is the reason he pursued a PGA TOUR career, attending it yearly growing up. In 2016, Tracy is 0-for-3 across all circuits, he missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship after Monday Qualifying and has missed two cuts on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, as well. The local knowledge is on his side this week, but he remains a longshot to truly contend this week.

The PGA TOUR rookie started on the back nine and was slow out of the gate. He gave himself just three birdie chances from inside 20 feet on his outward nine and converted on one of them, a 7'3" roll at the 15th. Tracy really picked up the pace after the turn, circling five more birdies on his way into the clubhouse. The most notable came at the par-3 second hole where he splashed home a 32'1" birdie. Tracy has never been inside the top 15 after R1 on the PGA TOUR so this is rare positioning for him. Needless to say, this would be his first time leading/co-leading after R1 and would also be his first time inside the top 10 after any round. It will also go in the books as a new career best for Tracy, eclipsing a 5-under 66 that he fired in R4 of this season’s Shriners.

Tracy posted just three top 30s all season (21 starts) on the Web.com Tour and they all took place before June. The biggest one was a victory at the Club Colombia Championship. It’s the main reason he was able to hold onto a spot inside the top 25 in the regular season money list (24th), earning him a PGA TOUR card. More recently he has missed the cut in nine of his last 10 starts. Unless he catches fire in the last two events, Tracy will have an uphill battle for starts next season on the PGA TOUR, arriving near the bottom of the reshuffle rankings.

The 28-year-old went 3-for-5 during the fall portion of the wraparound schedule with a best of T30 at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms, adding a T32 at the Shriners. In 16 rounds played, he’s recorded eight in the red and his scoring average is 70.81, which ranks 97th on TOUR. The University of Arkansas alum went just 10-for-25 last season on the WCT, his first, with only two top 10s, but secured his card with a playoff win at the Colombia Championship in February in his third start of the year. Twenty-two starts later, the Ohio native collected his second top 10, a T8 at the WCT Championship. He also won the 2017 WCT Shot of the Year with a hole-out eagle on the 72nd hole in Colombia to force extra time, and then went on win in sudden death.