William

McGirt

Playing on Past Champions status, finding starts is not the easiest task for McGirt but he got the call yesterday to join the field when Mark Hubbard backed out. Now it’s McGirt pulling out. He’s opened the new season with a T24 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a missed cut in Bermuda. McGirt has 10 cuts made in 28 total starts over the last two seasons, after returning from some hip injuries.

Playing this season on a Major Medical Extension (hip), the 43-year-old arrived off four missed cuts in his last five and eight in 12 events on the campaign, but departs with his second top 25, first since a T17 at the Sanderson Farms back in October. This was his ninth Travelers, sixth cash and second top 25 (T25/2015), and after recording rounds of 66-70-66-67, bags his 24th career top 10 in 254 events, first since solo 6th at the opposite-field 2018 Barracuda 27 starts and 3 years, 10 months ago. For the week, the North Carolina native totaled 17 birdies against six bogeys, four versus one in R4, and ranked 36th SG: Tee-to-Green (2.917), drug down by a 59th SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.817), and 11th SG: Putting (5.471), realizing 5.146 of that on the weekend. He is in the published field at this coming week’s John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.

The 2016 Memorial champ has failed to find a top 65 in any of his four return visits since the win. That certainly looks to be changing after a hot start this week. He traded five birdies with two bogeys, with two of those circles splashed home from outside of 20 feet. That helped him gain 3.1 strokes putting which currently ranks 3rd in the field. “Every time I drive through the gate here, I just fall in love with this place. And I’m comfortable around here. I know I can play well here.” McGirt has six starts (including this week) remaining on a Major Medical, with 300 FedExCup Points being the target to fulfill those terms. “I finally feel like I have the strength and the stability in my hip to be able to do what I wanted to do.” Gamers may want to keep a close eye on McGirt to see if the results start to line up with how he feels.

The 42-year-old McGirt saw weekend action last week at the Honda Classic, where he shot 75-74 over the weekend to finish T-66. He’s made three cuts in seven starts this season, with his best finish being a T-17 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. McGirt, winner of the 2016 Memorial Tournament, had made three previous appearances at Grand Reserve CC where he made the cut twice but hasn’t teed it up in Puerto Rico since 2013. The 47-year-old Davis, a two-time DP World Tour winner, last made a PGA Tour start in 2020 at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (missed cut).

Kip Henley will be looking for work on McGirt’s off-weeks as it appears the 42-year-old will play in the Sony Open and the AT&T Pebble Pro-Am in the early part of 2022. McGirt has teed it up in Honolulu eight times since 2011. Book ending his results with missed cuts, most recently last season, McGirt made six consecutive cuts at Waialae Country Club from 2012 to 2018. Making his year debut there once again, perhaps McGirt will be able to make a weekend appearance as he found a semblance of form during the swing season, namely with a T-17 result at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

The Wofford product recently told Nathan Dominitz of Savannah Morning News that he’s played Congaree Golf Club 40 or 50 times which should be a nice advantage as the venue makes its PGA TOUR debut. The majority of the field will be seeing Congaree for the first time this week. Not McGirt, who is a professional ambassador at the club. Playing on a Major Medical, McGirt has 20 starts remaining to earn 364 FedExCup Points. A lofty task. His lead-in form includes three straight missed cuts and he hasn’t posted a top-50 finish since the 2018 Barracuda Championship (solo 6th). The lack of strong recent results likely outweighs the course knowledge this week but gamers may find him appealing in deeper weekly formats.

McGirt is playing this season on a Major Medical and he has 23 starts remaining to earn 364 FedExCup Points. This week, he enters the field via sponsor’s invite and he’ll look to chip away at some of those needed FEC Points. The South Carolina resident has had a few close calls at Harbour Town over the years. He was the first-round co-leader here in 2014 and went on to finish T9 that week. He backdoored a top 10 in 2016 and was T6 entering the final round of the 2017 edition, finishing T3 that week. McGirt is still far removed from his peak baseline performance but this is a venue where a cut made is very possible, making him a viable salary-saving option for weekly gamers.

McGirt has struggled to find any momentum since returning from injury last season. His lone start during the 2020 campaign was a T68 at the Memorial Tournament and he is 1-for-4 to start the new season with nothing better than a T67 at the Safeway Open. This mid-week WD suggests that he may be operating at less than full health. The 41-year-old will be off the radar for fantasy gamers until he pieces together a few good rounds.

McGirt was a top-100 golfer in the world as recent as January 2018 but he’s plummeted to 1813th due to injury. He only has 10 events counting toward his current OWGR. The Wofford alum hasn’t made a splash since returning from the long injury layoff (hip surgery) but he is actually 2-for-2 in terms of getting through the cutline. He finished T68 at the Memorial Tournament in July and T67 just a few weeks ago at the Safeway Open. Now he heads back to a course that has yielded nothing but good results for McGirt. He posted a solo 7th in the 2015 edition, T2 the next year, and T25 during the 2017-18 playing. McGirt is playing on a Major Medical with 27 starts remaining to earn 369 FedExCup Points.

The 40-year-old’s last action was a missed cut at the 2018 NORTHERN TRUST, bowing out of the FedExCup Playoffs at 116th in the FEC standings. Ten days later, he had hip surgery (Sep. 2018), with an expected recovery of four months. Fast forward to Aug. 2019, and the North Carolina native announced via Twitter that his hip required a second surgery. He’s still carrying his original allotment of 29 starts on the medical and needs to earn 375.582 FEC points to meet the terms. Whenever McGirt does return, you could expect rehab starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, first, due to his extended time away.