Justin

Lower

Lower entered the week on a run of 19 straight events without a top-40 finish. He’s looking to change that in Canada and his opening lap certainly has him moving in the right direction. He steadied 14 GIR and then rolled his rock with +2.6 strokes gained putting. “I’ve been really working hard on driving it better. I’ve driven it like crap all year. So, yeah, just really trying to get the ball in the fairway. Especially around this place with the rough being so thick. I drove it okay today. Not perfect by any means. But drove it pretty well.” The highlight of his day was a walkoff eagle at the par-5 18th (7 feet, 8 inches). This co-lead may not hold by day’s end but if it does it would be his second time posting a FRL on the PGA TOUR (T4/2022-23 Fortinet Championship).

Lower arrived with top 20s in two of his first three starts this season, having a very full confidence tank to start the week. “Napa was huge for me. Even though I didn’t win, but to have the lead after 54 holes and going into Sunday was, it was just awesome to be in that position. And then like something I learn a lot from is watching someone get it done, so watching Max get it done in Napa was awesome for me just to see how to do it basically.” Lower is playing the best golf of his career right now and gamers should keep riding along until he shows any sign of slowing down.

Lower was sleeping on his first career 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR. It was even the first time he’d been inside of the top 5 heading into the final day. Whether it was nerves or regression to his baseline, his iron play fell back today, losing 1.8 strokes on approach (-4.5 tee-to-green). His putter bailed him out to keep him inside of the top 5. It surely wasn’t the finish he hoped for on Sunday in Napa but he likely would have been thrilled if you told him he’d post his first top-5 finish before the week started. His previous best was a T8 at 2022 Barbasol Championship.

The Ohio native was steady enough from tee-to-green with seven fairways hit (T50) and 14 GIR (T18). From there, he gained 3.5 strokes around-the-green and another 3.1 strokes putting. That will shatter his previous best around-the-green round by more than a shot and will also be one of his five best measured putting rounds. Lower missed the cut here last year in his debut, “I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly. I was like, God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly.” If this lead holds then it’ll be his first time leading after any round on the PGA TOUR. His previous low-round was an 8-under 64 in R1 of the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson.

The 33-year-old, who arrived off a T51 at last week’s John Deere, was top rookie (of 14) and the only top-10 finisher of the bunch. This was his 24th career event, 20th of the season, and second top 10, bettering a T10 eight starts ago at the Zurich teamed with Dylan Wu. The Ohio native opened with 69-70, one of 20 to make the cut (T64) on the number, and bounds into the top 10 after a pair of 66s, circling eight birdies against two bogeys in R3, and replicating that same showing in R4. For the week, he tallied one eagle and 24 birdies versus seven bogeys and a double, and ranked 45th SG: Tee-to-Green (2.304) and 3rd SG: Putting (6.477), highlighted by a 3.731 SGP in R4. The Malone University alum is in the published field at this coming week’s opposite-field Barracuda, site of his TOUR debut in 2013.

The Akron native will feel comfortable in his home state this week. He’s making his second overall appearance at the event, with a missed cut back in the 2014 edition, before he had a TOUR card. This time around, he arrives with a 9-for-15 record and currently sits at 157th in the FedExCup race. That puts him outside of the FEC Playoffs bubble as well as the top-150 conditional bubble. Good news for Lower fans, he arrives with some lights-out striking stats on his recent game log. Lower gained 3.9 strokes on approach at the Wells Fargo Championship and picked up another 4.2 strokes on approach at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Some sub-par around-the-green play has let him down but if he can stay hot with the irons, then maybe the home crowd will have someone to root for down the stretch this week.

Coming off a career-best 64, it would have been easy to regress in a big way, but that just wasn’t the case today. Lower piped 10-of-14 fairways and landed 14 greens in regulation. He impressed with a 14'9" birdie splash at the fifth but his six other circles were all knocked home from inside of eight feet. At press time, he ranks 2nd in the field in strokes gained approach on the week (+4.471). The PGA TOUR rookie arrived with three top 20s on his season resume (one in the Zurich Classic team event). His best finish in a stroke-play event is the T15 he posted at the Corales in late March. He could be on his way toward a new personal best, if he can stay locked in with the irons.

From the late wave, the Ohioan’s highlights included circles on each of the four par 5s and a hole out for eagle-2 at 10 from 154 yards away toward his career low in 51 rounds. His prior low came five starts ago on debut at the opposite-field Corales, a 7-under 65/R2 en route to his individual-best finish on TOUR (T15), and recorded his first career top 10 three starts ago at the Zurich teamed with Brandon Wu. Lower, whose last name rhymes with “power” according to the TOUR’s Media Guide, powered through some stiff winds in the late wave on Thursday, outflanking one bogey-4 at 15 (failed sand save) with seven birdies and an eagle, gaining 2.657 strokes on approach and 3.288 with the flat stick. On 10 (of 13) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the 33-year-old posted a tidy 1.308 putts per GIR, converting three scoring chances from between nine and 12 feet, and also saved par at 3 from 8'8". See link below to post-round comments.

The tourney debutants and PGA TOUR rookies were pre-tourney 250/1 outrights and barring an unlikely fall from pace-setters Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, are not going to win. That being said, neither player has yet to record a top-10 finish on TOUR, and both began the week outside the top 170 in the FedExCup standings, so a top-10 finish this week would be a surprise. Lower’s best result came two starts ago, a T15 on debut at the opposite-field Corales, while Wu’s came nine starts ago, a T20 on debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Thru 54 holes, the teammates have posted laps of 64-69-63, and will play out of the fourth-to-last group on Sunday with Mark Hubbard and Ryan Brehm. Today, Lower circles two birdies, their first two at holes 3 (from 20'7") and 5, while Wu rang up seven birdies, five from between 10 and 41 feet with three of those falling from beyond 20 feet.

The 32-year-old Lower is riding a streak of three straight made cuts across both the KFT and PGA Tour, where he most recently played the Honda Classic and Puerto Rico Open and finished T-64 and T-35 respectively. He finished top 10 in his last KFT Start at the LECOM Suncoast Classic, where he carded four rounds in the 60s and finished T-6. In four previous appearances at Le Triomphe Golf & CC in Broussard, La., Lower has never missed a cut and has two podium finishes – solo second in 2019 and third in 2018. In 2019, he led after 54 holes but lost in a playoff to Vince Covello. Lower’s scoring average at Le Triomphe is 68.25, and in 16 rounds there, he has posted 65 or better five times. The Chitimacha Louisiana Open, which boasts a purse of $750,000 with the winner taking $135,000, is the fifth longest running KFT event and third longest at the same course. The KFT will spend two weeks in Louisiana with the inaugural Lake Charles Championship next week.