Ricky

Barnes

Playing from the Beyond 150 category, starts are not easy to come by for Barnes. He was 105th of 120 on priority in this week’s alternate-field event, as an example. As you can imagine, it’s tough to stay sharp with limited reps but his short game was on full display this week. He swallowed just 8 bogeys all week despite ranking 72nd in GIR (40 of 72). “I mean, my category, not playing much. You know, kind of doing some real estate stuff with a group out of Denver. And coming to a week like this and getting the juices flowing, I think I tied for the lead at some point, I just didn’t execute down the stretch. I’m still rusty and not practicing like I was four and five years ago. I’m excited I’m going to go play Valero.” As he alluded to, this top-10 finish will earn him a spot in the field for next week’s Valero Texas Open. Barnes posted a T4 there during the 2016 edition. This was his first top 10 on the PGA TOUR since the 2017-18 Sanderson Farms Championship (T10) in the fall of 2017.

Playing as a veteran member beyond 150 for status, starts are tough to come by, with this being just his seventh start of the season (1-for-6). He’s staying busy with three kids at home and a new real estate venture but taking full advantage of this week’s opportunity so far. “Yeah, just nice to get into some tournaments with everything going on with golf. Started practicing a little bit more because I know I’m getting into probably next three tournaments or next three out of four.” That increased practiced paid off as he walked off the course gaining two strokes on approach and another 2.2 strokes putting. He’s finished outside of the top 60 in 16 of his last 17 starts but is looking to flip that script in the Quad Cities this week.

Other sponsor exemptions for Pebble Beach include world No. 51 Min Woo Lee, No. 71 Dean Burmester, Chan Kim, Alex Cejka, Mark Baldwin, Austin Eckroat and John Murphy, who will make his Tour debut following a strong college career at the University of Louisville. In 14 previous starts at Pebble Beach, Barnes has made six cuts with his best finish being a solo third in 2012 when he was four strokes behind winner Phil Mickelson. He’s missed the cut at the AT&T the last three years (2019-21). The 40-year-old Barnes has made just one start this season, missing the cut in October at the Bermuda Championship.

The 40-year-old Barnes has made the cut in two previous appearances at Port Royal Golf Course, finished T-53 in 2020 and T-63 in the 2021 event. Last season, he made four cuts in 13 starts and was 211th on the FedExCup standings. Barnes played in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals (missing the cut in the first two legs of the finals and finishing T-58in the KFT Championship) because he finished in the top 200 of the FEC standings in 2019-20 but did not regain full PGA Tour status. He was a full-time member on Tour from 2009-2018, qualifying for the PGA Tour Playoffs five times, and notched his career-best on the FEC standings in 2010 when he finished 64th.

The 39-year-old made it look easy today with 16 greens in regulation en route to a five-pack of birdies. He would confirm that he felt easy as well, “I hit a lot of fairways, gave myself a lot of good looks. I think that might have been my longest par putt of the day, was the little five-footer on the last hole. Pretty stress free. You kind of had to take advantage a little bit, there was not much wind today.” Without ShotLink we don’t have the length of putts made but Barnes would later add that three of his five birdies were from the 8-to-12 foot range and he also sank a 20-footer along the way. Playing from the Beyond 150 category, starts are tough to come by these days for Barnes but he opened the new season with a T23 in Napa and is keeping his foot on the gas this week. Gamers may want to ride the hot hand while they can.

Starts are tough to come by for the veteran who is playing out of the Reorder Category. Earning his way into the full field of 156 golfers this week, Barnes is taking advantage of the opportunity so far. Starting his week on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, the 39-year-old California native birdied eight holes today, six on the homeward nine, to offset a trio of bogeys. Highlights included a pair of birdies knocked home from the fringe (at the 5th and 14th). Barnes has just one top 40 in 12 starts at this event (solo 3r din 2012) but he may start inching onto fantasy radars if he keep earning paychecks at his current pace.

The 38-year-old, who tied the Plantation Course record with 9-under 63 in R2, is now bogey-free for his last 43 holes. His lone blemish was bogey-5 in R1 at the par-4 second (his 11th hole). The Arizona alum is chasing his first TOUR win in 304 events, with his best finish a T2 at the 2009 U.S. Open during his rookie campaign. On 11 (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation, he lost 1.007 strokes off-the-tee but gained 0.304 approaching and 1.522 around-the-green. The California native mustered three birdies at holes 3, 5 and 13, two from between 21 and 45 feet, posting 1.818 putts per GIR and 0.128 SG: Putting. He’ll play out of the penultimate threesome again in R4, this time with D.J. Trahan and Kyoung-Hoon Lee.

This is Barnes’ first time in the top 10 at the midpoint since T8 at the 2018-19 Safeway, where he finished T69 (75-61-76-77). It’s his sixth RSM and second cash, joining a T25 in 2015-16 (68-67-68-71). The Arizona alum’s 63 matches the Plantation Course record with Chris Kirk (2018/R1) and D.J. Trahan (today), and chases an opening 3-birdie, 1-bogey 68 (Seaside). On 10 (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, he rang up nine birdies at holes 1, 2, 6-8, 10, 13, 14 and 18, recoding 1.563 putts per GIR with 27 total putts. The 38-year-old checked in 4-for-4 on the season with a best of T28 two starts ago in Houston (71-73-73-66).

This is the 38-year-old’s 11th Deere with one top 25 among five prior cashes, a T5 three tries ago in 2015. He checks in 1-for-8 on the season, posting a T69 at the Safeway back in October, but has since missed seven straight cuts, most recently at the RBC Canadian Open five weeks ago, also on a sponsor invite. The Arizona alum has sprinkled in eight starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, going 3-for-8 with two top 25s, most recently a T19 six starts ago.

Barnes played in this event last season, and fared pretty well. He burnt up the course with a 5-under 139 heading into Saturday before a 3-over 75 sent him spiraling. However, he learned from his mistakes and tore it up on Sunday with a 6-under 66 to post a top-10 finish. It was easily his best finish of the 2017-18 PGATOUR season, so it’s no wonder he is back for more. You needn’t be a big hitter off the tee, but wedge work and scrambling ability is good to have. Barnes does OK with the irons, so he could be a sneaky fantasy play in Mississippi.