Zack

Sucher

It’s a tough blow for Power who is playing this season on conditional status and was set to make just his ninth start of the season. He is 3-for-8 to sit 199th in the FedExCup standings. Taking his spot will be Zack Sucher who missed the cut in his lone Zurich Classic appearance (2015).

In 53 career TOUR events, the 33-year-old’s career best and lone top 10 is a T2 at the 2019 Travelers (in June) on a sponsor exemption. At TPC River Highlands (6,841 yards; par 70), he was an 18-hole co-leader and the 36-hole leader by two (65-67), before following a R3 71 with 4-under 67 on Sunday out of the penultimate twosome, coming up four swings short of champion Chez Reavie. The UAB product, who missed 1 year, 7 months (from 6/25/17 to 1/31/19) due to knee/ankle surgery, leaped 358 spots in OWGR with the co-runner-up, from 505 to a career-high 147, and currently sits at 182nd. Playing this season on conditional status (144th in FedExCup points last season), he’s 4-for-10 with four top 40s and a best of T18 at the Sanderson Farms back in September. Sucher’s most recent action was a T27 five weeks ago at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open (70-69-69-70).

Sucher has instantly become a DFS darling with his social media activity over the last few weeks. He will give gamers another chance to invest after today’s blemish-free performance at McCormick Ranch Golf Club. Playing on conditional status this season, starts have been tougher to come by but he has managed three paychecks in seven starts, two of them doubling as top 25s. Sucher does not have any history at the WM Phoenix Open. Others to qualify today were Alex Smalley (-5) and Patrick Flavin (-5). They outlasted Robert Garrigus in a 3-for-2 playoff this evening.

Sucher was lights out with the putter on day one, leading the field with 4.686 strokes gained putting. His success continued early in round two with five birdies to erase one bogey on the opening 12 holes. That included a 27'2" birdie bomb at the 8th. The big trouble came just a few holes later when he three-jacked from inside 10 feet with the second putt being missed from inside three feet. That’s the main reason that Sucher lost 0.465 strokes putting today. Sitting at 133 at the midpoint, this is the second-lowest 36-hole tally of his PGA TOUR career, behind only the 2019 Travelers when he was 11-under 129 at the midpoint.

Playing on conditional status after finishing 126th to 150th in the FedExCup Standings, Sucher stormed out of the gates on the back nine of The Old White TPC with six birdies in his first nine holes. He ended the day with an impressive eight birdies to offset two bogeys. The Alabama resident leads the field in strokes-gained putting with an unbelievable 4.686 shots gained. What’s remarkable is that he missed a 3'5" par-saving attempt which goes to show how hot the putter was throughout the rest of his round. Highlights included a 30'13" bomb at the 13th and a 44'2" birdie blast at the seventh, after making the turn. He will now try to tidy up the iron play over the next three days in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Sucher set up his day with 10-of-14 fairways but he did most of the heavy lifting with his wedges. Over the course of his round he gave himself nine scoring chances from inside 11 feet and converted on all nine of those chances to offset a trio of bogeys. The UAB product is playing on conditional status after falling short of his medical extension target. The good news is that he entered the week ranked 131st in the FedExCup race and could play his way into full status with one or good more strong finishes.

This was Sucher’s third Travelers after missed cuts in 2015 and 2017. It’s his first top 10 in 37 events, brushing aside a previous-best T20 at the opposite-field Barracuda in 2015. The UAB product, who co-led after R1 and led outright by two after R2, carded rounds of 64-65-71-67 and totaled one eagle and 20 birdies against three bogeys and three doubles. Beginning the finale T2 and six back, he hit eight (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation. Sucher went out in 2-over (1 birdie, 1 bogey, 1 double), but came home in 5-under, circling 10, 13 and 15-17. He recorded 3.907 SG: Tee-to-Green and -0.836 SG: Putting, chasing the hat-trick of red with a pitch-in par-saver at 18 from 17'7" away. The Atlanta native has two starts remaining on the medical to earn 77 FedExCup points and meet the terms, but has all but secured conditional status at 126th in the FEC standings. He is in the published field at this coming week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

The World No. 505, who was also a first-round co-leader, is vying for his first TOUR win in 37 events and will play out of the penultimate twosome in R4 with Roberto Diaz. His career best (and lone top 25) is T20 at the opposite-field Barracuda in 2015. After opening with 64-65, the UAB product led by two over two players, and hit seven (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation. He went out in 4-under, circling holes 1, 2, 4 and 8, building a five-shot lead, but came home in birdie-less 5-over, bogeying 10 and doubling 11 and 12. The Atlanta native, who’s playing this season on a medical extension out of the reshuffle category, gained 0.866 strokes approaching but lost 0.422 off-the-tee, 0.493 around-the-green and 0.610 on-the-green.

Sucher slept on his first lead/co-lead in a PGA TOUR event last night. He returned this morning and opened on the 10th tee. He got the scoring started with a hole out for eagle (49'2") at the par-5 13th. The UAB product backed it up with a three-hole birdie train at holes 15 thru 17. Sucher missed a pair of chances from inside six feet so this round could have gone even lower if he made those reasonable looks. His lone blemish came at the par-4 4th when he missed the green in regulation. Sucher is playing this season on a medical extension with just three starts remaining to earn 322 FedExCup Points. He would need a win to reach that amount this week since a solo second nets 300 FEC Points. This is new territory for Sucher since he’d never been better than T10 after any round on TOUR until this week (36 starts).

Sucher had a unique round today at TPC River Highlands. He gave himself nine scoring chances from inside 14 feet so his long game was steady. However, he converted just four of those nine chances. To make up for the shorter misses, he added a pair of bonus birdies (42'11" at the 7th and 18'6" at the 14th). Piping 12-of-14 fairways and 16 greens, he walked off the course gaining 2.4 strokes tee-to-green and another 2.9 strokes putting. As a result, he will get his first taste of what it’s like to sleep on a lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR. His previous low positioning after any round on the big stage was T10 (x2). Sucher is playing on a medical extension with three starts remaining to earn 322 FedExCup Points if he wants to fulfill the terms.