Abraham

Ancer

Ancer shared the news via social media, “As a passionate entrepreneur, I am excited about my endeavors outside of the game of golf. Additionally, the new opportunity provides me more time to invest and give back to the game by helping it grow and flourish in my home country of Mexico.” You can read his full statement linked below. Ancer joins an ever-growing list of players that are defecting to the LIV Golf league.

Gamers will have just a few minutes to make lineup changes in weekly fantasy formats. Ancer was set to make his fourth appearance at the U.S. Open. In his place, Kizzire will be playing his third U.S. Open with missed cuts in his two previous tries (2016, 2019).

Overall, this is Texas-born Mexican’s second top 10 in 13 majors, first since this event last year at Kiawah Island, where he back-doored a T8 with a week-low bogey-free 65 (7 birdies). He improves to 11-for-15 on the season with three top 10s, first since T5 at the WGC-Match Play four starts ago, and ends a streak of MC-T59-MC in between last year’s PGA and this year’s edition. For the week, the Oklahoma alum posted progressively worse rounds of 67-69-70-73, totaled 12 birdies versus 11 bogeys, and ranked 17th SG: Approach (4.594), 60th SG: Around (-0.875), lowlighted by a -1.672 today, and 14th SG: Putting (3.863), losing strokes (-0.886) with the flat stick on Sunday for the first time this week, where he outbalanced one birdie at hole 5 (from 15'8") with four squares at 1, 7, 8 and 9 (3-putt from 43'8"). See link below to post-round comments.

The Oklahoma alum, who dusted two-time past champ and playing competitor Rory McIlroy by four shots today, will be in the third-to-last pairing on Sunday with first-timer Seamus Power. After kicking off with 67-69, T5 and five back of leader Will Zalatoris (73), he traded two birdies at holes 5 and 17 (from 9'8") with two bogey-5s at 7 and 10 (missed par-saver from 4'7"), posting a -0.131 SG: Approach but a +1.375 SG: Putting. Thru 54 holes, the Texas-born Mexican has totaled 11 birdies against seven bogeys, and ranks 13th SG: TTG (7.196) and 8th SG: Putting (4.758), but despite the lofty ranking with the flat stick, mentioned post-round (link below) that, “We’ve just got to make more putts.” This is his first time in the top 10 at the three-quarter mark since the CJ CUP @ SUMMIT back in October, where he was T3 before fading to T14 (70-65-63-71), and his best finish in a major in 12 priors -- and lone top 10 -- is a back-door T8 at last year’s PGA at Kiawah Island, where he closed with a week-low bogey-free 65 (7 birdies).

The Oklahoma Sooner, who will be in the third-to-last twosome on Saturday with two-time past champ Rory McIlroy, gained 4.640 strokes tee-to-green in R1 and regressed to 1.412 in R2, lowlighted by a -0.252 around-the-green. On nine (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, all of his scoring came on his outward half, squaring two bogeys at 14 and 16 (failed scrambles), offset by three birdies at 12, 13 and 17, two from between eight and 18 feet, and also saved par two times from between 10 and 15 feet toward a 2.191 SG: Putting. The Texas-born Mexican owns one TOUR win in 138 events, a P1 at last season’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude 18 starts ago, where he was T2 (2 back) at the midpoint (67-62-67-68), and has recorded one top 10 in 12 previous majors, a back-door T8 at last year’s PGA at Kiawah Island (74-72-76-65), where he closed with a week-low bogey-free 65 (7 birdies). See link below to post-round comments.

The Oklahoma Sooner alum told the media that Oklahoma felt like his second home and he was enjoying so many Sooner fans following him this week. He certainly looked comfortable today as he split 12-of-14 fairways and landed 13 greens in regulation. He did most of his damage with that steady striking, walking off the course ranked 5th in strokes gained tee-to-green. Ancer also contributed a trio of converted putts from the 10-to-13 foot range. “Definitely a solid round. I was just always pretty much in the right spot of the fairways it felt like, except the first two holes that I missed the fairways. Other than that felt like I hit it really good off the tee and some good iron play, as well."Ancer is playing in his 13th career major championship and his lone top 10 came at this event last year (T8 at Kiawah Island).

The 31-year-old from Mexico has made the cut in all three previous starts at the PGA, where he finished T-16 in 2019 and T-8 in 2021, where he carded a 65 in the final round for the week’s low score at Kiawah. “I’ve loved how they set them up,” he said of the tournament set-ups. “It’s always tough, but I feel like it’s fair. … I enjoy major championships. I enjoy that par is a good score. So yeah, I’m looking forward to trying to make some birdies out here and hopefully a lot of pars at Southern Hills.” On the season, Ancer has made 10 cuts in 14 starts with two top 10s, finishing T-7 at the Mayakoba in November and T-5 at the WGC-Match Play, where he lost to Corey Conners in the quarterfinals (2 down). Ancer finished T-56 in his last start, at the Wells Fargo, and missed the cut at the Masters. See link below for full comments.

“It’s been a strange season,” the 31-year-old Ancer told media on Tuesday at Vidanta Vallarta Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. “I had to withdraw from an event, which I’ve never withdrawn from an event before that I was planning to play.” Ancer explained he tweaked his back, and he actually withdrew from two events – the Valero Texas Open and the RBC Heritage. “I wasn’t going to skip the Masters, so I convinced my doctor to let me go. Had two weeks before here to really, really get healthy and get back out there, get stronger. Thankfully, I feel 100-percent physically, which is really important. I have a lot of tournaments ahead still in the season, so I’ve got to catch up to where I want to be in the list.” He’s currently No. 20 in the World Ranking and 84th in the FedExCup standings, and Ancer has made eight cuts in 12 starts this season with two top 10s. He finished T-7 at the Mayakoba in November more recently was T-5 at the WGC-Match Play.

Last week at the Masters, Mexico’s Ancer shot 72-79 to miss the cut by three strokes. It marked Ancer’s fourth MC of the season (8/12). For the 34-year-old Bramlett, this week will mark his tournament debut at Harbour Town Golf Links and his 17th Tour start of the season. He’s made eight cuts in 16 starts with a best finish of T-20 at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. Mmost recently, he missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open after finishing T-48 at the Valsapr Championship. Bramlett regained his Tour card last season thanks to his win at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, where he finished at 20-under 268 to earn his first KFT victory and finish atop the Finals points standings.

Ancer was a late WD last week at the Valero Texas Open, a home game for him. He didn’t go into detail but did tell his fans on social media that he was looking forward to getting healthy for the Masters. There were no mentions of an injury in his Wednesday presser so it appears he is good to go this week. Ancer will be making his third appearance at the Masters, “I just love this place. I feel like it’s so challenging and you have to have just a good imagination around the greens and be extremely accurate with your iron play. Obviously, you’ve got to be in the fairway first, and I feel like the holes really fit my eye off the tee.” It was love at first sight for Ancer and Augusta National as he found himself T2 thru 54 holes of his 2020 debut before fading to T13 while playing in the final group. He snagged a T26 last year in his only other visit.