Michael

Gellerman

Gellerman kept it in from of him today with 13-of-14 fairways hit. From there, his wedges and irons were locked in, pelting 15 greens, gaining 1.26 strokes on approach along the way. Out of the gate, he had five scoring chances from inside of nine feet before reaching the ninth tee box. He slowed his ball-striking pace on the way into the house but warmed up the flat stick with a pair of birdie conversions from outside of 12 feet on the homeward nine, including a walk-off bird from 20'2". Making his 15th start of the season, this will be his first time positioning himself inside of the top 20 after any round. If he stays inside of the top 20, it will be the first time in his career that he’s landed inside that top-10 bubble, after any round on the PGA TOUR.

The 28-year-old continues his PGA TOUR career playing out of Category 26 in the priority ranking from his 42nd-place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour priority ranking in 2019. Despite finishing 206th in the FedExCup standings last season in 15 starts, he remains fully exempt due to the TOUR’s extended eligibility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oklahoma alum is still subject to the reshuffle, where he now sits 41st (up one) after the first reshuffle post-Mayakoba, where he placed 69th (of 71) as alternate and lost 6.933 strokes against the field for the week (70-70-71-75). On a positive note, that was his first cash of the season in four events, following a mid-tourney WD (no reason) and two missed cuts, and overall, has missed 10 of his first 19 cuts with a best of T38 at the 2020 Sony. In 51 total laps logged on the main stage, the Tucson, Arizona, native has yet to be in the top 10 after any round.

Gay is making this a trend now with pre-tourney WDs at the Vivint Houston Open and The RSM Classic. That came right after his win at the Bermuda Championship. There has been no injury announced but that is obviously the likely culprit here, given the run of three straight pre-tourney WDs. Gamers should remove him from weekly consideration moving forward until he proves a clean bill of health. His likely return to action will be the Sentry Tournament of Champions, after the holiday break.

The PGA TOUR rookie opened with four bogeys in the first six holes but settled in as the round progressed. Highlights included a pair of birdie conversions from the 16-to-21 foot range. Gellerman has nothing better than T39 in six career starts but he was T15 after R1 of the Sanderson Farms Championship in September (finished T39). Currently beating the field by 3.6 strokes, this will likely go in the books as his new personal-best round, relative the field (+3.2 SG:Total in R1 of the beforementioned Sanderson Farms).

The 27-year-old is making his fifth career TOUR start and fifth of the season. He’s batting .500 so far with two made and two missed cuts. The Oklahoma State alum is debuting on the big stage via a 42nd-place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour Priority Rankings. He’s a cumulative 2-over-par through his four starts with a best of T39 at the Sanderson Farms on 7-under 281 (68-73-68-72), and checks in off a T51 on 2-under 286 three weeks ago at the Houston Open (72-72-71-71).