Hayden

Buckley

The 27-year-old was making his tournament debut but had no trouble with course knowledge. He put on a ball-striking clinic with 3.3 strokes gained off-the-tee and 6.4 strokes gained on approach. His putter also contributed with 3.5 strokes gained putting. The result was four straight sub-70 rounds to post the fourth top-5 finish of his PGA TOUR career. It’s also his second straight top 10 with a T10 at the Valero Texas Open while he was dormant during Masters week. He’s still in search of his first win but that may come sooner rather than later based on his current level of play.

Buckley continued his steady striking with 9-of-14 fairways hit and 14 GIR. He ended the week ranked T6 in fairways hit and T5 in GIR. “I didn’t hit it exactly where I wanted to early on, but again, the front nine is so difficult that I knew if I could just grind out a few pars and find my way to the back nine, I’d have a great chance.” He missed four putts from inside of eight feet today including a notable 3'7" miss at the 15th to really open the door for Si Woo Kim. Yesterday was the first time he’s slept on a lead after any round on the PGA TOUR, but likely won’t be the last. “I think confidence is something that I will never lose it just because I’ve seen the way I hit the ball, and I’ve seen the way I can just rise to the occasion. Unfortunately it didn’t happen today, but I think good things are coming.”

He’s one off the clubhouse lead, currently held by Taylor Montgomery. Buckley is no stranger to success in Hawaii. He won the 2017 Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational on the island of Kauai, while playing for the Missouri Tigers. He said on Friday that his second-round 61 that week helped prove to him that he was ready for the pros.

“To see a round like that and have a chance to be 59 and just have a day where everything went in, it kind of woke me up a little bit to where I realized, this is something I could do for a living,” he recalled. “Not that one round should make or break it, but it was that defining moment where I was studying pretty hard and I studied a little less hard after that because I knew that golf was something that I was going to pursue.”

Buckley went 5-for-6 to start the new season, turning three of those into top-20 finishes. He got the job done with steady driving, ranking 11th in strokes gained off-the-tee, using a good balance of distance (79th) and accuracy (40th). That strong off-the-tee play kept him in play on the scoring holes and he recorded 8 eagles, over 396 holes played. For comparison, there were only four other golfers that landed more than four eagles in the fall. Buckley was also 23rd in eagle rate last season which makes him an attractive option for fantasy gamers playing in leagues where hole-by-hole scoring is amplified.

Buckley closed with a 2-under 68 at Narashino CC, his third score of 68 to go along with a 64 in the third round. He carded three birdies against one bogey in the final round to finish the week at 12 under, three shots behind winner Keegan Bradley and in a tie for fifth alongside Viktor Hovland and Sahith Theegala. Buckley has now strung together three straight top-20 finishes in the fall portion of the new season, following a T-19 finish in Mississippi and a T-20 result in Las Vegas, and his result Sunday in Japan was his best on Tour since a T-4 finish at the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship.

The 26-year-old, who’s dealt a pair of 68s, will be in the penultimate twosome on Saturday with World No. 2 and defending champ Jon Rahm (67), scheduled for 3:34 pm ET. This is his second U.S. Open and second major, joining a missed cut by five at last season’s 121st edition at Torrey Pines (won by Rahm) where he posted rounds of 69-82, and is vying for a first TOUR victory in 26 events. The Missouri alum, who arrived off four straight missed cuts, owns two top 10s among nine cashes this season, including a best of T4 at the Sanderson Farms 21 starts ago (in Oct.), where he was T4 at the midpoint (67-65-70-66). Thru 36 holes, he’s tallied 10 birdies against six bogeys, five versus three in both rounds, and was 2-over today thru 11 holes before ending with four for the good at 12, 14, 17 and 18. See link below to post-round comments.

Buckley arrived on the heels of four straight missed cuts but felt good about his game after meeting with course-management guru, Scott Fawcett, recently. “I’ve kind of been working hard on course strategy and kind of knowing where to hit shots and when to hit them. That was kind of a recent development the last few weeks that has turned into a strength.” Today, he split 8-of-14 fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation. He walked off the course ranked first in the field in strokes gained short game (+3.16). The highlight was a hole-out putt from off the green (55 feet) for birdie at the par-3 second hole. The Missouri product was T5 after round one of the U.S. Open last year but missed the cut after an 82 on day two. He’ll look to avoid that same fate tomorrow afternoon.

Buckley opened on the 10th this afternoon and began his week with nine straight pars. He did end up adding four circles before his day was over, but it wasn’t stress-free. “So just kind of finally found a better scrambling day than I’ve had in the last few weeks, but stayed patient and shot 4 under on the back. End up chipping in out of the bunker on the last for birdie.” Buckley got hot earlier this season with a trio of top 12s over a five-event stretch but has cooled his pace lately with nothing better than T49 finish over his last eight starts. Currently T3 on the live leaderboard, this may end up being his lowest position after any round played on the PGA TOUR (T4 after R2 and R4 of the 2021-22 Sanderson Farms Championship).

Last week, the world No. 12 DeChambeau announced he would not defend his title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational – won Sunday by Scottie Scheffler – due to a nagging wrist injury. Golfweek reported that DeChambeau acknowledged in a text message that he would not be playing at TPC Sawgrass this week either: “I did,” DeChambeau confirmed to Golfweek when asked if he withdrew from the Players. “Almost ready.” The eight-time Tour winner added, “Getting ready for something big. Many plans in the works.” DeChambeau, who last played in January at the Farmers Insurance Open where he missed the cut, is one of just three players inside the top 50 in the world rankings who will not be in the field at TPC Sawgrass, along with Phil Mickelson and Harris English (injury).

Buckley put on steady striking show today with 12-of-14 fairways hit and 16 greens landed in regulation. From there, his putting did the heavy lifting. He drained four putts from outside of 11 feet on the first six holes alone. That included a 15'3" eagle splash at the par-5 second hole. He would add another long-distance conversion on his way into the clubhouse (22'8" birdie at the 16th). “So our game plan is just finding greens and giving chances and if I don’t make any putts I get over it and keep going the next day. But today they went in.” The PGA TOUR rookie has been boom or bust this season with three top 15s and four missed cuts in his first eight starts. He’s on pace for another “boom” week after today.