Chris

Baker

The Iowa State product is still searching for his first top 20 of the season and today’s 66 is a great start. He split 11-of-14 fairways and landed 14 greens in regulation in round one at TPC Twin Cities. While his striking stats were steady, his actual conversions were not of the normal variety. Four of his six birdies were knocked home from outside of 15 feet, including a 51-footer for birdie at the par-5 sixth hole. The long-distance conversions helped him gain 2.1 strokes around-the-green and another 1.4 strokes putting. Today’s 66 matches his low round of the season (5-under 66 in R4 of the Mayakoba and 4-under 66 in R4 of the Sony Open).

With his dad taking on the caddie duties for the day, Chris Baker got off to a dream start at Woodmont Country Club Monday morning. After making birdie on holes 3-5, Baker tacked on three more to sit at 6-under heading into the par-5 15th. A gettable hole, Baker made par and stumbled into the clubhouse, making bogey on two of his final three holes. After carding a 4-under 68, Baker sat in solo second and only two-strokes behind 18-hole leader Dylan Wu. Starting his second round on the back-nine, Baker was two-over through his first five holes. He clicked it into gear as Baker this time took advantage of the par-5 15th and tacked another birdie on at the demanding 18th to turn in even-par for the round. He added birdies on 3, 5, and 6 and sat at 7-under with just two holes left to play. Baker once again faltered coming in, making bogey on the difficult par-4 8th up the hill and then another bogey on the par-4 9th coming down the hill. Despite this, Baker was able to avoid a playoff by one-stroke and punched his ticket to next week’s U.S. Open.

The 34-year-old went 9-for-17 last season with just one of those turning into a top-25 finish (T20 at the season-ending Wyndham Championship). Baker did pick up a bit of steam at the end of the season though with cuts made in seven of his last eight starts. However, when the season flipped to the 2020-21 schedule, his form flopped, missing the cut in five straight events before ending the year with a T30 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Baker ranked 55th in strokes gained off-the-tee last year and 63rd in approach. He’s proven his ball-striking can compete at the highest level but he’ll need to tidy up the short-game skills in order to keep his status for another year.

The Iowa State alum traded four birdies with one bogey on day one, despite landing just half of the greens in regulation. He improved with 13 GIR during round two and got up-and-down after all five missed greens. He’s an impressive 13-for-14 scrambling this week. That’s a bit odd for him since he usually relies on steady ball-striking to get the job done. Baker ranked top 65 off-the-tee and on approach last season but just 135th around-the-green and 168th putting. Arriving off five straight missed cuts, a big finish would go a long way this week. His career-best finish on the PGA TOUR is a T20 at the Wyndham Championship this August. That remains his lone top 25 in 23 starts on the big stage. With his four best finishes coming at Sedgefield, El Camaleon, Port Royal, and Pebble Beach, it is clear that a short course is where to target him in the future.

Eleven (11) years out of Iowa State (2008), the Indiana native finally made it to the PGA TOUR with a 31st-place finish in the Korn Ferry Tour Priority Ranking last season. Three weeks prior to finishing T4 at the KFT Championship in the KFT Finals, which locked up his card, he had missed the cut at the regular-season ending Portland Open, agonizing falling to 26th in regular-season points, but redeemed himself with a six-foot par putt on the final hole in the final round of the final event. That was the NE Florida resident’s 16th career top 10 in 143 KFT events, including two podiums, but no wins. So far this season on the main stage, he’s 5-for-13 with zero top 25s and a career best of T26 at the Mayakoba back in November. The 34-year-old’s most recent start was a T42 on 5-over 285 at The Honda Classic as an alternate (70-73-70-72).

The Iowa State Cyclone took on the host course today (Pebble Beach Golf Links) and put himself in position to score with 13-of-14 fairways hit. From there, he pelted 14 greens and then caught fire with the flat stick. The highlight was a 37'2" birdie blast at the par-4 first but he also sank a 22'8" eagle putt at the 6th, and saved par from just inside 14 feet at the 16th. Playing just the 30th round of his TOUR career, this is the first time he’s gained over three strokes putting (+3.57 SG Putting). His previous four times gaining strokes putting were all in California so these West Coast greens seem to fit his game.

Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Jacksonville Beach, Florida, resident conjured seven (of 14) fairways and hit 12 greens in regulation. He opened with 10 consecutive pars before offsetting bogey-6 at hole 7 with three circles at 2, 5 and 8. The 33-year-old registered 1.833 putts per GIR with 29 total putts, lowlighted by a 3-putt par at the par-5 13th. This is his second made cut in six starts on the season, second consecutive after a T31 at the Bermuda Championship, where he was T8 at the midpoint (66-68-71-70).

The 33-year-old, making his sixth career start, fifth as a member, arrived off a career-best T31 at the Bermuda Championship two weeks ago (66-68-71-70), which was his first made cut. Today’s 64 is a career low in 15 rounds, previously 66 in R1 in Bermuda, and is good for a four-way T4 at day’s end. On 11 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Iowa State alum was bogey-free 9-under (T1) thru 15 holes, before bogey-5s at 16 and 18 (3-putt). He rang up seven birdies at 1-3, 5, 7, 14 (hole-out) and 15, adding a hole-out eagle-3 at 13. The Indiana native recorded 1.538 putts per GIR with 25 total putts.

The PGA TOUR Rookie has successfully maneuvered his first made cut of the 2019-2020 season and his first top-10 entering weekend play. The 33-year-old made four birdies to counter one bogey on the day and ranks 12th in the field with 11 birdies through two days of play. Baker found 8-of-14 fairways which doubled his total from yesterday. Despite his inaccuracy off-the-tee, Baker was still able to find 17 greens-in-regulation and make under 2 putts per green. The Iowa State product is last in the rookie ranking entering the week and is in search of his first payday of his PGA TOUR career.