Julian

Suri

The Duke Blue Devil has missed the cut in 12-of-14 starts this season. He finds himself at just 211th in the season-long Rankings. It’s not all bad news, though, as he now heads back to the site of his lone DP World Tour win. The American has failed to find any consistency since returning from injury in 2019 but he presents himself as a high-upside, boom-or-bust option for gamers and bettors this week.

The American looked like a star in the making when he opened his career with Race to Dubai finishes of 52nd and 35th. Then, he underwent surgery for a core muscle injury in 2019 and has seen a dropoff in performance since. Suri is just 20-for-44 over the last two seasons and will now sit in a lower priority ranking which could make starts tougher to find. The 30-year-old is still young enough and not too far removed from strong play that a resurgence of form wouldn’t be out of the question. Gamers should keep a close eye on his early-season form and be ready to pounce if he strings together a few good events.

The American was ranked inside of the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking as recent as the start of 2019. That is around the same time he underwent surgery for a core muscle injury. It didn’t appear to set him back as he went T20-T4-T2-T19 in his first four starts, post-surgery. Since then, he’s landed just four top 30s in 30 worldwide starts. On a positive note, two of those four came in his last five starts this fall. Suri was also right in the hunt at the Alfred Dunhill Championship before a closing 80 dropped him to T35 on the final leaderboard. The 29-year-old is just a few years removed from playing in WGC events and he looked like a rising star at the time. Gamers should monitor his early-season form closely and be ready to pounce if this trend continues upward.

The American ought to have good memories of his only previous appearance in this tournament and on this course. Last year he opened with two laps of 70 to lie T5 at halfway, and then a pair of weekend 69s boosted him to T2 and just one swing outside a play off. It was a week in which only one man landed more greens in regulation than he did. The bad news is that his tee-to-green game hasn’t been great in recent months. He started the year frequently in the top 20 for GIR, but hasn’t been there since the end of April. Better news is a run of MC-55-18, hinting at a return to form of sort.

Following a delayed start to the season the American had blistering early form, starting T20 in Malaysia, nearly winning in India (T4) and Morocco (T2), adding T19 in China. But then it all went pear shaped. True he was T15 in the Andalucia Masters but otherwise he has missed seven cuts, had T55 in the Irish Open and T31 last week at Wentworth. He’s only played this event the once and that will not hold any great on-course memories. He failed to break par in two of the three rounds, never went sub-70 and missed the cut.

The American had a delayed start to the season following injury but opened with T4, T2 and T19 in his first three events before early exits at the PGA Championship and BMW International Open. But a closing 69 at the Andalucia Masters completed a solid week in Spain and moved him to 53rd on the Race to Dubai. Suri made his debut in this event last year and overcame an opening 76 to finish T27 at Ballyliffin before he went on to miss the cut in the Scottish Open at Gullane. However, a T28 in The Open at Carnoustie was another fair effort so perhaps he’s starting to feel more at home on the links. He lies 8th in SG: Tee-To-Green this season and 10th in Putts per GIR.

That’s just two swings off the lead held by France’s Victor Perez. Suri is 59th on this season’s Race to Dubai but has cooled off in recent starts with back-to-back missed cuts in the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black and the BMW International Open in Germany. He set the tone for an impressive opening lap with birdies at his first two holes (10 and 11). Suri added another circle at 16 to turn in 33 before swallowing his only bogey of the day with five swishes at the par-4 2nd. He returned to 3-under with another circle at 5 and a walk-off birdie at 9 took him into the top five.

Suri makes for a very interesting sleeper pick this week. In his only other major of 2018, the American took T28 at the Open Championship and he’s been displaying some impressive form on the European Tour recently. Suri had a spell on the sidelines after hernia surgery but returned with T20 at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and tied fourth in the Indian Open. When the Euro Tour kicked back in to gear after the Masters, the World No. 97 took tied second at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco and made it four straight top 20s with T19 at the Volvo China Open. Promisingly, given that Bethpage Black will be long and soft, Suri ranks 23rd for Driving Distance, 5th in SG: Off-The-Tee and 13th for SG: Tee-To-Green on the European Tour.

That was two swings back from winner Jorge Campillo. Suri started the closer three back from Erik Van Rooyen but stayed in the hunt all day thanks to a string of pars. A birdie at No. 6 edged him closer but the American had to wait until the 17th for his next red number. He needed a big finish at 18 to put pressure on the eventual winner but had to settle for his 16th par of the round. A winner at the Made In Denmark in 2017, this is his third runners-up finish since then. Suri has now posted 20-4-2 in three starts since coming back from abdominal hernia surgery so he should definitely be in gamers’ thoughts for next week’s Volvo China Open.

Right now, with the afternoon wave just getting going, he’s tied for fourth spot and two behind leader Jordan Smith (16 still to play). For the second day running, Suri played Royal Golf Dar Es Salam’s second nine in 3-under although his birdies today were all at different holes (14, 15 and 17). That was his opening nine having started from the 10th tee and, despite a bogey at No. 2, he continued the good work with further red circles at 5 and 7. Suri was all set to post the clubhouse lead but took five swishes on the par-3 9th to drop back. However, this is another really positive sign from the World No. 108 following surgery and after T20 in Malaysia and T4 in India in his two comeback events he’s in position for another weekend challenge.