Scott

Brown

Brown split the same number of fairways as day one (10-of-13) but landed three fewer greens in regulation today (10). That resulted in five birdies and three bogeys. Highlights included a trio of putts poured home from outside of 10 feet. When talking about day-over-day performance he had this to say, “Not much different, just played a little longer this morning for me. Even though the wind was down, I had some long irons in, so it’s just hard to get it close as many times as I did yesterday. Par 5s aren’t quite as gettable for me when there’s not much wind helping, so it was a nice day.” Playing on past champions status, starts have been tougher to come by with this being just his eighth start of the season. He is still searching for his first top 25 of the season (T28 at the Corales).

All of the current clubhouse co-leaders played earlier today, while Brown battled the more difficult conditions this afternoon and did so brilliantly, particularly on the four par 5s, which he played in 5-under. On 10 (of 13) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, his lone hiccup was double bogey-6 at 10 (missed bogey-save from 3'8"), outflanked by an eagle-3 at 6 from 7'8" (approach from 276 yards) and six birdies at 7, 8, 12, 14, 15 and 18, two from between 15 and 25 feet. At last check, the 38-year-old posted 0.531 SG: Off-the-Tee, 0.045 SG: Approach, 1.792 SG: Around, 2.920 SG: Putting, and 5.273 SG: Total, buoyed by a pitch-in par-save at 4 from 32'9" away. This is his first time in the top 10 after 18 holes since last season’s Valspar (May 2021), where he was T7 before fading to T39 (67-72-71-71), and his lone TOUR title in 279 events remains the 2013 Puerto Rico Open (opposite field) 254 starts ago, where he was T14 after R1 and eventually a 54-hole co-leader before winning by one.

Money game extraordinaries in Aiken, South Carolina, the two have often brought their A-games to New Orleans, Louisiana. Losing in a playoff to Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt in 2017, the two have since captured a T-15 finish in 2018 by way of finishing at 15-under and a T-5 finish in 2019 with a score of 20-under. Signing for rounds of 70-73, Brown and Kisner surprisingly missed the cut in 2021 with most of the blame on their first-round best-ball effort. Looking to get right this time around, Brown has had a decent 2022 between the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour. 5-for-8 making the cut across both Tours, the 38-year-old has three top-30 results including a T-8 at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic in early January. As for Kisner, the Georgia Bulldog has been close on a number of occasions on other Pete Dye designs. A solo fourth-place showing at TPC Sawgrass was followed up with a runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at Austin Country Club. Striking the ball well at Augusta National, Kisner should be able to brush off his missed cut at the RBC Heritage and bring his game to TPC Louisiana.

This was the 38-year-old’s ninth Deere, seventh top 25 and third top 10, first since a prior-best T5 six tries ago in 2014 (67-70-61-68). It’s his 25th career top 10 in 268 events, first of the season in 26 starts, and first since T2 at last season’s Genesis Invitational (pre-pandemic) 36 starts and 17 months ago. For the week, the Augusta, Georgia, native posted laps of 69-67, week-tying-low 63 and 69, totaled 22 birdies versus six bogeys, and ranked 58th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.068), 14th in SG: Approach (4.155), 55th in SG: Around (-0.927), 1st in SG: Putting (8.050), and 47th SG: Tee-to-Green (2.161). On Sunday, he began T3, two back, and was chasing a second TOUR win, first since the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2013. Brown managed four circles against two squares on 13 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, gaining 1.462 strokes tee to green but lost strokes with the flat stick for the first time this week (-0.589).

Brown, who was in the first 3-ball off No. 1 tee this morning, records the round of the day and matches the low round of the week with six others. It vaults him into the penultimate twosome in R4 (with Adam Long), as he chases a second TOUR victory in 268 events. The 38-year-old’s first came at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2013 as a 54-hole co-leader in his second season, coming 242 starts and 8 years, 3 months ago this week. This is his first time this season in 26 events that he’s in the top 10 after three rounds, and the first since the inaugural 3M Open in 2019, where he was T9 before finishing T15 (68-65-68-69). On 12 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Augusta, Georgia, native lost strokes off the tee (-0.261) and around (-0.727), but gained 2.817 approaching and posted a sterling 4.644 SG: Putting, No. 1 in the latter with a cumulative 8.643. His 9-birdie split featured four from between nine and 21 feet, missed a par-saver at 2 from 8'5", and saved par three times from between seven and 13 feet.

