Nicholas

Lindheim

Lindheim missed a pair of cuts in the fall before ending with a pair of pre-tourney WDs. He turned his attention toward the Korn Ferry Tour upon return with four finishes of T-8 or better in five starts this season, including a win last week at TPC Colorado.

Lindheim backed out of the Bermuda on Thursday morning which allowed Arjun Atwal a seat at the table. Atwal took full advantage on Thursday (opening 63) before fading a T49 finish. It will be Michael Kim that gets a spot in his absence this week. Lindheim is playing out of the Korn Ferry Tour Graduate category and will drop quite a bit in the next reshuffle if he keeps having to skip events.

The 37-year-old has opened the season with a pair of missed cuts and won’t improve on that record this week. Lindheim is playing his first season back on the PGA TOUR since 2019, after playing his way back up through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He started 27th in the KFT Graduate Reshuffle so he’ll have a few more chances to pick up some points before the next reshuffle, after The RSM Classic.

The 35-year-old Florida resident pegged it 17 times last season and made it through the cut in just five of those starts. He suffered two mid-tourney WDs which is nothing new for him. He’s racked up seven of those in just 65 career starts (10.7%). Lindheim ended the season at 198th in the FedExCup standings which allowed him to play in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals where he went MC-MC-WD to end his year. As a consolation prize, Lindheim has been allotted a minor medical extension with just 2 starts on it, needing to earn a lofty 278.182 FedExCup Points to fulfill the terms. Gamers should keep their expectations very low for Lindheim in 2020.

This is the 34-year-old’s seventh mid-tourney WD in 61 events (11.4%). It’s his second of the season in 13 starts, joining The RSM Classic back in November, where he bowed out after a 3-over 75/R1. The California native entered the week 193rd in the FedExCup standings with one top 25, a T12 at the Byron Nelson four starts ago, which was sandwiched by three missed cuts on either side of it. He opened with a birdie-less 7-over 78 (3 bogeys, 2 doubles).

The California native started his round on the 10th tee and took full advantage of the soft conditions with preferred lies being utilized on the short grass. After piping 13-of-14 fairways he parlayed that accuracy into 15 greens. Most notable was a 180-yard approach at the par-4 13th that he stuffed inside two feet. Putting highlights included conversions from 18'9" and 23'6" at the 15th and 17th, respectively. Lindheim reached 9-under thru 12 holes but stalled out with six pars to end his round (matching the course record was within just one stroke). Still, this will easily go in the books as his new career-low round (66, R4/2018 Colonial). Beating the field by 5.879 strokes it’s also his best round relative to the field (previously +5.3 in R1 of the 2016-17 Mayakoba).

Lindheim is no stranger to mid-tournament WDs, as this will be the sixth of his career in just 50 total starts. He’s also backed out of a few recent events where he was an alternate. There was no reason cited today but he has cited illness and knee injuries in the past. Lindheim has used the Web.com Tour Finals each of the last two seasons to earn his playing privileges. It’s hard to maintain status on TOUR when you are withdrawing from over 10 percent of events entered. Gamers can stay away until he proves a clean bill of health.

He finished his week two-strokes clear of second place with a 15-under 269 final tally. Lindheim circled six birdies in his final lap around GC at Thanksgiving Point, but surrendered four bogeys in the process. He landed just half of his fairways and GIR on Sunday, but a 1.556 putting average proved the difference. With this victory, he moves to 14th on the Web.com Tour money list and is now positioned to earn a 2016-17 PGA TOUR card with a strong finish to the season.

The 31-year-old PGA TOUR rookie fired out of the gate with a birdies in five of his opening eight holes. After the turn he slowed his pace, trading an eagle and a birdie with two bogeys. Despite finding just seven (of 14) fairways he recovered to land a respectable 14 greens in regulation. The Web.com Tour grad started the year 2-for-2 but withdrew from last week’s Shriners during round two, not wanting to stick around for Saturday given the darkness delays. He’s back on track and makes for an interesting name for gamers to watch this week, as well as the rest of the season.

The 31-year-old did not pick up the game of golf up he was 19 and did not attend college. You can imagine how this put him behind the curve but 12 years later he is now a first-time PGA TOUR member after earning his seat through the Web.com Tour, finishing 21st on the money list. Lindheim’s lone PGA TOUR appearance came at the 2014 U.S. Open where he finished T56. There is plenty still to learn about his strengths and weaknesses so gamers should likely take the wait-and-see approach in all but the deepest of fantasy formats.