Chad

Ramey

The first-timer steadied 10-of-14 fairways and landed 14 greens. The striking was steady enough but his short game really did the heavy lifting. He walked off the course ranked 5th in strokes gained around-the-green (+1.4) and 1st in putting (+5.7). It would have been tough for most gamers to see this type of round coming, as he arrived with 21 straight finishes outside of the top 25. Could the spark have been provided by him welcoming his first child into the world last week? He’s not ruling it out, “Obviously golf is a lot less important now, and you never know, maybe that’s why I played better today. It’s a lot less important now that I have a child, and hate I’m not there with him, but just glad to be here and to at least play well.” If this lead holds then it’ll be his second time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR (T17/2021-22 Bermuda Championship).

Ramey started on the host course and traded eight birdies with just one bogey. He piped 13-of-14 fairways en route to ranking second in strokes gained off-the-tee and also gained 2.8 strokes putting (2nd). His score was two shots better than the next closest at Pebble Beach GL today. “A little bit of everything. I was just hitting it where I was looking, giving myself looks. There on the front I just capitalized on the looks I had.” Ramey broke out with a win last March at the Corales but he’s landed just three top 35s since then. This will be his seventh time posting at T15 or better after round one and five of those came on coastal courses.

The Mississippi State product Chad Ramey is coming off back-to-back missed cuts, but that didn’t stop him from having success in rounds one and two. In round two, he hit 16 of 18 GIR and hit 11/14 fairways. He was stellar with the flat stick and gained +2.15 strokes putting. The second year golfer is aiming for his second career PGA Tour win. He will need to continue his dominance should he want to win.

Last season in this same event, Ramey shared the 36-hole lead with the eventual winner. He ultimately finished T14

This is the 29-year-old’s first mid-tourney WD in 24 career events, 22 as a member. Out of the late wave and beginning on 10 tee, he overshadowed two birdies with two bogeys and a pair of double bogey-5s at 12 (watered tee ball) and 4 (3-putt from 13'0"), and his departure will leave Garrick Higgo and Patton Kizzire as a 2-ball on Friday. The Mississippi State alum checked in off a T27 at last week’s Charles Schwab, where he was T12 thru 54 holes (70-66-69-75), a missed cut by seven the week prior in his major debut at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills (77-74), and through 32 events (of 47) on the season, is the only rookie (of 27) who has won so far, claiming the opposite-field Corales eight starts ago as a pre-tourney 50/1 outright.

The 29-year-old, making his tourney debut, will be in the fourth-to-last pairing on Sunday with fellow first-timer Matthew Wolff, chasing leader Keegan Bradley. His 73 today, which was lowlighted by a pair of doubles at 2 and 17, still was 0.662 strokes better than the field average in R3, and was highlighted by two conventional birdies from between nine and 13 feet, and a hole-out version at 12 from 50'0" away. On nine (of 14) fairways and nine greens in regulation, the Mississippi State alum lost 1.009 strokes on approach but gained 0.699 off-the-tee, 0.423 around and 0.548 on-the-green. Of the 27 rookies on TOUR this season, he’s the only one who’s won, claiming the opposite-field Corales on debut five starts ago, where he came from two back (2nd) with 5-under 67 to win by one.

It was a short-game clinic posted from Ramey today. He split just seven (of 14) fairways and landed just half of the greens in regulation. Yet, he managed to drop just two shots along the way. He had four par-savers from outside of 10 feet before his day was done. The highlight of his round came at the par-4 fifth, though, holing out from the fairway bunker (115 yards) for an unconventional eagle. “It was a grind. There’s no doubt I had some really good holes out there, but at the same time I think I had two chip-ins for a par and I holed out on 5 for eagle. It wasn’t a low stress round, put it that way.” This will be the third time in his last five stroke-play events that Ramey has posted inside of the top 10 after 36 holes of play.

The steady sharpshooter has lived up to his reputation this week with 21-of-28 fairways hit. From there, he’s landed 24 GIR (T21) and gotten some help in the short-game department as well. He currently ranks 14th in strokes gained around-the-green and 19th in putting. “It was a grind. Majority of the front nine, I kind of got in without a whole lot of wind, and then somewhere late in the first nine holes, the wind kind of picked up, started gusting. So that back nine honestly was just a grind.” Ramey recently became a PGA TOUR winner at the Corales and he’s right back in the hunt, just two starts later.

Ramey eased into his round with two birdies and one bogey on the opening 12 holes. He was just lurking at that point but not in the main conversation anymore. Then he went on a streak of four straight birdies with the last one being the most impressive, from outside of 25 feet. “The nerves were there all day, there’s no doubt, but I knew I had a lot of holes left, a lot of birdieable holes left, so I just stuck to my game plan. Like you said, I got off to a slow start, but the putter kind of heated up there on the back and it all worked out.” Ramey’s transition to the PGA TOUR hadn’t gone so well with missed cuts in seven of his last nine starts but he did give him hints with his T5 at the Puerto RIco Open, two starts ago. Ramey was already in the field next week at the Valero but with this week he picks up 300 FedExCup Points and gives himself some scheduling flexibility moving forward.

This wasn’t a flawless round by any means but certainly some positives to take away. “I just liked how I putted and wedged the ball today. I didn’t have my best with my driver, still hit a lot of good iron shots, but my putter and wedge definitely bailed me out.” For the week, Ramey ranks T48 in GIR Percentage (63%) but 5th in Putts per GIR. This will be the third time in his young PGA TOUR career that he’s been T3 or better thru 54 holes and he finished those weeks at T14 (2021-22 Shriners) and T5 (2022 Puerto Rico Open).