Chez

Reavie

Reavie leaned heavily on the short game today, gaining 2.6 strokes around-the-green (2nd) and 3.2 strokes putting (2nd). For the week, he was 12th in approach and 6th in putting. The putting performance is particularly notable as he entered the week just 198th in strokes gained putting. The ASU product had arrived on the heels of six straight missed cuts so gamers should watch closely to see if he can maintain any of this momentum.

No reason was given for the withdrawal, but after shooting a 4-over 75 in the opening round at El Camaleon all signs were pointing toward a missed cut for the 40-year-old veteran. Reavie opted to pull the plug before his second-round tee time, leaving Erik Van Rooyen and Jim Herman as an early-morning two-ball. Reavie earned his third Tour win in Reno in July, a victory that brought with it an exemption through 2024, but the new wraparound season has been a struggle. After missing three straight cuts, he posted results of T-45 and T-72 in a pair of no-cut events ahead of this week’s withdrawal. It remains to be seen if he’ll try to tee it up in either of the two remaining events this year (Houston Open and RSM Classic) before the holiday break.

Reavie was sleeping on his third career 54-hole lead and he remains perfect in converting them into wins (2008 RBC Canadian Open and 2019 Travelers Championship). He’s yet to win an event from off the pace. Reavie split 13-of-14 fairways on the final day and missed just eight fairways all week (T2). He was also T8 in GIR for the week, capping off a steady week of striking. “I just stayed patient. I knew I was going to have to. I knew some guys were going to make a lot of birdies early. I was hoping to be one of those guys, but the putter was kind of letting me down early. Just tried to keep it as close as I could to the hole and give myself some good looks.” The 40-year-old was already on pace to make the FedExCup Playoffs but jumps from 102nd to 49th with this victory. As of Sunday afternoon, Reavie still planned to tee it up at the 3M Open.

Reavie opened with 36 bogey-free holes and went 14 more today without dropping a shot. That streak finally ended at the par-3 15th. “I was kind of in between clubs on the tee with the wind. Hit the right club, I just made a bad swing trying to hit it too hard. Went into the bunker and hit a poor bunker shot.” He ended his day with three-straight pars and maintains a six-point lead heading into Sunday. For the week, he ranks T5 in fairways hit and T8 in GIR. Reavie is 2-for-2 in closing out 54-hole leads, winning the 2008 RBC Canadian Open and the 2019 Travelers Championship.

Reavie ranks T22 in fairways hit for the week (23-of-28) and T10 in GIR (28). That steady striking has helped maintain a clean card through 36 holes in Tahoe while adding nine birdies and a pair of eagles. “I hit the ball really well yesterday, I just didn’t really make as many putts yesterday. Hit a lot of good putts, just kind of was lipping out and had bad speed on a few of them, and today I was able to knock those in.” Reavie has turned all three of his previous 36-hole leads/co-leads into top-5 finishes including his maiden win at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open. He added another title at the 2019 Travelers and will look to add a third PGA TOUR trophy with strong play over the weekend.

The 40-year-old, who checked in off a T27 four weeks ago at the Charles Schwab (68-72-71-69), posts rounds of 67-69-66-67 for his second top 10 in 12 Travelers, first since his win in 2019 as the 54-hole leader by six. That remains his most recent of two TOUR wins in 359 events, coming 81 starts ago, and is in the published field at this coming week’s John Deere Classic. This is the Arizona State product’s fourth top 25 of the season in 22 events, third in his last five, his second top 10, first since a backdoor T10 at the Genesis Invite 11 starts ago, and is projected to move 18 spots in the FedExCup standings to 88th. For the week, he totaled 19 birdies versus six bogeys and a double, and ranked 23rd SG: Tee-to-Green, including a best of 19th Off-the-Tee (2.597), 17th SG: Putting (3.957), and T1 in Driving Accuracy at 85.71 percent (48/56), including 13 (of 14) fairways in Rounds 1 and 4.

Reavie won the 2019 Travelers Championship with four sub-70 rounds including a third-round 63 to make a big move. He racked up 20 birdies that week but more impressively, swallowed just three bogeys along the way. Overall, he is 9-for-11 at TPC River Highlands with three other top 25s to go along with his win. More recently, he’s pieced together a trio of top 30s in his last four starts, snapping out of an early-season slump. Good history with strong recent form makes him an appealing value option in weekly fantasy formats.

The 40-year-old, T97 after an opening, one-birdie 74, rallies with 68, bogey-free 66 and 66 to record his first top 10 since T3 at the 2021 Safeway in Napa (Sep.2020) 40 starts ago, where he closed with 66-66 as well. It’s also his third top 10 at the Genesis in 12 appearances, joining a T10 two tries ago in 2020, and a solo 7th in 2016. For the festivities, the Arizona State product tallied two eagles, and 13 birdies versus seven bogeys, and currently ranks No. 1 in SG: Around (7.165), which includes a -0.717 in R1. He is not in the published field at this coming week’s Honda Classic.

Making the ninth Farmers Insurance Open appearance of his career, Reavie returns to the San Diego area for the first time since 2016. It is very easy to explain why the Arizona State product has not traveled to Southern California as Torrey Pines is a tough course for a player such as Reavie. With a career scoring average of 72.38, the 40-year-old has four missed cuts and zero top-20 results to his name in the Farmers Insurance Open. Without any indication of form and lacking the skillset needed for Torrey Pines, Reavie could be packing his bags come Thursday afternoon if he does not pull a rabbit out of his flat brim hat.