Greyson

Sigg

Sigg stayed busy in the offseason, getting married during the short break. There was no rust as he returned to action today, splitting 8-of-14 fairways and then gaining 2.3 strokes on approach. “I drove it great I felt like and was able to make a few putts there middle of the round and hit it great. I’d say I’m going to go practice my putting a little bit coming in, but all in all I felt like I played pretty well.” Sigg posted a 30th-place finish at this event last year in his debut and he’s off to another strong start in Napa.

The 27-year-old was one of 47 first-timers and 18 TOUR rookies this week and will share top honors in the former with Danny Willett and in the latter with Callum Tarren. This is his second career top 10 in 36 events, first of the season in 27 starts, and first since a prior-best T9 at last season’s opposite-field Corales (Mar. 2021) 31 starts ago. For the week, the Georgia alum recorded rounds of 70-68, day- and career-tying-low 64 and 72, totaled 16 birdies against six bogeys, two versus three on Sunday, and ranked 7th SG: Tee-to-Green (8.854) and 33rd SG: Putting (1.592), including a 0.000 SGP in R4 at last check. He checked in 126th in the FedExCup standings, is projected to move to 108th, and is in the published field at this coming week’s Rocket Mortgage.

The 27-year-old, making his tourney debut, follows 70-68 with 64, matching his career low in 107 rounds (x3), and matching the low round of the day with three others. On 10 (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, he squared a lone bogey-4 at hole 4 (bogey-save from 7'5"), outflanked by eight circles at 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 17, five from between 14 and 20 feet. The Georgia alum, who arrived off three consecutive top-30 finishes, posted -0.230 SG: Off-the-Tee, 2.486 SG: Approach, -0.100 SG: Around, and 2.417 SG: Putting, He’ll be in the penultimate threesome on Sunday with Tony Finau and Tom Hoge, vying for a second career top 10 in 36 events, first since T9 on debut at the 2021 opposite-field Corales (as a non-member) 31 starts ago, where he was T21 thru 54 holes. See link below to post-round comments.

Sigg ranks 139th in strokes gained tee-to-green this season and finds himself in a similar spot on the FedExCup board (136th). The PGA TOUR rookie is 13-for-20 but hasn’t landed anything better than his T22 at the Bermuda Championship. He was T3 at the midpoint of The American Express and T7 at the halfway mark of the Corales. The Georgia Bulldog will be making his tournament debut this week and looks to snap out of a mini-slump with missed cut at the Wells Fargo Championship and AT&T Byron Nelson in his two latest starts.

Straka recently broke his maiden at the Honda Classic and had another close call last week at the RBC Heritage (T3). He arrives in stellar form. His former teammate at Georgia, Greyson Sigg, has been consistent during his rookie campaign but struggled to find top-heavy finishes. Sigg is 12-for-16 on the season without landing anything better than a T22 (Bermuda Championship) over that stretch. Straka has a missed cut ant T29 on his Zurich Classic resume while Sigg will be making his tournament debut.

The Georgia alum, who posts a three-day tally of 10-under 205, is one of 26 TOUR rookies and 31 tourney debutants this week, and the only one (of either) that is currently residing the top 10. The last player to win this event on debut was Brett Ogle in 1993, so that would be noteworthy, but more likely, Sigg will be looking at a second top 10 in 20 career events (11th as a member), and first since a T9 at last season’s opposite-field Corales (in March) as a non-member, where he was T21 thru 54 holes (72-70-70-69). This is his first time in the top 10 at the three-quarter pole and will play out of the fifth-to-last group on Sunday with Denny McCarthy and Dylan Frittelli. After opening with 67-68 (MP-SH), the 26-year-old offset three squares today with five circles on nine (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, losing strokes off-the-tee (-0.790) and around (-0.549), but gaining 1.106 on approach and 0.330 with the flat stick, despite a disappointing 3-jack at his final hole from 7'3".

The Georgia alum and PGA TOUR rookie opened with 65 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course (1 eagle, 5 birdies), and ticked five birdies today on 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation. He’s bogey-free through 36 holes and moves over to La Quinta CC for R3, eyeing his second career top 10 in 18 events, ninth as a member, joining a back-door T9 at last season’s opposite-field Corales (March) as a non-member, where he was T32 at the midpoint (72-70-70-69). On 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, the 26-year-old gained 0.491 strokes off-the-tee, 0.717 on approach, and 1.443 with the flat stick.

The PGA TOUR rookie has been busy with eight events already on his resume this season. He’s been T10 after round one in two of those starts (Fortinet Championship/T30 and Bermuda Championship/T22). Sigg has yet to land a top 20 this season despite having 14 sub-70 rounds to his name, now 15. Steady striking is what orchestrated today’s low round as he split 13-of-14 fairways and landed 16 greens in regulation. The highlight of his round was an eagle at the par-5 seventh hole but he circled five birdies along the way, as well. Next up is a showdown with the Stadium Course which is the toughest of the three courses used at this week’s event.

The 26-year-old Sigg finished sixth on the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular-season standings to earn his PGA Tour card for 2021-22, making 29 cuts in 35 starts with two wins -- at the 2021 Visit Knoxville Open and 2021 Albertsons Boise Open -- during the wrap-around season. “It’s pretty cool for the other players we played with all year to vote us in,” said Sigg, regarding the peer vote for ROY honors. “It was a long year, and a lot of really good golf was played and I’m happy to be in this spot today.” He recorded 10 top 10s and 19 top-25 finishes across his 35 starts, which vaulted him to a runner-up finish in the season-long points standings. He trailed only Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, who won the Jack Nicklaus Trophy as the 2020-21 KFT Player of the Year on Tuesday. “My best memory [from the 2020-21 season] was winning in Knoxville and making a 10-footer on the last hole to beat [Jaeger],” said Sigg, who missed the cut last week in Houston. “I beat the best player on the Korn Ferry Tour, so that was a pretty good memory. … Jaeger was very deserving of that No. 1 spot, and he got my vote.” Sigg is making his seventh PGA Tour start (4-of-6 cuts made) of the new season this week at the RSM, where he missed the cut in 2019 and was T-49 in 2017. His best finish so far this season is a T-22 at the Bermuda Championship.

The Georgia Bulldog opened his morning on the 10th tee and started things off with nine straight pars while battling extreme winds. “I played really well all day, I got off to a good start, made a bunch of pars. I looked at my caddie after making nine straight pars on the back nine, I was like, ‘I shouldn’t be as frustrated as I am,’ but I had a lot of really good looks, wasn’t able to make them. It’s a funny game, they fall all at the right time. I was able to make four in a row coming in.” Sigg striped all but one of the possible 14 fairways today and he converted that into 13 GIR. If this co-lead holds then it’ll be his first time leading/co-leading a PGA TOUR event. Last season on the Korn Ferry circuit he held a pair of first-round leads/co-leads. First was the 2020 Pinnacle Bank Championship where he’d go on to finish T7 and the most recent fast start came at the 2021 Knoxville Open where he opened with a 9-under 61 before losing the lead and eventually playing his way back to the top on Sunday to secure his first KFT victory.