Andrew

Novak

Novak caught fire with the flat stick this week as he ranked 1st in the field in strokes gained putting (+7.7). He was also 1st in scrambling (19-of-23). That strong short game helped avoid blemishes as finished the week with just five bogeys on his card and nothing worse. He had arrived with a trio of top 15s in his PGA TOUR career but this will go in the books as his first top-10 finish.

Novak started his week on the host layout, the South Course at Torrey Pines. it played 2.49 shots tougher than the North Course today. Novak wasn’t bothered by the tougher test as he traded seven birdies with one bogey to match the low round of the day from the South Course wave. He split 10-of-14 fairways, gained 2.8 strokes on approach, and 2.3 strokes putting. It was a well-balanced attack and puts him on page one of the early leaderboard with the North Course on deck tomorrow. Novak arrived just two weeks removed from a T12 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. All seven of his top finishes on the PGA TOUR have come on courses rather close to the coast, so gamers may want to keep that in mind moving forward.

Novak was all over the map today with just 3-of-13 fairways hit but managed his misses well to still manage 12 GIR. The highlight of his round was a chip-in birdie at the par-4 10th but he had a steady stream of mid-range putts fall, as well. After the round, he talked about his love for the paspalum grass used this week, “I feel really comfortable chipping on it and I putted well this year, too. I don’t know, it’s clearly a comfort thing. The chipping is nice because when I attack the greens with irons and things, I can kind of go at the pins without too much fear. I don’t feel like I’m too short-sided here. I can get under the ball, it sits up a bit. I really don’t know what it is. I don’t think I’ve finished outside the top-25 this year on Paspalum and hopefully this week’s headed towards another good finish.” His story checks out as he posted a T22 at the Puerto Rico Open and a T11 at the Corales. If this co-lead holds then it would be his first time leading or co-leading after any round on the PGA TOUR.

The 27-year-old owns three top 25s in 19 career events, none of them in the 50 United States. All three have come during this season’s rookie campaign: a T22 on debut at Mayakoba as an open-qualifier, a T22 on debut at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open, and a career-best T11 on debut at the opposite-field Corales Puntacana three starts ago (70-69-69-68). On six (of 13) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, the North Carolina native lost 0.405 strokes off-the-tee but gained 2.933 approaching and 1.541 around-the-green. Beginning on 10 tee, he squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 4 (failed scramble), offset by six circles at 12, 13 (fringe-shot from 18'3"), 18, 3, 6 and 7, each of the conventional birdies dropping from inside of eight feet (+0.215 SG: Putting).

The Wofford product has leaned heavily on the short game this week. He currently ranks T57 in Fairways Hit and T62 in GIR Percentage. To make up for the ho-hum striking stats, he ranks T2 in Scrambling and 10th in Putts per GIR. He’s gotten through the week with just three bogeys on his card. Novak entered the week with missed cuts in four of his last five starts and he’s just 4-for-10 overall to kick off his rookie campaign. Currently T3 on the live leaderboard, this is the best position he’s held after any round on the PGA TOUR.

Novak, a first-year Tour member, was one of four players to make the field in Mexico at El Camaleon Golf Club along with medalist David Lipsky, Korn Ferry Tour player Braden Thornberry and Mexico’s Camilo Aguado, who will make his PGA Tour debut. “Shot 67 and snuck through on the number,” said Novak, who last week shot 75-69 at the Bermuda Championship to miss the cut by two strokes. “Golf’s a lot easier when it’s not blowing 40 (mph), and I was really glad to get it done today.” Novak has made one cut in three starts this season, finishing T-58 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He was 16th on the KFT’s regular-season standings to earn his card for 2021-22, making 24 cuts in 42 starts during the wraparound season, including a win at the 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic and two third-place finishes in 2021.

The Wofford alum was the only OQer (of four) to make the cut. This was his second career TOUR start after a missed cut (by five) at The RSM Classic back in November (71-73), also as an OQer. For the week, the 22-year-old South Carolina resident totaled eight birdies against 16 bogeys on 35 (of 56) fairways (62.50%) and 41 greens in regulation (56.94%). He was the only player to make par or better on every hole of The Bear Trap (Nos. 15-17) and toured them in 2-under for the week.