Roberto

Castro

At press time, no reason was provided for the WD. The Houston native, who was T133 on the leaderboard after Day 1, records his first mid-tourney WD in 191 events. He arrived 207th in the FedExCup standings with two made cuts in just five events played and one top 25, a T18 at the opposite-field Corales two starts ago in March (70-69-70-74). The 35-year-old is playing this season on conditional status from his 142nd-place finish in FEC points after the 2019 season, and owns two career-best runner-up finishes among 12 top 10s, most recently a playoff loss at the 2016 Wells Fargo.

Castro is playing on conditional status so starts are somewhat limited for the 35-year-old. He’s pegged it just four times this season and finally starting to build some steam recently. Castro posted a T39 at the Puerto Rico Open and then backed it up with a T18 at the Corales. More importantly, he was getting it done efficiently from tee-to-green. He landed a combined 10.1 more GIR than the field average in those eight rounds played. As for his course history at TPC Louisiana, he was 2-for-5 with nothing to write home about before last year’s T5 finish. He played with Cameron Tringale that week and they join forces again this week in hopes of picking up their first career PGA TOUR titles.

Castro split 11 (of 14) fairways today on his way toward finding 13 GIR. For the week he ranks T17 in GIR Percentage (69%). That steady striking has resulted in nine birdies and just four bogeys. Castro will head into the week in a share of 6th place which is his lowest positioning on a 36-hole leaderboard since the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship where he was solo second thru 36 holes and went on to post a runner-up finish. For the season, he is just 1-for-3 with a T39 at the Puerto Rico Open. Playing with conditional status only, starts are tough to come by, so squeezing the most juice out of this lemon will be crucial for Castro this weekend.

Castro finished 142nd in the FedExCup race last season which left him outside of the Playoffs equation and also left him without full status. Starts have been tougher to come by out of the conditional bucket but Castro has proven multiple times that all it takes it a few good weeks. Just look at 2013 and 2016 when he finished 21st and 22nd in the FedExCup race, respectively. The 34-year-old is currently gaining strokes on the field in three of the four sub-categories of strokes gained with putting being the exception. That kind of well-balanced tee-to-green game is what makes him appealing to weekly gamers when they are looking for salary savings.

The 34-year-old has been steady (not spectacular) at the PRO with four top-30 finishes in four tries and three top 25s, including T25 last year, T9 thru 54 holes, and a best of T14 on debut in 2012, also T9 after 54 holes. He checks in 3-for-6 on the season -- with three straight missed cuts -- and a best of T45 at the Houston Open. The Houston native’s career-best finish on TOUR in 181 event is runner-up two times, most recently a P2 at the 2016 Wells Fargo. He ranks 104th on TOUR this season in SG: Total (.183) and 225th in birdie average (2.95), with his best strokes gained stat a 67th in around-the-green (.198).

The Georgia Tech product piped 12-of-14 fairways and then pelted all 18 greens in regulation. He was the only golfer in the field to accomplish that GIR feat today. That helped set up scoring chances from inside 15 feet on six holes but he also splashed home a trio of birdies from the 19-to-22 foot range. Castro walked off the course gaining 5.4 strokes over the field average which is his best PGA TOUR round since R4 of the 2016-17 WGC-HSBC Champions (+5.8 SG Total). He entered the week with strokes lost to the field in 9 of his last 10 rounds so it was tough to see this coming.

This was Castro’s second Zurich after a missed cut by three in 2017 teamed with Scott Stallings. Tringale was making his third appearance, missing the cuts in 2017 (by one) with Patrick Rodgers, and by nine last year with Brett Stegmaier. Castro records his fourth top 25 of the season in 12 starts and second top 10 (T5, Sanderson Farms), while Tringale claims his third top 25 in 12 starts and first top 10. For the week, the Georgia Tech alums carded rounds of 65 (best ball), 69 (alternate shot) and 66 (best ball). On Sunday, they were bogey-free 5-under thru 17, circling holes 2, 5, 7, 8 and 16, before walking off with bogey-6 after Tringale put their second into the water short and right. Each of their five birdies were dropped from inside of five feet.

The Houston native hit six (of 13) fairways and conjured eight greens in regulation, posting 0.336 SG: Off-the-Tee, -0.568 SG: Approach, and 0.157 SG: Around. He exchanged two birdies at 18 and 7, both from inside of six feet, with two squares at 17 and 9 (failed scrambles), recording -0.070 SG: Putting with 26 total putts. This will be the fourth straight start this season where the Georgia resident is inside the top 25 at the midpoint with none of the previous three resulting in top 10s, primarily due to poor final-round showings.

The Georgia Tech product is making his fifth appearance at the Valspar. He’s missed his last three cuts here after a T21 in his 2013 debut. Castro looks to be on that 2013 gameplan after today’s 68. Most of his damage was done in the short-game department as he walked off the course gaining 3.114 strokes around-the-green. That came as a result of a 38'2" hole out from the greenside bunker and a 10'11" conversion from the fringe. His putter was strong outside of one blemish which was a three-jack bogey from 9'7" at the par-4 sixth. Castro entered with trending form as his last four starts have resulted in finishes of MC-->T53-->T25-->T20.

The Houston native landed 10 (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, losing 0.639 strokes off-the-tee but gaining 1.604 on approach, currently No. 1 in SG: App with a cumulative 6.860. He squared three bogeys, slightly outpaced by four birdies, two from between eight and 16 feet. The 33-year-old registered 1.600 putts per GIR and 0.227 SG: Putting, missing birdie at hole 3 from 41 inches but saving par two times from the 8-to-9 foot range.