Tom

Lovelady

Breaking the news was Ryan French of the Firepit Collective, most commonly known for his outstanding work on Twitter @acaseofthegolf1. In his article, French wrote, “It lured players into paying a $2,799 entry fee with the promise of a $100,000 payout to the winner, which is life-changing money to mini-tour grinders who often live paycheck-to-paycheck. But the BMC has failed to deliver: At least 24 players haven’t been paid their winnings; the host golf course, Orange County National, and the PGA section that provided rules officials haven’t been paid; and players who signed up for future BMC events have yet to have their entry fees refunded.” He would go into more detail, discussing those who have not been paid including the two-playoff participants M.J. Maguire and Tom Lovelady, as well as the hurdles last year’s winner Adam Svensson had to go through to see his money. The full story is linked below.

The 28-year-old Alabama product has traded 14 birdies with three bogeys and a double to get his week started at Orange County National. That gives him a two-shot lead on the live leaderboard with just one round to play. So, where has Lovelady been in recent years? Chantel McCabe shared this about Lovelady, “Just missed getting KFT status by a ONE stroke. He had quit golf for a yr, took a sales job but he’s back & the grind doesn’t stop.” A win at this week’s big event would go a long way toward securing some stable funds to continue pursuing his dream.

The 24-year-old Australian traded eight birdies with two bogeys to play his way in, one shot clear of the 7-for-2 playoff below him. Lyras only reached as high as 798th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro shortly after qualifying for the 2019 Wyndham Championship (MC). Lyras is currently spending most of his time on the Australasian Tour where he is 2-for-6 since the calendar flipped to 2021 with highlights being a T17 at the TPC Victoria and a T4 at the Moonah Links PGA Classic. The young Aussie will be a longshot to contend this week but as you can tell from his Australasia resume when his game is clicking it’s generally dialed in for a top-20 finish. Perhaps someone to consider in one-day showdown formats as a boom-or-bust option. Others to qualify on Monday included MJ Daffue (64), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

Daffue took full advantage of the par 5s at Hurricane Creek Country Club, circling eagles at the par-5 2nd, 15th, and 17th. He added three birdies on top of that to offset a lone blemish. The South African is building up quite the Monday Qualifier resume as he’s now played his way into 12 events through qualifiers in the last two years, across the Korn Ferry and PGA TOUR. The Lamar University product has two top 25s in eight career starts on the PGA TOUR. Others to qualify included John Lyras (66), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

After finishing outside the top 125 Lovelady won’t have the luxury of picking his schedule but he should manage 15-to-20 starts out of the conditional bucket. Lovelady is arguably a top-25 driver of the golf ball at the moment but the rest of his game needs some improvement before he starts to become a reliable fantasy option. Lovelady put his driving on full display this fall when he gained 6.3 strokes off-the-tee at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He finished 25th that week but missed the cut in his only other fall appearance (The RSM Classic). Season-long gamers don’t need to roster the Alabama product but DFS gamers should keep him on their radar for those weeks he does manage to earn a spot in the field.

The Jupiter, Florida, resident logs just the third blemish-free round of the week thus far. He opened with 75-70, one of 18 players to make the cut on the number, and is now bogey-free 5-under for his last 26 holes. Additionally, the 24-year-old was 7-over thru his first nine holes in Round 1, so it’s been quite a turnaround. On Saturday, he landed seven (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, gaining 0.729 strokes off-the-tee and 0.885 around-the-green. The Alabama alum carded three birdie-3s at holes 6, 8 and 10, two from between 10 and 28 feet, posting 1.786 putts per GIR and 1.777 SG: Putting with 29 total putts. He entered the week 4-for-10 on the season with one top 25 (T18, Sanderson Farms).

Lovelady dealt with today’s windy conditions better than most. He split nine (of 14) fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation. Strong short game nearly kept his card clean as he swallowed just one bogey on the day. This matches his low round of the week (69-68-68) but today’s field average was nearly a stroke tougher than R2 so this would easily be his best round of the week so far. The University of Alabama product has nothing better than T17 on his PGA TOUR resume. He’s also never entered the final round inside the top 15 so this does present his best chance for victory, early in his career.

The University of Alabama alum fired rounds of 69-68-68 to start the week but stalled out a bit on Sunday. He split just eight (of 14) fairways on his way toward 11 greens in regulation. A three-putt at the par-4 fifth set him back early but Lovelady still managed four birdies before his day was done. Despite this less-than-stellar conclusion, this will still go in the record books as his best personal best on the PGA TOUR (T17 at 2018 Honda Classic). Lovelady recorded five top 10s on the Web.com circuit last year and he now has the first top 10 of his PGA TOUR career.

Making his tournament debut, Lovelady had a great ball-striking day to set up seven birdies. As he walked off the course he was gaining 1.704 strokes off-the-tee and another 2.247 strokes on approach. In the short game department, a par-saver from just inside 15 feet was crucial at the opening hole while he also drained an 18'1" birdie at the 18th. The highlight came six holes earlier, though, when he holed out from 58'4" for an untraditional bird. Lovelady has just one instance of landing inside the top 20 after R1 (T4 at the 2018 Farmers, faded to T45 by week’s end). He’s off to another strong start this week on a similar course that allows him to belt driver after driver, taking advantage of his length off the tee.

This is the Alabama alum’s first lead/co-lead after any round in his 25th event and is eyeing his first TOUR title. His career best (and lone top 10) is T5 at the opposite-field Corales 12 starts ago. The 24-year-old, who celebrates his birthday in two days (July 23rd), hit 10 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, gaining 1.869 strokes around and 2.916 tee-to-green. He squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 9 (tee ball in the water), camouflaged by six birdies, including four straight at 14-17, adding eagle-3 at 6 from 13'7". Lovelady recorded 1.615 putts per GIR and 1.180 SG: Putting with 26 total putts.