Tom

Gillis

A former member of the Nationwide Tour, European Tour, and PGA Tour, Gillis is probably most remembered for who he lost to in his closest call on the PGA Tour. A playoff loser to a young, up and coming star, Jordan Spieth, in the 2015 John Deere Classic, Gillis has since taken to coaching and playing here and there on the Champions Tour. Finishing in solo fifth, Gillis grabbed the final spot in the final qualifying stage for the 2022 season. Playing his final four holes in three-over, Gillis made bogey on his final hole and likely assumed he had let this golden opportunity slip through his fingers. However, finishing at 8-under, it was still good enough to eke out four players who finished at 7-under, thus securing his status for the upcoming year.

The veteran had to pull out of last week’s stop in Georgia after one round due to an illness. As a result, he fell two spots on the money list to 103rd, so he had little reason to push the envelope if he hadn’t completely turned a corner on the ailment.

We last saw the veteran at Riviera last week before he withdrew before his second round. (He shot a 78 in the opener.) He missed the cut at last year’s Honda but finished T17 at PGA National two years ago.

Bumped from the Northern Trust two weeks ago due to a back injury, the 43-year-old hit 13 greens at PGA National and suffered only one bogey. All three of his birdies disappeared from beyond 11 feet, including a rare bonus from 34'9" at the treacherous 16th. He also rolled in a par save of 12'6" at the ninth to end his round, finishing four strokes off the clubhouse lead.

He birdied both par 5s and circled four more birdies, including a 10-footer at the 11th hole. Gillis kept his card clean with par saves of 21'6" and 10'2" at the 10th and 17th holes, respectively. Overall, he split 11 (of 14) fairways but just 12 greens. He took 24 putts. He’s the 11th to share the course record at PGA National’s Champion Course, and second to hit the number this week (Davis Love III, first round).

Gillis’ 72-hole total of 10-under 68-64-69-69=270 meant that he navigated PGA National under-par every day. Gillis drained a 16'9" birdie putt on the 18th hole to sneak into a tie with Tiger Woods for second place. He finished the week leading the field in Strokes Gained-Putting with 2.489 and added to that a tie for third in GIR with 69.4 percent. Gillis is not listed in the field for either tournament next week.

Gillis shared 35th place at the Valero Texas Open, his fifth consecutive payday. His T2 at the Honda worth over $501K has given him the flexibility to cherry-pick his schedule in the near-term. NOTE: Fran Quinn also withdrew as an alternate.

A 54-hole total of 68-64-69=201 has Gillis in a tie for second, two shots off Rory McIlroy’s 11-under pace. Gillis’ putter rescued what could have been a troublesome day. He leads the field in Strokes Gained-Putting at 3.124; he posted a split of 3.367 on Saturday. That included a 33'7" par putt on the eighth hole after playing his second shot from the water, and a 28'1" par save on the very next hole. Gillis will be attempting to chase down McIlroy for his first career PGA TOUR victory on Sunday.

Since his gutty co-runner-up at The Honda Classic four weeks ago, he’s cashed in both of his start but has failed to post a top 65. This included a T73 at Bay Hill, where he shared last place of the 74 golfers that completed four rounds. This is the third consecutive year that he’s withdrawn early from the SHO.

We last saw Gillis at the season finale at Sea Island where he withdrew after 18 holes due to an illness. He’s scheduled to go off the 10th tee at Pebble Beach at 8:33 a.m. PT on Thursday.