Palm Harbor, Fla. – For his final start on his medical extension, Wesley Bryan said he was feeling the pressure as he crossed the cut line at the Valspar Championships on Friday.
“I don’t usually sweat from cut lines,” he said. “Yesterday definitely felt a little different.”
Bryan, who missed five months last year with a wrist injury, made a birdie at number 7, his 16.th The day’s hole at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course improved to 3 under and right on the cut line, who came in at 3-under 139, the lowest 36-hole cut in tournament history. But a hole later, he was in between the clubs – deciding between 4-iron or hybrid – on a 224-yard par-3 8.th And tried to bite a hybrid in the air. He cooked it for a long time and left, 42 yards behind the hole, on the way to the cart and under the bushes.
“I was there in a world of hurt in the hedges on the left,” he said.
Want to know why they made the cut?? Hits it, then goes up and down to bogey on its 17th day!!!! pic.twitter.com/OGwQCMVL1V
— Brian Bros Golf (@bryanbrosgolf) 18 March 2022
But Bryan, who made a lively performance trick shot with his brother, George, before arriving on the PGA Tour, got down on his knees and yanked it out and got up and down for the bogey. Then all he did was rip a 3-wood in the left corner of the ninth fairway and jumped 4 feet and made a birdie.
“Bogie at 17”th The hole was better than the last birdie,” he said.
Bryan gathered himself and made the clutch birdie knowing full well that he would have to make the cut to satisfy his medical and have any chance of improving his position on the Tour. His final of 21 was granted to him, with Bryan needing a singles sixth or a singles 51 to retain full position.scheduled tribe To remain in the top 126-150 range. That Brian, who had missed the cut on his last three starts, delivered with the proverbial gun to his head, came as no surprise to his caddy, William Lanier.
“When he has to do something, he does it,” Lanier said. “He hasn’t got a job. Even at his worst, he fights till the end. Instead of shooting 79, he’ll shoot 78.”
Brian was asked where does all that patience and determination come from with his back against the wall? “I think I learned it from my father,” he said. “He was always a real sneaky player. I mean, he had a squirrel talent and made something out of it.”
His PGA Tour card hangs in the balance, @WesleyBryanGolf Found a way to cut it.
To remain in the 126-150 range he needs a singles sixth place to maintain absolute position or a singles 51st. pic.twitter.com/7DzII54nDP
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 19, 2022
Brian, 31, has had a promising career short-circuit practically since his breakthrough win at RBC Heritage, just a top at the 2017 John Deere Classic since slipping on a tartan jacket in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Entered -10 finishes. In January 2019, he underwent shoulder surgery for a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Last year, he injured his left wrist on a tee ball at his home course in South Carolina.
“It just exploded,” he said.
If there was a silver lining in being sidelined for extended periods, it is that the injuries coincided with the birth of his first daughter who had shoulder surgery and the birth of his second daughter as he recovered from wrist surgery. Were.
“Those are the times when I would never be able to come back and I would miss a lot and I would be able to watch them grow up in the house under my roof for a long time,” he said. “It was a blessing, for sure.”
Valspar: PGA Tour Live ESPN+ . Feather
Bryan explained that it wasn’t playing golf that he missed so much as the simple act of competing and camaraderie with his fellow professionals. He said his wrist is “95 percent” better and that he is ready to play for as long as he can until the end of the season. How many events he can attend may come down to the final round of the Valspar Championships. Bryan scored a 1-under-par 70 in the third round and currently sits on T-52, once again on edge. He simultaneously struck three straight birdies to start the back nine but ended with a bogey meaning he had no room for error.
“I got a chance to make some birdies today, no, did some bad bogeys and I think it will take a special birdie tomorrow,” he said.
Whether or not he maintains some position this week, Bryan will still have past champion status, but it is lower in the pecking order behind the 126-150 class. Will a return to trick shots be his backup plan?
“I got the hang of it a while back,” he said. “I guess even if the phone rings, I can do it.”
