Robby

Shelton

Shelton had really sloppy striking today (8 fairways, 7 GIR) but made up for it with an elite short-game showing. He holed out twice from off the green while also pouring home four putts from outside of 11 feet. He led the field in strokes gained around-the-green and was third in putting. Shelton arrived with a missed cut and T59 in two tries at Colonial Country Club but is off to the races this time around. He can’t maintain this short-game pace for 72 holes so he will need to tidy up the driver and irons.

Shelton ended the fall with a T10 at The RSM Classic (his first on TOUR since 2020) but missed the cut last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It didn’t take long for him to rebound as he traded 26 birdies and an eagle with just three bogeys and a double, this week at the AmEx. Shelton split just 37-of-56 fairways this week but still managed 58 GIR which was 10th best in the field. That’s somewhat of a surprise when you consider he had landed fewer greens than the field in four of his last five starts. The 27-year-old Alabama product Shelton jumps from 54th to 39th in the early FedExCup standings. He will look to keep the momentum rolling next week at Torrey Pines as he’s in the initial field list for the Farmers Insurance Open.

The former Alabama product remains in search of his first top-10 finish since the 2020 3M Open, and this will be his second chance in recent weeks to snap that streak. He was second through 36 holes in Las Vegas but sputtered over the weekend to a T-15 result. He’ll look to improve on that this weekend at Port Royal GC, where his 5-under 66 in the second round included an eagle on No. 7 and four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 13-17. Shelton leads the field in par-3 scoring average through two rounds (2.38), with five of his 14 birdies coming on the short holes at Port Royal.

Shelton ended the Korn Ferry Tour season with a win and two top 30s. He’s kept his foot on the gas with a pair of top 25s in three starts this season. He finds himself right back in the hunt after an opening 63 today in a round where he missed just one green in regulation. Shelton has two career podiums on the PGA TOUR and two other top 10s but he’s still on the hunt for his maiden win. His only other previous start at the Bermuda Championship saw him miss the cut with rounds of 76-76=152 (+10).

The score was one off his career low on the PGA Tour, and it was the product of a clean scorecard as the former Alabama product mixed eight birdies and 10 pars to tie for the low round of the day. Shelton made the most of the back nine at TPC Summerlin, rolling in five birdies in a seven-hole stretch from Nos. 12-18 capped by a 27-foot make on the home hole. Shelton picked up more than 3 shots on the greens Friday, and he’s now in the mix for what would be his maiden victory on Tour as he trails Mito Pereira by a shot and sits one clear of three players tied at 10 under. Shelton won twice this summer on the Korn Ferry Tour, including a win in Omaha five starts ago, but his start to the new PGA Tour season has included a T-21 finish in Napa and a T-61 showing last week at the Sanderson Farms.

The 26-year-old Shelton, who won at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX in June, recorded his third career runner-up finish over the weekend in Springfield, Mo., opening with three rounds in the 60s – 66-66-64 – before closing with a 2-under 70 to finish at 22-under 266, six shot behind winner David Kocher and tied with Kevin Yu, Augusto Nunez and Taylor Montgomery. The KFT is currently using 875 points as a fail-safe threshold for players to finish inside The 25 and earn a PGA Tour card for the 2022-23 season. Shelton previously graduated from the KFT after the 2019 season, but he lost his card at the of the 2021 season after making just 11 cuts in 32 starts and finishing 167 in the FedExCup. This season, Shelton has made 12 cuts in 20 KFT starts with three top 10s.

Shelton started the final round with a five-stroke lead and had not made a bogey through 54 holes, but an even-par 71 on Sunday opened the door for playing partner Griffin, who fired a 5-under 66 and finished regulation tied at 22-under par. “It’s been three long years I’ve been fighting and fighting and trying to get a win, trying to just play some good golf,” said the 26-year-old Shelton. “I’ve been trending and trending and trending, and finally it felt really good this week. It felt great and I ran with it. Made it a little tough on myself this last day, but I tend to do that.” Shelton won twice during the 2019 season, at the Nashville Golf Open and Knoxville Open, and earned PGA Tour membership by finishing No. 2 on the KFT regular-season points list. He lost his card after last season, where he made 11 cuts in 32 starts with four top 25s. This season, he’s made nine cuts in 15 KFT starts and vaulted from No. 63 to No. 14 on the 2022 KFT points list. Shelton is listed in the field for this week’s Wichita Open Benefiting KU Wichita Pediatrics at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kansas.

After enjoying some success in the early part of the PGA Tour season, Shelton has struggled to find form as of late. A T-16 at the Farmers Insurance Open highlighted Shelton’s West Coast swing. However, the East Coast has not been as kind to Shelton who in three starts in Florida, has missed the cut in each of them. Shelton’s current skid can be accredited to his struggles from tee-to-green. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he lost 9.4 strokes tee-to-green in only two rounds. If not for gaining 5.4 strokes with his putter at TPC Sawgrass, his missed cut at the Players Championship could have been even uglier considering he lost 5.6 strokes tee-to-green. Things didn’t get much better at the Honda Classic as another missed cut was the result. He did finish T-43 in Punta Cana, but looked to have lost any semblance of form at Harbour Town where he lost 7.4 strokes tee-to-green en route to another missed cut. Shelton will be making his Valspar Championship debut this week and will need to find his ball-striking in order to avoid missing his fourth consecutive cut in the state of Florida.

This is the 25-year-old’s second Farmers after a T36 last year (71-72-70-71). He checked in this week 3-for-9 on the season with two top 25s, most recently a T25 two starts ago at the Sony (66-67-65-68). The Alabama product found 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, posting 1.429 putts per GIR toward the low round in the clubhouse. He squared a lone bogey-4 at 15, outflanked by nine birdies at 1, 2, 5, 6, 9-11, 16 and 17, currently No. 1 in total birdies with 15. Shelton, whose 64 is two short of a career low, opened with 1-over 73 on the North (6 birdies, 5 bogeys, 1 double). If he remains in the top 10, it would be his first at the midpoint since last season’s Mayakoba 14 months ago, where he was T4 before finishing T6 (66-66-72-65).

Finau was a pre-tourney WD at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open due to a positive COVID-19 test. He needed to quarantine for 10 days before returning and intended on playing as recent as this morning. He responded to question on social media, “Yes I plan on playing this week I have 1 more day left of my self Quarantine.” That was just a few hours before his WD from THE CJ CUP. We will update if any further news pops up but for now gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups.