Mark

Anderson

The 36-year-old Anderson, a two-time KFT winner (2013 BMW Charity Pro-Am, 2019 Country Club de Bogota Championship), was the outright leader after 54 holes at The Landings Club’s Deer Creek course in Savannah, Ga., but costly bogeys at 16 and 17 left him needing an eagle at 18 to force a playoff. He has made the cut in three of five KFT starts this season, finishing T-12 at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and T-54 at Astara Golf Championship. Lat season, Anderson played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 10 cuts with one top 10 – finishing T-8 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The KFT season continues next week (April 13) at the Veritex Bank Championship in Arlington, Tex., held at Texas Rangers Golf Club.

The 35-year-old, who finished T64 here last year, T20 at the midpoint (68-68-73-73), bags his first top 25 of the season in 16 events, brushing aside a prior-best T26 at the Bermuda back in November. It’s his third career top 10 in 98 events, first since T10 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2017, 4 years and 4 months ago, and replaces a prior-career-best T9 at the long-defunct Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in 2012. For the week, the Maryland native carded laps of 70-70-67-66, tallied 23 birdies, T2 in that stat, versus six bogeys and a double, and ranked 61st in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.041), 14th in SG: Approach (3.791), 15th in SG: Around (2.102), 16th in SG: Putting (3.694), and 14th in SG: Tee-to-Green (4.849). On Sunday, he began two strokes short of the overnight top 10 and rang up six birdies on 11 (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation. The South Carolina alum, who was already in the published field at the upcoming John Deere, gained 1.934 strokes around, 1.222 with the flat stick, and posted a 3.649 SG: Total in R4.

Anderson split 9-of-14 fairways and landed 11 greens in regulation (T50). His traditional striking stats were around field average but his final score was 4.44 shots better than the field average today. The highlight of his round was a birdie at the par-3 17th which gained more than a shot over the field today. This is not his first taste of success at the Corales as he posted a T28 at the 2016 Corales (Korn Ferry Tour) and was T17 after round one of this event when it was played last fall. Anderson faded to T65 that week but hopes to avoid that same fate this week. He entered the week with a 4-for-11 record this season that has him at 189th in the FedExCup race.

Anderson has not made this look easy despite having a clean card after 36 holes. Overall, he’s gained just 3.692 strokes over the field scoring average this week, despite the lack of blemishes. Anderson started on the 10th tee today and missed three scoring chances from inside of 11 feet before making the turn. The South Carolina product currently ranks top 60 in all four sub-categories of strokes gained this week but no better than 17th in any of them. It’s been a balanced attack. He arrived with a pair of missed cuts in two previous tries at Silverado Resort and Spa but has already secured a paycheck this week. Playing in his 83rd TOUR event, Anderson will now try to hunt down his third career top 10 and first since the 2017 Puerto Rico Open.

The Korn Ferry Tour grad is playing his fourth season on the PGA TOUR with a career record of 34 made cuts in 77 events (44.1%). His first campaign, in 2012, resulted in a career-high 164th-place finish in the FEC standings, recording one top 10 in 25 starts, a still-career-best T9 at the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. The South Carolina alum has just one other top 10, a T10 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in March, 2017. He’s won twice on the junior circuit in 151 events, including last season’s Country Club de Bogota Championship, which buoyed him to 28th in the final KFT Priority Ranking. So far this season, he’s posted one top 25 among his seven made cuts, a T21 at the Sony, T7 thru 54 holes, and was in the top 25 three other times at the three-quarter pole before fading in the final round.

Anderson was arriving off a top-25 finish at the Sony Open where he gained 1.1 strokes off-the-tee and 2.5 strokes on approach. There is no word on the cause of WD this morning but we will update if that information gets passed along. In his place, Zack Sucher will earn a tee time and start at the PGA WEST Nicklaus Tournament Course at 9:20 local time, alongside Vincent Whaley and their amateur playing partners.

This is the 33-year-old’s fourth Sony, first since a missed cut in 2014, and second cash, joining a T54/2013, where he also carded a career-low 64 (R2). Making his 73rd career start, this is his first time in the top-10 after 54 holes, and is eyeing his third top-10, first since T10 at the 2017 Puerto Rico Open. With preferred lies in effect, the South Carolina alum striped 13 (of 14) fairways and pelted 15 greens in regulation, gaining 4.108 strokes approaching and 4.712 tee-to-green. He squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 6, camouflaged by seven circles at 11, 16, 17, 1, 3, 7 and 9, three from between 10 and 17 feet, posting 1.667 putts per GIR and 0.869 SG: Putting. The Annapolis, Maryland, native, who arrived off a T43 at the RSM seven weeks ago, opened with 72-68.

Looking to make back-to-back cuts after regaining his card via the Korn Ferry Tour, Anderson didn’t break a sweat today, pouring in five birdies while staying blemish-free. The South Carolina Gamecock struggled off the tee hitting only 5-of-14 fairways but was impeccable at finding the putting surface in regulation with 16 greens hit thus gaining 3.255 strokes on approach. All of his birdies on the day were from inside 12 feet with the exception of the first hole, his 10th, where he drained a 22'8" bomb. The 33-year-old is playing in this event for the third time and is in good shape to improve on his career-best Sanderson Farms finish of T64 (2012).

The PGA TOUR rookie hasn’t made any noise this year, with a 2-for-3 record topped by a T35 at Pebble Beach. What he’s not proving on the leaderboard he’s fulfilling with par-5 scoring, having carded birdies or better on 27 of the 38 par 5s he’s played this year. That includes birdies on all three today in addition to another three on El Camaleon. He was the sixth of seven to sign his card one stroke adrift of the overnight lead.

The rookie has made five (of six) cuts in 2012, with his best finish being a T16 in the Mayakoba Golf Classic. This will not be his first start at Harbour Town, as he’s gained entry in the previous three editions. He made the cut in 2010 and postes a T81 finish. He ranks 47th in scrabling, which could be important this week.