Will

Gordon

The big hitter from Vanderbilt started the day in second place but stalled out with three birdies and one bogey, his worst round of the week (62-67-68). He’s now 0-for-2 in closing out first-round leads on the PGA TOUR. The putter appears to have held him back from truly contending this week as he ranked T12 in GIR Percentage but just 66th in Putts per GIR. While he didn’t hoist the hardware this week, it will go in the books as his third career top 10 on the PGA TOUR and matches a T3 from the 2020 Travelers Championship as his best finish on the big stage.

Gordon grabbed the first-round lead at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba with a 62 and has remained a factor throughout the week, adding a 3-under 68 in the third round to grab a spot in Sunday’s final pairing. The former Vanderbilt product is tied for second at 16 under, alongside Patton Kizzire and six shots behind leader Russell Henley. Gordon’s third round included bookend bogeys at El Camaleon GC with five birdies in between, as he was in solo second before a bogey on the home hole. Still, he’s in position for a potential best-ever finish (currently a T-3 at the 2020 Travelers) and will have a front-row seat with an opportunity to capitalize on any missteps from Henley in the day’s final group as Gordon maintains hope of securing his first career Tour victory.

Gordon opened with a 62 at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, and he followed with a 4-under 67 Friday at El Camaleon GC that didn’t feature a bogey. At 13 under he now sits in a tie for second, three shots behind Russell Henley who set the tournament’s 36-hole scoring mark, as Gordon looks to win on Tour for the first time. This is his 48th career start on Tour, with his best prior result a T-3 finish at the 2020 Travelers Championship.

The Vanderbilt product was locked in today at El Camaleon. “I was in a fairway almost every hole. Especially ball in hand today, and the greens are soft, so you have a lot of opportunity to hit the ball close. And with the putter hot, it was a pretty smooth day.” Gordon piped 9-of-14 fairways and landed 15 GIR (T12). He’s currently in the clubhouse with the early lead which would be his second time holding a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR with the first coming just last month (T30/Sanderson Farms Championship). Gordon is making his third start at this event with a T55 and MC on his course resume.

Gordon fired a 6-under 66 in the opening round, setting the pace alongside Davis Riley, but the second round was another story. A watery triple-bogey 7 on No. 12 was the lowlight during a slow start, as Gordon went out in 4-over 40 on the back nine at the Country Club of Jackson and spend most of the afternoon teetering around the cut line. His birdie on No. 9 proved pivotal, as Gordon rolled in an 11-footer on his final hole to close out a 4-over 76 and avoid the unfortunate distinction of leading after Round 1 and going home after Round 2. Gordon now trails co-leaders Mackenzie Hughes and Thomas Detry by eight shots entering the third round, but he has now made seven straight cuts dating back to last season on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Gordon pieced together an extremely steady 66 with the only “outlier” being a 23-foot birdie bomb at the par-4 ninth. He walked off the course ranked 8th in strokes gained off-the-tee and 6th on approach, a true ball-striking bonanza. He cited a comfortable pairing as one of the reasons he was locked in today, “I feel like I’ve played every week with Thomas [Detry] the last month or so. Then Trevor [Cone] and I grew up about 10, 15 minutes from each other, so I’ve known Trevor for forever, and he is such a good, chill guy. Great energy in our group today.” Playing in his 45th career PGA TOUR event, this will be his first time holding a lead or co-lead after any round.

The native of Davidson, N.C., who played college golf at Vanderbilt, also matched his highest finish in PGA Tour-sanctioned play, which came with a T-3 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in June 2020. Gordon’s career-high finish on the KFT prior to last week was a T-6 at the LECOM Suncoast Classic earlier this season. On the season, he’s made 10 cuts in 14 starts with four top-25 results. Last season as a PGA Tour member, Gordon made 15 cuts in 31 starts with two top 25 results. He’s currently not listed in the field for this week’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, hosted by Thornblade Club in Greer, S.C.

The 25-year-old found instant success with a pair of top 10s in his first eight starts on the PGA TOUR back in 2020. That helped nudge him into PGA TOUR status for the 2020-21 season but he failed to have the same level of success. Gordon went 15-for-31 last season but just two of those doubled as top 25s (T14 at Palmetto Championship being the best). The Vanderbilt product then struck out in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals (0-for-3) but did finish T19 at Final Stage of KFT Q-School. That result was strong enough to secure him at least eight starts for the upcoming Korn Ferry campaign. Gordon should contend for title of the best driver on the KFT in 2022 but he’ll need to tidy up the rest of his game if he wants to return to the PGA TOUR.

Gordon burst onto the scene with two top 10s in his first eight starts on the PGA TOUR. He’s gone 32 starts since then without picking up a third top-10 finish. His closest call was a T14 at the Palmetto Championship where he went from T47 to T14 with his Sunday 64. Next up is a showdown with TPC Twin Cities, a rare chance for him to see a course for the second time. Gordon missed the cut in his debut last year. It’s easy to see where Gordon needs to improve. He’s currently lost strokes around-the-green in 11 of his last 12 measured events and lost strokes putting in 9 of his last 10 events.

After having to withdraw from the Valspar Championship due to a positive COVID-19 test, Gordon has failed to regain form ever since. After sitting the week out, Gordon has followed it up with missed cuts at both the Wells Fargo Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson. However, before this rough patch, Gordon had quietly been putting together a very solid 2021 campaign. In February, the 24-year-old notched top-30 finishes at the AT&T Pro-Am and the Puerto Rico Open. The following month, Gordon recorded top-40 finishes at the Honda Classic and the Corales Punta Cana Resort & Club Championship. In order to regain such form, Gordon will likely need to improve on the greens, as he lost more than five-strokes with the flat stick at both the Valero Texas Open and RBC Heritage. If he is able to do so, Gordon could find his way into the weekend for the first time since early April.