Brandon

Hagy

The 31-year-old, who checked off two missed cuts and a mid-tourney WD, was one of just two players to navigate an error-free lap in the breezy afternoon session (Nate Lashley, 68), and moves into the third-to-last group in R3 with Trey Mullinax and Scott Brown. On three (of 13) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, he lost 0.617 strokes off-the-tee but gained 2.854 on approach, 1.173 around, and 0.471 with the flat stick. The UC-Berkeley alum penciled four birdies at holes 2, 11, 12 and 18, two from between 17 and 20 feet, and saved par at 1 from 10'5", but also missed two putts from inside of nine feet, lowlighted by a 3-putt par at the par-5 14th (from 33'9"). This is his first time in the top 10 at the halfway mark since T3 at last season’s John Deere Classic (Jul. 2021), where he ultimately finished T18 (67-64-67-73). Hagy’s lone podium in 116 events is a solo 2nd at the 2021 Honda (as 8th alternate), where he was T2 thru 36 holes (69-62-76-66).

The big hitter opened his week with a 4-over 75 on Thursday, putting him near the bottom of the leaderboard. He returned on Friday morning and improved on the front side with a 1-under 35 but called it quits after his birdie at the par-4 ninth. This will be his second career mid-tournament WD, in 115 total starts. Hagy is now 7-for-18 on the season and finds himself right on the top-200 bubble in the FedExCup race.

The 30-year-old co-led with TOUR rookie Chad Ramey after racking up a field-high nine birdies in R1 against one bogey and a double. He mustered just two circles in R2 on 12 greens in regulation, outbalanced by a double bogey-6 at 5 and bogey-5 at 15. The UC-Berkeley alum is currently five back of clubhouse leader Patrick Rodgers on 5-under 137 (65-72), in search of his fifth career top 10 in 102 events, first since solo 5th at last season’s opposite-field Barracuda seven starts ago, where he was T12 at the halfway pole. That 5th-place finish is tied for his second-best result on TOUR after a solo 2nd at last season’s Honda Classic (as 8th alternate), where he was T2 at the midpoint (69-62-76-66). UPDATE: With the tournament complete, Hagy finished T51 on 2-under 282 (65-72-73-72).

This is the 30-year-old’s third 18-hole lead/co-lead in 102 events, previously 0-for-2 converting. Prior to today, his most recent came at last season’s American Express 25 starts ago, where he led by one after an 8-under 64 (Nicklaus Tournament Course) before fading to T21 (64-70-72-71). The UC-Berkeley alum’s first was a T1 at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open as a first-time member, where he ultimately finished T5 (65-68-69-68). On six (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, he carded a double bogey-6 at 15 and ended his scoring with a bogey-6 at 7, outflanked by a field-high nine birdies at 11-14, 17, 2, 3, 5 and 6. The Charlotte resident, who checked in off a T54 at last week’s ZOZO in Japan (70-74-72-70), missed the cut by five here last year on debut (73-75). See link below to post-round comments.

The Cal-Berkeley product gained one stroke off-the-tee today and from there, he pelted 17 greens in regulation to make his short-game task that much easier. His only two blemishes came as the result of three-putts. He still managed to walk off the course gaining 1.3 strokes putting which goes to show how well he putted on the remaining 16 holes. That included a 23-footer for birdie at the 18th. Hagy arrived with three previous appearances at TPC Summerlin with a T41 and two missed cuts, nothing to write home about.

The Cal-Berkeley product peppered 56 greens in regulation this week, tied for third-best in the field. The putts finally started to fall today, " I think the first three rounds I played well, just the lid was kind of on the hole a little bit, a lot of two-putt birdies. But today I was able to roll in some of those 10-, 15-footers and rack up some points.” The career year continues for the 30-year-old who now has three top 10s in 26 starts after finding just one top 10 in his first 69 events. He now sits inside of the top 75 in the FedExCup race with a big goal of his being to make it to East Lake for the first time in his career.

This is the California native’s second Deere after a T50 in 2017, where he carded lows of 66 (x2), but sprinkled in a 73 and 71. This week, he’s put up 67-64-67, and has tallied one eagle and 13 birdies against just one bogey, No. 1 in the latter stat. The 30-year-old owns three top 10s in 92 events, with a best of solo 2nd at this season’s Honda as 8th alternate, where he was T18 after 54 holes (69-62-76-66). This is his highest position on the board at the three-quarter pole, replacing 5th (x2), including at last week’s Rocket Mortgage, where he eventually finished T6 (65-71-68-68). Today’s lap featured five birdies versus one bogey on 17 greens in regulation, losing strokes around (-0.342) and with the flat stick (-1.012), but gaining 1.137 off the tee, 2.690 approaching and 3.484 tee to green.

The big hitter split just five (of 14) fairways today but still salvaged 12 greens in regulation. From there, his flat stick caught fire with 4.4 strokes gained putting. Highlights included birdie bombs from 22'10" and 32'0" at the 5th and 7th, respectively. He also poured home a 9'7" eagle splash at the par-5 17th. This will be just the second time in his career that he’s gained more than 4 strokes putting in a single round (+5.4 SGP in R1 of the 2017 Canadian Open). Hagy arrived fresh off a T6 last week in Detroit and he’s showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

The UC-Berkeley alum will play out of the fourth-to-last twosome in R3 with Russell Knox, in search of his third career top 10 in 92 events. He made a splash 11 starts ago at the Honda as an alternate, where he roared to T2 at the midpoint after a career-low 62 in R2, and ended up with a back-door solo 2nd (69-62-76-66), five short of champion Matt Jones. Not an unprecedented surprise that the 30-year-old has since missed five of his next 10 cuts (with one top 25) after a trajectory-altering runner-up, but one more top-3 finish could secure a visit to the second round of the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time. After gaining strokes in all categories in R1, he lost 1.483 on approach and 0.417 around the green in R2, but was positive off the tee (0.825) and with the flat stick (1.442).