5 Things We Learned from PEI
1. Trent Phillips could make eagles in bunches. When the week in Prince Edward Island started, the PGA TOUR College alum, who made his PGA TOUR Canada debut on the ATB Traditional introduced by Volvo Edmonton, had not made an eagle. Regardless of Phillips’ 67-66-67-68 efficiency at Edmonton Petroleum Golf and Nation Membership, no eagles helped him to his eventual tie-for-fourth end. Final week on the Prince Edward Island Open introduced by IMP Options, Phillips remedied that and replicated his Edmonton end. Within the opening spherical, Phillips, a 2022 College of Georgia first-team All-American, completed the opening 9 of his first spherical, in model, making an eagle at Dundarave Golf Course’s 18th gap. He eagled that gap once more the next day, this time to shut his spherical. As a bonus, he had eagled the par-4 sixteenth about 20 minutes earlier. Within the third spherical, Phillips’ fourth eagle of the week got here on the par-5 fourth gap, and immediately within the area of 40 holes performed, he had as many eagles because the leaders in that statistical class coming into the week. Over his closing 32 holes of the match, Phillips recorded no extra eagles, however going into the Tour’s break within the motion, he’s tied for the Whole Eagles lead, with Luke Schniederjans, J.T. Griffin and Calum Masters.
2. Will there be volatility atop the Fortinet Cup standings all yr? In 2019, PGA TOUR Canada’s final full, official season, solely Jake Knapp and eventual champion Paul Barjon held the highest spot on the Factors Checklist in the course of the course of the 12-week marketing campaign. In 2018, after early top-of-the-list place juggling by Jordan Niebrugge and Sam Fidone, Zach Wright and Tyler McCumber settled into the No. 1 spot, Wright holding it for 5 weeks till McCumber, the eventual winner, wrested it away for the ultimate 5 weeks of the season—and Participant of the Yr honors. This yr, already three totally different gamers have held down the No. 1 place—the most recent, Brian Carlson, taking up from Wil Bateman who took his flip on the prime when he supplanted week-one chief Scott Stevens.
3. Cooper Dossey is nothing if not constant. The Texan has been lurking all season, with a pair of top-10s in his three begins and certainly one of 17 gamers to make all three cuts in 2022. What has set Dossey aside has been his uncanny reliability. In 12 official rounds, Dossey, the previous Baylor All-American, has signed for 12 under-par scores, with eight of these scores within the 60s. His worst spherical of the yr was a 1-under 71 final week within the second spherical of the Prince Edward Island Open introduced by IMB Options. Dossey’s round-by-round stroke averages belie that consistency: 67.67 (first spherical); 68.0 (second spherical); 67.33 (third spherical); 68.0 (closing spherical). Dossey has a technique to go to match what Paul Barjon did in 2019. The present PGA TOUR participant was under-par in every of his first 28 rounds to start the season. Barjon’s 28 consecutive remains to be PGA TOUR Canada’s all-time report.
4. Brian Carlson seemingly found out issues within the third spherical. A yr in the past, enjoying as a PGA TOUR Canada member on the Forme Tour, thrice Carlson had third-round scores of 74 that definitely hampered him and prevented him from getting any larger than fifteenth on the ultimate Factors Checklist. His third-round stroke common of 70.29 in these eight tournaments was his solely common within the 70s in 2021. Within the opening two occasions of the 2022 season, on his technique to a tie for twenty first in Victoria and a tie for forty fifth in Edmonton, once more his third-round play held him again. Carlson shot a 2-over 72 and a 3-over 74, respectively, in Victoria and Edmonton. Final week on the Prince Edward Island Open, no such third-round struggles existed as the previous Purdie Boilermaker shot a 6-under 66, because of eight birdies and two bogeys. Carlson went on to win the match by a stroke, following that 66 with a closing 65 at Dundarave Golf Course.
5. Kieran Vincent’s putter can get scorching. The primary-year professional from Zimbabwe, who earned PGA TOUR Canada membership on the Weston, Florida, Qualifying Event in February, is the one participant this yr with two streaks of 4 consecutive birdies. The previous Liberty College star first poured in 4 birdies in a row on the season-opening Royal Seaside Victoria Open introduced by Occasions Colonist. At Uplands Golf Membership, he birdied Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9 on his technique to a third-round, 3-under 67. Final week at Dundarave Golf Course, Vincent birdied holes 8-11 within the closing spherical, utilizing that scorching streak to ultimately tie for 14th.
