Sang-Moon Bae wasn’t at his best on the PGA Tour in 2013-14. The 28-year-old South Korean made just 13 cuts in 24 starts and finished no better than T-12 at the Northern Trust Open. He needed a T-14 finish at the Wyndham Championship just to qualify for the PGA Tour Playoffs, and finished 122nd on the FedEx Cup standings.
It’s not the type of season he envisioned after winning the 2013 HP Byron Nelson Championship. Bae was one of seven players who won in 2013 only to fall completely off Tour leaderboards last season, finishing the year without any top 10s. He doesn’t have to worry about a repeat performance this year.
Despite a final-round 73 at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course, Bae held on for a two-stroke victory in the PGA Tour’s 2014-15 season-opening Frys.com Open. He shot 15-under 273 to beat Stephen Bowditch by two strokes and take the very early lead in the FedEx Cup standings. We’ll see how important that is in a moment. But first, here are the other 2013 winners who stumbled last season. You’ll certainly remember one of them.
2013 PGA Tour winners with no top 10s in 2013-14
| Player | 2013 wins | 2013-14 starts | Best 2013-14 | Frys.com result |
| Woody Austin | Sanderson Farms | 22 | T-13 Hyundai T of C | DNP |
| Sang-Moon Bae | Byron Nelson | 24 | T-12 Northern Trust | Won |
| Ken Duke | Travelers | 25 | T-15 Las Vegas | MC |
| Derek Ernst | Wells Fargo | 28 | T-27 Barracuda | T-57 |
| John Merrick | Northern Trust | 25 | T-19 Phoenix | MC |
| D.A. Points | Shell Houston | 27 | T-18 Wyndham | MC |
| Tiger Woods | Shell Houston | 7 | T-25 WGC-Cadillac | DNP |
A strong start leads to a solid finish
Bae’s victory in northern California could be a harbinger of good things for 2015. Seven off the previous eight winners of the PGA Tour’s season-opening event in the FedEx Cup era would finish in the top 30 on the money list and qualify for the Tour Championship. Only Daniel Chopra, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner in 2008, failed to reach those standards.
Bae, who qualifies for the Hyundai T of C, the PGA Championship and very likely the Masters as a result of Sunday’s win, is almost assured of having a career-best season. The third-year player was 96th on the FedEx Cup standings in 2013 when he won outside Dallas.
Season-ending points and money ranks by the winner of the PGA Tour’s first event
| Year | Winner | Reg. season FedEx rank | Final FedEx rank | Final money rank |
| 2014 | Jimmy Walker | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 2013 | Dustin Johnson | 16 | 13 | 19 |
| 2012 | Steve Stricker | 10 | 20 | 18 |
| 2011 | Jonathan Byrd | 24 | 27 | 22 |
| 2010 | Geoff Ogilvy | 39 | 14 | 29 |
| 2009 | Geoff Ogilvy | 8 | 13 | 8 |
| 2008 | Daniel Chopra | 40 | 102 | 52 |
| 2007 | Vijay Singh | 2 | 10 | 3 |
Presidential dreams
We’re still a year away from the 2015 Presidents Cup, but Bae’s win should get him prime consideration for selection to the International team, even if he doesn’t make the squad on merit. The tournament will be held in his homeland of South Korea and a host country has never had a player on the team.
What’s more, since the Presidents Cup began, only one International winner has failed to make the team after winning an event prior to the Cup being held in his homeland. That was Rory Sabbatini, who won the 2003 FBR Capital Open, yet didn’t get play in the Presidents Cup when it was held at the Links at Fancourt in South Africa that fall. (Although Stephen Ames won the 2007 Children’s Miracle Network Classic, he can hardly be faulted for not making the Presidents Cup in Canada that year. The Cup was held about two months before he won at Disney that fall.)
PGA Tour winners playing the Presidents Cup in their homeland
| Year | Country | Home players who made the team (bold indicates tournament winner that year) |
| 2011 | Australia | Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott |
| 2007 | Canada | Mike Weir |
| 2003 | South Africa | Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tim Clark |
| 1998 | Australia | Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, Greg Norman, Craig Parry |
Auspicious starts
PGA Tour rookie Zachary Blair had a first-hand look at Bae’s victory Sunday, as the 24-year-old Utahan was paired with the South Korean in the final group in the final round. The day didn’t go well for Blair, who shot 74 to fall to T-12, still not a bad week for the player making his second PGA Tour appearance after a T-40 debut at the 2014 U.S. Open.
The $117,600 Blair won will go a long way toward paying for his November wedding to Alicia Watkins. The couple was scheduled to wed in October, but their plans were changed when Blair surprised even himself by qualifying for the PGA Tour via the Web.com Tour Finals Series.
He was one of seven rookies making his first or second Tour appearance at the Frys.com Open. Three of them made the cut, including Byron Smith, who began the week as the third alternate and got into the field when Alex Prugh withdrew.
Frys.com finish of players making their first or second start on Tour
| Player | Previous starts | Frys finish |
| Whee Kim | 0 | MC |
| Byron Smith | 0 | T-19 |
| Daniel Berger | 1 | MC |
| Zachary Blair | 1 | T-12 |
| Tom Hoge | 1 | MC |
| Carlos Ortiz | 1 | T-57 |
| Zack Sucher | 1 | MC |
Silverado success
The Johnny Miller-redesigned North Course at Silverado Resort & Spa made a successful return to the PGA Tour. The par-72 venue played to a scoring average of 71.704, slightly harder that CordeValle did a year ago (-0.296 to -0.650). It was the eighth-toughest course the PGA Tour has used in the Fall Series since the format began in 2007.
At Silverado, just 56.44 percent of drives found the fairway, which would have ranked 12th on Tour in 2014. Its greens in regulation percentage was 66.14 percent, which would have been 32nd among the courses used a year ago.
Toughest Fall Series courses: 2007-2014
| Course | Tournament | Scoring average to par |
| Atunyote GC | 2008 Turning Stone | +0.968 |
| Conservatory Course | 2008 Ginn Sur Mer | +0.956 |
| Seaside Course | 2013 McGladrey | +0.255 |
| CordeValle | 2010 Frys.Com | +0.010 |
| Annandale GC | 2007 Viking | -0.020 |
| Kuala Lumpur G&CC | 2013 CIMB | -0.035 |
| Annandale GC | 2010 Viking | -0.041 |
| Silverado North | 2014 Frys.com | -0.296 |
| Seaside Course | 2011 McGladrey | -0.429 |