This is the 37-year-old’s first time in the top 10 after 18 holes since T8 at the 2020 opposite-field Puerto Rico Open 28 starts ago, where he was T8 before fading to T67 as a former winner of the event (2013). His most recent top-10 finish came the start prior to the PRO, a back-door T2 at the Genesis Invitational (71-68-68-68) a little over 14 months ago. The Augusta, Georgia, native is making his ninth straight appearance at the Valspar with one previous top 25, a T7 four tries ago in 2016, where he was T8 after 18 holes (70-69-72-71). On eight (of 13) fairways and 15 greens in regulation, he lost 0.164 strokes around-the-green but gained 0.784 off-the-tee and 0.782 on approach. The University of South Carolina Aiken product squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 6 (3-putt from 75'5"), camouflaged by five circles at 1, 5, 7, 11 and 17, three from between 11 and 23 feet. He recorded 1.800 putts per GIR and 2.705 SG: Putting, aided by two par-savers from between eight and 18 feet. Brown arrived 7-for-15 on the season and off four missed cuts in his last five, including by five at last week’s Zurich teamed with Kevin Kisner (70-73).

The Augusta native enters the week with a 5-for-12 record to kick off the new season. The highlight was a T24 at the Houston Open last fall while he also picked up a T30, two starts ago, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Those remain his two top-45 finishes of the season so the results have not been steady. Brown will now take his talents to Ponte Vedra Beach for an eighth appearance at THE PLAYERS. He finishes T30 at the 2015 PLAYERS and landed a T23 during the 2018 edition while the other five finishes all landed outside of the top 60. While the end-of-week results don’t jump off the page, Brown was T9 thru 36 holes of the 2014 PLAYERS and was T7 at the halfway mark the following year as well.

Brown piped 8-of-13 fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation. That was good for 1.6 strokes gained approaching-the-green, 12th best from the morning wave today. From there, his putter was hit or miss. He rolled in a 13-foot par-saver at the opening hole and a 33'6" birdie bomb on the 11th but also missed six scoring chances from the 4-to-12 foot range. The Aiken resident currently sits in a share of 5th place on the live leaderboard. He hasn’t positioned himself inside the top 10 after any round since the Puerto Rico Open in February but he has a decent chance to end up there at day’s end. Through 36 holes, Brown has gained 2.2 strokes on approach and 3.0 strokes around-the-green. That accounts for 80 percent of his total strokes gained over the field this week (+6.219 SG:Total).

Brown entered the week as a popular pick in weekly fantasy formats. He arrived off a T2 finish at The Genesis Invitational and also boasted a 7-for-7 record at Grand Reserve Country Club with six of those doubling as top-20 finishes. Brown did not disappoint on day one as he traded six birdies with one bogey after pelting 15 greens in regulation. His lone blemish was a two-putt par at the 8th after finding a greenside bunker off the tee. Brown has now gained strokes over the field in 15 of his last 17 rounds played at this course and his love affair with the track will be studied by course-history buffs for years to come.

This was the 36-year-old’s seventh Genesis and second top 25, both doubling as T2s (2017). He improves to 5-for-12 on the season with two top 25s (T14, RSM), and records his sixth top-3 finish in 232 events, first (individually) since here three years ago. For the week, the Augusta, Georgia, native posted rounds of 71-68-68-68 and totaled 18 birdies versus nine bogeys. In the finale, he landed nine (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation, gaining 0.654 strokes approaching and 1.736 around-the-green. The South Carolina resident squared two bogey-5s at holes 5 and 8, camouflaged by five circles at 1, 2, 6, 10 and 18 (hole-out from 25'8" away). He registered 1.727 putts per GIR and 1.437 SG: Putting, converting two scoring tries from between 28 and 39 feet.