Jim

Herman

Herman opened with a 4-over 74 and had dropped another shot through 14 holes of his second round, meaning he was heading for a likely missed cut when play was halted at 3:26 p.m. CT with a re-start set for early Saturday morning. Joining him in turning a likely missed cut into an overnight WD were Danny Willett (+4), Austin Smotherman (+10), Erik Van Rooyen (+11) and Anders Albertson (+11). Second-round play will resume at 6:45 a.m. Saturday, with Tony Finau leading at -13 and a projected cut of even-par 140.

Connecting on eight of his last 10 cuts dating back to the 2020-21 PGA Tour season, Jim Herman appears ready for a strong showing at this year’s Sony Open. With a career scoring average of 69.29 at Waialae Country Club, the 44-year-old has connected on six weekend appearances, missing the cut four times. When Herman’s tee-to-green prowess pops, he tends to have a nice week as he captured a top-10 result in 2017 when he posted +4.7 Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. Last year en route to a T-32 finish, Herman finished sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green, gaining nearly seven-strokes on the field. The former Cincinnati Bearcat is set to begin his Sony Open tomorrow at 12:40 p.m. EST alongside Martin Trainer and Brandt Snedeker.

The 44-year-old, making his 10th appearance, is one of just two players bogey-free at halftime, joining Seamus Power. In yesterday’s benign conditions, there was a total of 35 bogey-free rounds, while at the moment, there are only five who’ve managed to turn the trick on Day 2. The Cincinnati product penciled three birdies today on 13 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, this after carding five circles yesterday at Seaside on 13 fairways and 17 GIR. At the midpoint, he’s currently T1 in driving accuracy at 92.86 percent, and T5 in GIR at 86.11 percent. The Florida resident owns three TOUR victories in 222 events, most recently the 2020 Wyndham as a pre-tourney 750/1 outright, where he was T36, five back thru 36 holes before going on to a 1-shot victory (66-69-61-63).

The 43-year-old Herman sits at 171st in the standings and needs a top-two finish to crack the top 125. He’s riding a solid stretch of play into Greensboro, having made five straight cuts with four finishes inside the top 30. Last week at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, Herman opened with a 64-68 to stay in contention before fading over the weekend to a T-46 finish after shooting 73-75. The three-time Tour winner started 2021 with a bout of COVID-19, withdrawing from the Sentry T of C before it began after testing positive, but he returned the following week to finish T-32 at the Sony Open. Overall, he’s 11-for-21 with two top 25s. Last year at the Wyndham, Herman shot 61-63 on the weekend to finish at 21-under 259 and beat Billy Horschel by one stroke. The victory qualified him for the playoffs for the fourth time in his career and the first time since 2017.

Herman was roughly 4.4 shots better than the field on day one but sat around field average today. It didn’t look like an average round out of the gates, though. He started on the 10th tee and circled two birdies and an eagle before reaching the 17th tee box. He traded four bogeys with two birdies from that point forward but is still right in the thick of things, just five shots off the lead heading into the weekend. He started the week just 170th in the FedExCup race so all points are welcomed at this stage in the season, with the regular-season finale next week at the Wyndham.

Herman kept himself in position all day with 11-of-14 fairways hit and 15 greens landed in regulation. His lone blemish was a three-putt bogey at the 14th. The highlight of his round was a chip-in from 30'11 at the 17th but he also poured home a trio of birdie putts from outside of nine feet. “I feel really comfortable on bermudagrass putting. They feel very similar to Wyndham last summer. I know this bermudagrass, you get the lines and your speed’s down, you’re going to make some putts even from longer range.” Herman started the week at 170th in the FedExCup race, the lowest in the field of PGA TOUR members. He still has a lot of work left to do over the next three days but he’s now well-positioned to make a run at his fourth career win.

The 43-year-old Ohioan will defend his Barbasol title from 2019, where he shot 62 in the third round and beat Kelly Kraft by one stroke. “I think we’re going to have some low scores again,” Herman told media on Wednesday. “I don’t know if it will be 26 under like two years ago, but you’re going to just have to go low. The course is in good shape, but wet. Greens are putting really well, but they’re soft. We’re going to be throwing darts all week. If the fans like birdies, we’re going to be making them this week.” The three-time Tour winner has made just nine cuts in 19 starts this season, but he arrives in Kentucky off three straight, finishing T-26 at the Memorial, T-25 at the Travelers and his T-28 at the JDC. Herman started 2021 with a bout of COVID-19, forcing him to withdraw from the Sentry T of C before it began after testing positive. He returned to action the following week to finish T-32 at the Sony Open then missed five straight cuts before finishing T-53 at the Honda Classic and 53rd at the Masters.

Herman returned from a positive COVID-19 test with a T32 at the Sony Open to kick off the new year. He followed that with five missed cuts before snapping out of that slump with a T53 at The Honda Classic, his most recent start. He gained 3.3 strokes on approach at the Honda so perhaps he can build on that ball-striking momentum. Herman will be making his 11th career start in a major championship with the most notable being a T43 at the 2016 Open Championship. His game hasn’t translated to the biggest events in the past so gamers will likely leave him off the radar this week.

This is the 43-year-old’s 10th appearance with one previous top 25, a solo 10th in 2017. At that edition, he posted rounds of 66-67-67-65, with the 65 his prior best at Waialae CC before today. The Cincinnati native arrived 3-for-5 on the season with a best of T30 at the RSM (68-67-69-68), and was supposed to play last week’s Sentry on Maui but WD prior due to a positive COVID test. The invite to the TOC came via his third TOUR victory in-a-then 195 events at 2020’s regular-season finale at the Wyndham, highlighted by a career-low 61 in R3 (66-69-61-63). On 10 (of 14) fairways and 17 greens in regulation, the Florida resident gained 1.667 strokes off-the-tee, 2.138 around and 3.968 tee-to-green at last check. He eagled the par-5 ninth (hole-out from 37'7" away) and penciled four birdies at 2, 11, 14 and 15, three from between 11 and 34 feet, adding a hole-out 3 at 15 from 23'5" away. Herman registered 1.706 putts per GIR and 0.551 SG: Putting with 29 total putts.

Herman shared the news on social media, “Some lousy news to end the year - I’ve had CV19 for the last couple of days and therefore will not be playing Kapalua. Not sure yet about Sony and the rest of the West Coast. Thanks.” Herman had played his way into the invite-only event for a second straight year, winning the 2020 Wyndham Championship to punch his ticket this year. The 43-year-old has missed cuts in 28 of his 42 starts over the last two seasons but continues to pay off his season-long value with some top-heavy finishes to offset the inconsistencies.