Fabian

Gomez

Also withdrawing after confirming their commitment to play in the KFT event are Kevin Chappell (replaced in the field by Kevin Stadler) and D.J. Trahan (replaced by alternate Brian Davis). The 43-year-old Gomez has made one cut in five PGA Tour starts this season, finishing T-50 at the Puerto Rico Open in March, and he’s made seven cuts in 12 starts in KFT action, most recently missing the cut in his last two events (AdventHealth Championship, REX Hospital Open). The 34-year-old Every, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2014 and 2015, will make his fourth PGA Tour start of the season and first since missing the cut at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in May.

The 43-year-old from Argentina fired a 6-under 66 (seven birdies, one bogey) on Monday to earn one four available spots at PGA National this week along with medalist Sam Stevens (65) and fellow Argentinian Martin Contini (66). The final spot will be determined Tuesday morning in a 16-for-1 playoff. Gomez has made just one PGA Tour start this season, missing the cut in October at the Bermuda Championship. In seven previous appearances at the Honda, he’s made the cut three times including his last appearance in 2020 when he finished T-64.

The Argentine got his week started with a 4-under 67, splitting 9-of-14 fairways and landing 14 GIR. He couldn’t find that same magic on Friday as he three-jacked the par-4 14th (bogey), found bunker trouble at the 18th (triple bogey), and swallowed three more bogeys after the turn. There was no injury cited at press time. Playing in his 213th career PGA TOUR event, this will be the fifth time that he’s posted a mid-tournament WD.

The Argentine did not impress from tee to green, splitting half of his fairways and landing a ho-hum nine greens in regulation. From there, he made up his ground with a hot putter. Highlights included a trio of par-savers from outside of eight feet with the longest being a 24'1" bomb to save par at the most difficult hole on the course, the par-4 12th. By round’s end, he was gaining 3.48 strokes with the flat stick (4th best in the field). Gomez entered the week with just one top 50 in his last 11 events played but he’s flipping the script through 18 holes at Torrey Pines. This is his debut at the U.S. Open and he cracked the field through sectional qualifying at The Bear’s Club.

Gomez entered the week on the heels of seven straight missed cuts worldwide, and just one payday in his last 11 starts (T32 at the Houston Open last fall). He flipped that script today, striping 8-of-14 fairways and landing 13 greens (T22). The steady striking resulted in 12 pars and 6 birdies, avoiding bogeys entirely. Currently T2 on the leaderboard, this matches his previous-low positioning after round one of a PGA TOUR event (T2 at the 2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic; finished T45).

At press time, no reason was furnished for the WD, his fourth in 204 events, first since the 2017 Quicken Loans. This was the 42-year-old’s eighth appearance, missing his last six cuts, with his lone cash a T65 in 2011. Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Argentinian was 6-over through 15 holes, overshadowing one birdie at 15 with seven bogeys at 12, 13, 16, 1, 2, 4 and 5. He opened with a four-birdie one-bogey 71 on the North but had fallen six outside the projected cut line. Gomez, a two-time TOUR winner in 204 events, had checked in 2-for-10 on the season with a best of T32 in Houston back in November.

Garcia won the Sanderson Farms Championship just over a month ago but had hit fewer greens than the field in 7-of-10 rounds played since the win. He was struggling to build on that momentum. Now his momentum is completely stalled as he’s forced to shut it down and miss out on one of his favorite events of the year. The Spaniard hadn’t missed a major championship since the 1999 U.S. Open so this snaps a streak of 84 straight majors played. There are no alternates to take his place due to the limited and set-in-stone nature of this week’s field. Garcia played alongside Tony Finau and Fabian Gomez last week in Houston. The latter is not in the field this week and Finau already had his battle with the virus last month.

The Argentine made quick work of Port Royal GC during his course debut last year with four sub-70 rounds to earn a solo seventh finish. It was his first top-10 finish since the 2015-16 season but he did add another in early Augusta (T3/ Barracuda Championship). Top-heavy finishes are not common for Gomez but he does have a knack for playing well on coastal tracks. Six of his top nine career finishes have come on coastal courses. That makes him an interesting option for DFS gamers.

The 41-year-old had one big hit at the Sony, a playoff win in 2016, where he came from four back (solo 5th) with a still-career-low 8-under 62 and then dispatched 54-hole co-leader Brandt Snedeker in extra time. His other six appearances on Oahu have resulted in no finishes better than a T57 last year. The Argentinian checks in 5-for-7 on the season with three top 25s and one top 10, a solo 7th at the opposite-field Bermuda Championship back in November, and off a T23 at the RSM seven weeks ago, where he was T12 thru 54 holes (68-63-69-72). He ranks 146th on TOUR in Birdie Average (3.71) though 38th in Birdie to Bogey Ratio (2.02).

Beginning off No. 10 tee, the 41-year-old striped 13 (of 14) fairways and hit 15 greens in regulation, gaining 2.197 strokes tee-to-green and 2.553 on-the-green. He squared two bogey-5s at 14 and 18, smothered by nine circles at 10, 13, 17, 1-3, 5, 6 and 8. The Argentinian posted 1.467 putts per GIR, converting four scoring tries from between 17 and 40 feet, and also holed-out for birdie-2 at 6 from 24'9" away. This is his sixth RSM, sixth cash, with one prior top 10, a T8 in 2014-15 (67-66-68-68). Gomez arrived 4-for-6 on the season with two top 25s and one top 10, a solo 7th two starts ago in Bermuda (67-69-66-65).