David

Skinns

The Englishman has been leaning heavily on the short game this week as he currently ranks 1st in strokes gained around-the-green (+4.254) and 3rd in putting (+5.387). That accounts for 96 percent of his total strokes gained through 36 holes at TPC Craig Ranch. “It just fits my eye. I like it off the tee, the greens I’m really never second guessing my reads, which is great. When you look from one side and look from the other sometimes it looks completely different. But here it seems to look the same. So I’ve been pretty comfortable with a lot of the reads. I like Weiskopf designs, it just seems to fit my eye.” Playing his 56th career round on the PGA TOUR, this would be his first lead or co-lead after any of those rounds, if it holds up by day’s end. UPDATE: With the tournament complete, Skinns finished T38 on 15-under 273 (66-63-74-70) and drops to 0-for-1 as a 36-hole leader/co-leader.

The 40-year-old is in the top 10 after R1 for a third time this season in 16 events, first since the Valero Texas Open four starts ago in San Antonio, where he was also T7 after 18 holes before fading to T48 (68-70-77-70). He’s still searching for a first top 25 on the PGA TOUR in his 21st career event, but is off to a fast start after camouflaging one bogey with five birdies and a hole-out eagle-3 at 12 from a greenside bunker on Day 1 in McKinney, Texas. The Englishman (and Tennessee alum) won two times on the Korn Ferry Tour in 127 events, including the 2021 Pinnacle Bank Championship to buoy him to his long-awaited promotion to the main stage, while his best finishes on the PGA TOUR are a pair of T29’s, most recently at this season’s RSM Classic, where he was T8 thru 54 holes (64-69-69-72).

The Englishman flashed some game in the fall but more recently arrived on the heels of seven straight missed cuts. It looked like it might be more of the same when he opened his week with a bogey but rebounded quickly with four straight birdies. The highlight of the bunch was a 48'3" bomb at the par-4 fourth hole. His putter stayed hot with four straight par-savers from outside of seven feet before making the turn. Skinns is currently T4 on the live leaderboard. This will be just his second time posting inside of the top 20 after round one (T4 after R1 of Bermuda Championship, finished T34).

The PGA TOUR rookie turned pro 16 years ago (2005) and finally made it to the main stage at 43rd in the Korn Ferry Tour Priority Ranking last season, buoyed by his second win on that circuit at the regular-season-ending Pinnacle Bank Championship. He’s opened this season 2-for-3 with a best of T34 at Bermuda in his last start three weeks ago, and now sits 38th in the KFT grad reshuffle with the first reorder coming at the end of this week. The 39-year-old, who is making his second appearance after a missed cut in 2018 as an open-qualifier, leaned on his short game today, gaining 1.116 strokes around and 2.520 with the flat stick, while losing 1.757 on approach. His career-best finish in eight overall TOUR events is T29 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2014 on a sponsor invitation (74-66-71-68).

Skinns made it look easy today with 12-of-14 fairways hit, despite battling windy conditions all day. From there, he smothered 13 greens in regulation and turned that into four birdies while dropping just one shot along the way. Taking on the Plantation Course today, Skinns was able to take advantage of the par 5s and circle birdies on three of them. The 39-year-old Englishman is playing his first year as a PGA TOUR card-carrying member and he’s opened with finishes of T69-MC-T34. In that latter result, Skinns was actually T4 at the midpoint and T10 thru 54 holes before stumbling home on Sunday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Skinns has two career wins as a pro, both on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The 39-year-old turned pro 16 years ago (2005) and finally realized a life-long dream to make the PGA TOUR after finishing 43rd last season in the Korn Ferry Tour Priority Ranking. In seven TOUR events to date, his best finish among three cashes is T29 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2014 as a non-member, sponsor invite. On five (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, the Tennessee alum outpaced three bogeys, all bogey-4s, with seven circles at 11, 14, 17, 18, 2, 5 and 7, posting 1.692 putts per GIR. Thru 36 holes of his tourney debut, he’s posted a pair of 67s, totaled one eagle and 11 birdies versus five bogeys, and currently ranks T10 in greens in regulation at 72.22 percent (26/36). See link below to post-round comments.

“Every opportunity you get is big,” said Skinns, who earned his Tour card by winning once and recording five other top 10s to finish top 50 in the Korn Ferry Tour’s expanded 2020-21 season. “I’ve stayed on the correct side of things, always being able to focus on the next tournament, and I’m relishing this opportunity.” Skinns captured his second Korn Ferry Tour title in the regular-season finale at the Pinnacle Bank Championship, beating Zecheng Dou and Jared Wolfe by a shot. He shot four rounds in the 60s to extend his streak of consecutive subpar rounds on Tour to 21, and he extended his streak to 24 straight subpar rounds before it ended in the second round of the KFT Championship. Last season, the Tennessee alum made 19 cuts in 35 starts and also finished second in the TPC Colorado Championship after losing in a playoff. Of note, during the 2020 hiatus due to the coronavirus, Skinns worked as a food-delivery driver to support his family, which includes his wife Kristin and their three boys. “Obviously there were points in my career when I had to take a good, hard look at things,” he said. “But everyone who has a dream has to follow some hard roads and I’m able to stand here and say I’m ready to keep the process going.”