Paul

Haley II

The Dallas native arrived with six straight missed cuts in his resume but flipped the script this week while playing close to home.
“Every time I’ve had home games, I’ve always struggled a little bit. It was great to get out here and have a good showing. To play with Scottie today, it was the time of my life today. So really happy.” Haley gained 6.2 strokes around-the-green this week and 5.9 strokes putting, That short-game clinic resulted in a T5 finish which is the best result of his PGA TOUR career (T12/2022-23 Fortinet Championship).

Haley settled for second place last week at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship but with that result he vaulted to first in the year-long points race. Anyone inside of the top 16 on that list could potentially still snag the No. 1 spot at the end of this week’s upcoming finale. The perks of finishing first include a spot at the 2023 PLAYERS Championship and 2023 U.S. Open as well as avoiding the KFT reshuffles. When asked if it would be a motivating factor at the finale, he had this to say, “Yeah, it’s motivating, for sure, but it’s a new week and you have to put that aside and get back to the grind and do the best you can.” Haley has missed the cut in both of his previous attempts at Victoria National but he’ll attempt to flip that script this week.

The 34-year-old Haley, who last won at the 2012 Chile Classic boosted his season points total to 1,318, officially becoming #TOURBound and securing a PGA Tour card for the 2022-23 season. “It feels good. It’s really hard to win, especially now just because everybody is really good now,” said Haley, who improved from 14th to second in the KFT standings. “I don’t know what second or third place was, but probably 23-, 22-under. You just have to be pretty much dialed in for four days to win a golf tournament now, which makes it feel better when you do it.” When Haley returns to the PGA Tour this fall, it will mark his first start since the 2013 Wyndham Championship, where he finished T-29, his best-ever Tour finish. On the season, he’s made 11 cuts in 18 starts with five top 10s overall including his win and a solo second at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic in January.

He hit just 11 greens in regulation again today but restricted the negative impact to a lone bogey at the par-4 10th hole where he started his second loop of TPC Southwind. He then picked off three birdies, two of which on par 3s. The first of that duo dropped in from 15 yards off the green at 14. The other was in the form of a conventional roll from 13'11" at 4.

Haley II has endured a quintessential rookie grind in 2013. He’s just 1-for-10 with a solo 73rd at the Valero Texas Open. Today’s aggregate ties his personal low in a brief career on the PGA TOUR. He split eight (of 14) fairways and hit just 11 greens but wiped off two bogeys with five birdies, four of which disappearing from outside 10 feet. The highlights of the bunch came in the form of a conventional roll from 16'5" at the sixth hole and an 11-yard hole-out from off the green at 10.

The rookie’s first start as a TOUR member saw him record just one birdie and post scores above par in each of his rounds. Considering the record-low scores being posted at Waialae, it was a rather unimpressive first week. He’ll need to gather himself quickly since birdies and eagles are again expected to be the main course of this week’s menu.

Who can blame the rookie? Having missed each of his four cuts on the PGA TOUR this season, he needs to run into a big week sometime very soon to snap out of his slump. At 178th in all-around ranking, there are more holes in the dam than fingers to plug them.

The PGA TOUR rookie is 0-for-5 on the season, missing his five cuts by an aggregate 47 strokes. He didn’t play like that today in racking up five birdies to share runner-up honors with former TOUR member Michael Putnam (36-31=67) and Steve Wheatcroft (32-35=67). Putnam circled seven birdies to offset two bogeys while Wheatcroft buried six birdies against one bogey. Randy Lowry was the medalist at 7-under 32-33=65, erasing one bogey with eight birdies. He will be making his debut on the PGA TOUR at Redstone this week. The field for the SHO is now complete at 156.

The PGA TOUR rookie rose to first alternate after the massive wave of field changes today, but he’ll remain there until the next withdrawal. He erased two birdies with four bogeys at the four-spotter. Other notables that failed to qualify include: 65--Rod Pampling (bogey-free); Cameron Beckman (bogey-free); Mathew Goggin; all lost in the 6-for-1 playoff ... 67--Donald Constable; Billy Mayfair; Tim Petrovic; Nick O’Hern; Eric Axley; Andrew McLardy ... 68--Frank Lickliter II; Chris Smith; Skip Kendall; Mathias Grönberg; Kyle Thompson ... 70--D.J. Trahan ... 71--Robert Gamez ... 73--Andres Gonzales; Fred Wadsworth ... 75--Marc Turnesa.

PH2 started the week as the seventh alternate. He gained entry when Dustin Johnson withdrew today. Haley II gave it a go in the open qualifier but fell seven strokes short of the playoff for the last spot. The rookie is 1-for-8 on the season with a solo 73rd at the Valero Texas Open. He’s shown the occasional flash but hasn’t been able to avoid the big numbers time and again.