James

Hahn

Wu impressed with a T20 finish in his tournament debut last year and he’ll look to repeat that success this week. Playing on conditional status, the 26-year-old missed the cut in his first start of the season but did collect three paychecks before the fall schedule ended (T67, T49, T46 at the Sanderson Farms, Bermuda Championship, and RSM Classic). Wu opened last year’s Sony Open with rounds of 65-66 to find himself in a share of fifth place which remains his best position after any round on the PGA TOUR. His T20 finish is also his best PGA TOUR finish (excluding the Zurich Classic team event). Perhaps that success at Waialae CC will provide some confidence heading into the week.

Hahn has a steady 7-for-9 record at Waialae Country Club including a runner-up finish at the 2018 edition. He won’t be adding to that record this week as he’s a Monday WD, with no reason cited. He went 2-for-4 in the fall with a T27 at the Houston Open to sign off before the holiday break. Gamers should remove him from all weekly lineup considerations.

This was the 40-year-old’s second 3M after a missed cut by three last year (70-76) and after signing for rounds of 69-70-67-65, nets his third top 10 of the season in 23 events, first since a prior-season-tying-best T9 six starts ago at the AT&T Byron Nelson. For the week, he totaled one eagle, a hole-out 3 today at 12 from 69 yards away, and 18 birdies against seven bogeys, and ranked 9th SG: Tee-to-Green (7.963) and 8th SG: Putting (5.515), highlighted by a 2.967 SGP on Sunday. The South Korean-born American, who checked in 133rd in the FedExCup standings and off a couple of top-30 finishes, is projected to climb to 109th in the FEC points race and is in the published field at the upcoming Rocket Mortgage. This is his first top-5 finish since T5 at last season’s opposite-field Barbasol 26 starts and one year ago last week. See link below to post-round comments.

From the second-to-last threesome, the South Korean-born American began T4, three back, in search of his third TOUR victory in 226 events, first since the 2016 Wells Fargo 129 starts ago. It wasn’t meant to be, however, after mustering five birdies versus three bogeys on just nine greens in regulation (-1.067 SG: Approach). The 40-year-old, who needed to win this week to get into the upcoming PGA Championship, does hang on for third top 10 in seven Nelson’s, first since T3 in 2017 (TPC Four Seasons), and his second top 10 of the season in 17 events, second consecutive after a T9 at last week’s Wells Fargo in Maryland, where he was in the top 10 after each round. For the festivities, he carded laps of 69-68, day-low 61 and 69, totaled two eagles and 22 birdies versus five bogeys, and ranked 1st SG: Tee-to-Green (11.694) though 74th SG: Putting (-2.559), but was positive with the flat stick in rounds 3 and 4 (0.670).

The 40-year-old was in the top 10 after each of the first three rounds at last week’s RBC Heritage and firmly in the mix thru 14 holes on Sunday before settling for a season-best T9 after a 2-over 72. This week, he opened 69-68 to sit T34, gaining 7.880 strokes tee-to-green thru 36 holes but losing a whopping 5.591 with the flat stick. Today’s 61, one shy of a career low, included nine birdies and an eagle-3 on 16 greens in regulation, posting 5.174 SG: TTG and a 2.362 SG: Putting. Afterward (link below): “It’s nice when the head pro comes down and give me a little putting lesson after the end of the round yesterday. That definitely helped out a lot.” The UC-Berkeley alum is vying for a third TOUR victory in 226 events, first since the 2016 Wells Fargo 129 starts ago, and will be in the penultimate threesome on Sunday with Justin Thomas and defender K.H. Lee. At the three-quarter pole, he ranks No. 1 TTG (13.054), including 2nd OTT (3.866) and 1st APP (9.572), and despite a 60th-place ranking ARG (-0.384).

The 40-year-old, who began T3, four back, was chasing his third TOUR title in 225 events, first since this event in 2016 at Quail Hollow Club 128 starts and six years ago this week. He was in the mix thru 14 holes on Sunday (3 birdies, 2 bogeys), but stalled out to a bogey-5 at 15 and a double bogey-5 at 17 (watered tee ball). Hahn, who had opened with 66-68-72, comes up six adrift of winner and fellow UC-Berkeley alum Max Homa (68), but does hang on for his first top 10 of the season in 16 events, first since a T5 at last season’s opposite-field Barbasol (July 2021), and his second in the event in eight appearances, first since the aforementioned win. He wrapped the festivities with 11 birdies versus seven bogeys and a double, and ranked 3rd SG: Putting (7.834), despite a pedestrian 0.092 SGP on Sunday.

The 40-year-old, who is looking to become the first 40-something to win on TOUR since Lucas Glover at last season’s John Deere at age 41, will give chase out of the penultimate pairing on Sunday with Anirban Lahiri. He owns two TOUR wins in 224 events, most recently this tournament in 2016 at Quail Hollow 128 starts and six years ago this week, where he came from two back (T3) with 2-under 70 before prevailing in a 2-man playoff over Roberto Castro (71) as a pre-tourney 400/1 outright. With preferred lies in effect, the South Korean-born American outbalanced one birdie with three bogey-5s on seven (of 14) fairways and seven greens in regulation, losing 1.615 strokes on approach but gaining 1.685 with the flat stick, No. 3-ranked in SG: Putting thru 54 holes at 7.730 and No. 1-ranked in Scrambling at 82.61 percent. Besides being the only player in their 40s that’s in the top 10 heading to Sunday’s finale, he’s also posted progressively worse laps of 66-68-72, so he’ll need to put a halt to that tomorrow if he wants to lift another trophy. See link below to post-round comments.

The Wells Fargo Championship is historically played at Quail Hollow Club and that was the site of Hahn’s 2016 victory. They are playing at TPC Potomac this week but the change in venue hasn’t stopped the past champs from taking over the leaderboard. That includes the current 36-hole leader, Jason Day, and Max Homa who is in solo second at the moment. For Hahn, he’s gotten the job done with a hot putter. He currently ranks 6th in strokes gained putting (6.013). That would already make it one of the top 5 measured putting weeks of his career with two rounds still to play. While the wet conditions are making the course play tough today, Hahn cited his comfort level, “I grew up in this stuff. This is kind of the reason why I left California is because of weather like this. It seemed like the year that I left, it was raining 100 days out of the year and so I would practice in this every day. So I feel comfortable. It kind of brings me back to the good old days when I was young and carefree and just wanted to go out and play golf.” Hahn arrived with 10 straight finishes outside of the top 60 in stroke-play events but his 2016 WFC win came on the heels of eight straight missed cuts.

The 2022 golf season has gone off to a tough start for Hahn. He’s missed three consecutive cuts and has missed five of his last seven cuts. The Scottsdale resident has seen success at the WMPO. He has made four consecutive cuts with his best finish being a 10th place finish last year. This is a great opportunity to get his season back on track.

Hahn was set to make his 10th appearance at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and was trying to find some of that magic that he showcased during his 2013 tournament debut (T3). Since then, he had settled for finishes of 26th or worse in all eight return trips. More recently, he was arriving with three straight missed cuts on his resume, two since the schedule resumed after the holidays. Gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups.