Sam

Ryder

Ryder was set to arrive off a T56 at the Memorial Tournament. That snapped a three-event missed cut streak. He tried his hand at U.S. Open Sectionals and withdrew while playing at the Columbus site. He will have a few weeks to rest before returning to action.

Ryder was just T41 after his opening 71 but stormed the weekend with rounds of 68 and 66 to climb 23 spots on the leaderboard. This will be his second top 5 of the season and jumps him from 60th to 36th in the FedExCup race. “I’ve had a lot of success by my standards to start the year. Leading the majority of the tournament at Torrey Pines was a newer experience for me. Backed it up with some good weeks at Riv and Waste Management and kind of battled through maybe not my best stuff the last couple weeks, but got some decent results.” Ryder is starting to feel comfortable being in contention on the big stage and could turn that into a win sooner rather than later.

Ryder enters the week with positive strokes gained putting in six straight events. He’s gained a total of 23.5 strokes putting in those events. Next up, is the Valspar Championship where he sports a 1-for-4 record over the course of his career. The Stetson product will need to tidy up the tee-to-green play if he wants to contend this week at the Copperhead Course.

Ryder played alongside Jon Rahm and Tony Finau in the final group. While Rahm was the expected finisher, it was Ryder who opened with a birdie while Rahm swallowed a bogey. Ryder found himself with a nice cushion for most of the front nine but dropped back-to-back shots at the 7th and 8th to open the door for the field. “I made a lot of good swings and I kind of, you know, like I said, I battled pretty hard, I just couldn’t really get confident on the greens. I made a couple nice par saves, but I didn’t get the ball close enough, didn’t hit enough fairways. Simple as that.” The biggest blemish happened at the par-4 15th where his errant drive forced him into a layup and then he found his ball in an uncomfortable lie on the fairway, turning into a double bogey. While this wasn’t the finish he wanted,he likely would have been happy if you told him at the start of the week that he’d bag a top-5 finish. This is his ninth career top 5 and he remains on the hunt for his maiden win.

Ryder put on a clinic in round one, firing an 8-under 64 at Torrey Pines North and he didn’t slow his pace today. He gained 4 strokes on approach, best in the field among golfers that have played the South Course this week. “‘I’m just doing everything pretty solid. Starts off the tee for me, I’m driving it well. My iron play is really good, so I feel like if I put it in the fairway, I can attack. And I don’t think I really missed many shots today. I missed a couple fairways, but the irons have been really good.” Ryder was the only golfer to post a sub-70 round at the South Course today so he’s now posted the co-low round at the North and the low round at the South. As a result, he finds himself sleeping on his first 36-hole lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR.

Ryder opened his week on the North Course, which plays roughly two shots easier than the host venue. He took advantage of th easier course today and it started right away with an eagle at the par-5 10th. He sprinkled six birdies from there, without dropping any shots along the way. “It was pretty stress-free, it was fun. I’ve been working hard since the start of the new year and felt good about my game. It was just, it started off the tee for me, it was drive it in the fairway and I felt like I could attack.” This will be his first time leading or co-leading after any round on the PGA TOUR. He’ll turn his attention toward the South Course for the remainder of the week.

Ryder reeled off three rounds of 65 or better last week at El Camaleon en route to a T8 Mayakoba finish. His Saturday 73 was the only thing that held him back from truly contending down the stretch. His big finish vaulted him to 54th in the early FedExCup race. Gamers can remove him from all weekly rosters. It’s possible he’ll sneak in one more event before the holidays at next week’s RSM Classic, an event where he is just 1-for 5 with a 61st-place finish over the course of his career.

Ryder opened the tournament with a 7-under 64 and appeared in line for an even better score Friday after carding seven birdies over his first nine holes to make the turn in 29 on the par-71 track. That gave him a five-shot advantage with several overnight leaders waiting for their afternoon tee times, but Ryder slowed from there en route to a 6-under 65. Still, at 13 under he held sole possession of the lead when signing his card as he looks to win on Tour for the first time and will head into the weekend at T-2, three shots behind Russell Henley. Ryder has historically struggled at this event, finishing no better than T-54 in five prior trips, and he missed the cut last week in Bermuda. But those fortunes have changed swiftly as Ryder looks for his first top-25 since the Rocket Mortgage Classic (T-24) in July and his first top-10 result since the Honda Classic (T-9) in February.

Ryder was locked in today as he pelted 16 greens in regulation (2nd best in the field) after striping 9-of-14 fairways. His lone blemish came at the par-3 15th but he erased that with an eight-pack of birdies. Making his sixth start at the event, he’s never posted better than a 54th-place finish but certainly looking to amend that record after today. Fast starts have been the theme of the season for Ryder who was T9 thru 36 holes a the Shriners (T32) and T6 at the midpoint of the ZOZO (T36). Ryder has six career podium finishes but is still searching for his breakout win. Only one other golfer from the afternoon wave (Harris English) was able to match Ryder’s score today.

Ryder admitted that he felt like “things could kind of start to come unraveled” after back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12 and a couple errant shots on the relatively easy par-5 14th. But his birdie chip found the cup, giving him a bit of momentum which he built upon with a kick-in birdie on the very next hole. It all added up to a 4-under score at Narashino CC, as Ryder mixed seven birdies and three bogeys while playing his final five holes in 3 under after the chip-in. At 4 under, he’s T-3 and two shots back on a course where he finished T-7 a year ago with three rounds in the 60s. Ryder has made two of three cuts to start the new season, highlighted by a T-28 finish last week in Las Vegas.