Ollie

Schniederjans

Schniederjans was rolling right along with a 17th-place showing at the Safeway Open, 23rd-place finish at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and a 19th-place finish at The CJ Cup in South Korea. However, he never recovered from a poor opening round at The RSM Classic in Georgia, missing the cut. While we tend to focus on the most recent showing, he has been a solid performer overall. He was 27th last season at this event, and an improvement is certainly possible.

Pre-tournament WDs are not always explained but Poulter took to social media to talk about his early WD. “My back isn’t quite ready. I’ve been hitting a few balls over the last week and it’s just not quite ready.” He went on to explain that his week will include gym work and some practice sessions before Augusta National next week. The tone of his video sounds like this WD is precautionary more than anything, so gamers shouldn’t be too concerned about his health when he returns to action. He was fighting with back troubles at Wentworth but still managed a solo 5th that week and then flew from the U.K to Las Vegas for a T12 at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK. He’s been resting for a couple weeks since then.

Making his season debut and contesting just his second PGA TOUR event in the last two seasons, the World No. 412 bags his ninth top 10 in 99 events, first since solo 5th at the 2018 opposite-field Barracuda. This was his second Bermuda after a missed cut by one last season (73-68), also on a sponsor invite, and records his fourth career podium, first since T3 at the 2018 WM Phoenix Open. After kicking off with 66-70-69, the 27-year-old began T5, two short of leader Doc Redman (69), and hit eight (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation. He squared a lone bogey-4 at 13, camouflaged by four birdies at 2, 4, 10 and 17, and an eagle-3 at 7, registering 1.667 putts per GIR with 29 total putts. For the week, the Dallas native tallied one eagle and 17 birdies versus six bogeys, and the top 10 should position him for an exemption into this coming week’s Houston Open, though potentially as an alternate due to the 132-man field and OWGR Strength of Field.

This is the first time the World No. 412 has been in the top 10 after 54 holes since the 2019 PLAYERS, where he was T6 (71-70-65) before falling to T16 after an even-par 72. He’s eyeing his first PGA TOUR victory in 99 events, looking to better a solo 2nd at the 2017 Wyndham during his first full season on the main stage. After opening with 66-70, the 27-year-old began T4 on 6-under, two shy of co-leaders Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark, and mustered five (of 14) fairways and nine greens in regulation. He camouflaged a lone bogey-5 at 11 with three birdies at 6, 7 and 16, posting 1.778 putts per GIR with 26 total putts. The Dallas native will play out of the third-to-last threesome in R4 with Adam Schenk and Doug Ghim.

The Schniederjans brothers are playing in their first PGA TOUR event together and Ollie is the one that walks away 12 shots better over the first 36 holes (missed cut for Luke). Ollie split just nine (of 28) fairways over two days at Port Royal Golf Course but that is not uncommon for him as he hasn’t hit more fairways than the field average in any event since the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open. From there, he’s still managed to land a respectable 23 greens in regulation (T46) and let his short game do the rest of the talking. Even though today’s round was five shots worse in raw scoring, it was actually very similar from strokes-gained perspective (+3.97 SG:Total in Round 1 and +3.3 SG:Total today). Schniederjans doesn’t have a top 10 on the PGA TOUR since a solo 5th at the 2018 Barracuda Championship. He has been cleaning up on the Korn Ferry circuit this summer, though, posting seven top 20s since the restart.

In the field on a sponsor exemption, the 27-year-old is making his second appearance after a missed cut by one last season (73-68), also on a sponsor invite. This is his first event of this season, and the aforementioned MC was his only TOUR start last season. Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Georgia Tech alum mustered five (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, offsetting one bogey-4 at 13 with six birdies at 12, 17, 18 and a hat-trick at 2-4. He recorded 1.400 putts per GIR with just 23 total putts. The Dallas native owns eight top 10s in 98 prior events, most recently a solo 5th at the 2018 opposite-field Barracuda, while his best among three top 3s is solo 2nd at the 2017 Wyndham. Schniederjans’ last full season (of three) was 2019, where he missed 16 cuts in 28 events with one top 25, and finished a career-worst 180th in the FedExCup standings.

The younger brother, Luke, made his PGA TOUR debut last month with a missed cut at the Safeway Open. Since then, he’s competed on the GPro Tour and really turned some heads doing it. Schniederjans fired an 11-under 59 during day two of the Mimosa Challenge which took place two weeks ago. He ended up losing the event in a playoff. The younger Schniederjans reached as high as 65th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking during his time at Georgia Tech. He ended his career there with three individual wins and the third-lowest career scoring average in school history (behind Bryce Molder and his brother). His career-best WAGR rank of just 65th doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence when making the leap but those rankings don’t always translate apples to apples. Gamers should keep a close eye on the youngster.

The 26-year old had a tough run on the PGA TOUR last season making the weekend in only 11-of-28 events and finishing 180th in the FedExCup Standings. The World No. 481 only had one top-25 last season and failed to earn back any exempt status through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. This week’s event (which is being played on a sponsor’s invite) will mark the first of what should be few opportunities to play his way back on TOUR given his current standing. The Georgia Tech Product finished 60th in The FedExCup in 2017 and 98th in 2018 but will be a wait and see until he can start stringing made-cuts together again.

This is the Georgia Tech alum’s second Travelers after a missed cut last year by two (74-66). He arrives 10-for-23 on the season and off a missed the cut by one as a sectional qualifier at last week’s U.S. Open (75-70), his third straight early exit. The recently turned 26-year-old (June 15th), who’s on his third caddie since December, 2018, has one top 25 this season, a T16 at THE PLAYERS, where he was T6 thru 54 holes (71-70-65-72). His most recent top 10 is 5th at the opposite-field Barracuda last August.

There were birdies flying off the shelf in bunches this morning but the momentum has been halted due to lightning in the area. Players have been removed from the course and they’ll wait this storm out. One of the groups that will be sad to stop play is Ollie Schniederjans and Adam Svensson. Playing best ball on day one, they’ve combined for five birdies to offset a lone bogey. They sit at 4-under thru 10 holes. They find themselves two off the torrid pacesetters, Joel Dahmen and Brandon Harkins, who are 6-under thru 9 holes.