Jhonattan

Vegas

Vegas opened as one of the top 10 golfers on the betting board (around 30/1) but won’t be teeing it up this week after all. Vegas was arriving off back-to-back missed cuts and would have had a good chance to snap that slump in the Dominican Republic. His course record included a trio of top 30s in four tries including a T4 last year. There is a good chance we see him back in action next week at the Valero Texas Open, a home-state event that he’s played eight straight editions.

The 37-year-old from Venezuela recently finished T-49 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He’s made 16 cuts in 21 starts this season, with his best finish being a T-4 at the Corales Puntacana Championship in March. Vegas, a three-time Tour winner, last visited the winner’s circle at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open. He’s made six previous starts at the Wyndham, making the cut twice including in 2021 when he finished 15th. For the 44-year-old Garrigus, this week will mark his 14th start of the season, where he’s made five cuts with one top 25. Most recently he missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, marking his sixth MC in a row. Garrigus has made eight previous starts at Sedgefield, where he’s made six cuts with a best finish of 11th in 2013.

The Texas alum, who will be in the third-to-last pairing in R4 with Francesco Molinari, held his position on the leaderboard but after beginning two back of overnight leader Cameron Smith (72), now trails 54-hole leader Billy Horschel (65) by six. On seven (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, he lost 1.993 strokes on approach but gained 0.593 off-the-tee, 1.549 around and 1.099 on-the-green, slightly outpacing three squares with four circles. The 37-year-old, who conjured the only sub-par round from the final three groups today, is eyeing a fourth TOUR victory in 272 attempts, first since the 2017 RBC Canadian Open 116 starts ago (as defender), where he came from three back (T5) with 7-under 65 and then beat 54-hole leader Charley Hoffman in extra time. See link below to post-round comments.

The Texas alum opened with a 69, carding five birdies against two bogeys, and matched that exact tally on Day 2 at Muirfield Village GC. This is his sixth appearance and third made cut, with his best finish a T40 two tries ago in 2018 on 5-under 283 (75-67-68-73), the 67 in R2 his best score in the event thus far. On eight (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the 37-year-old lost 1.510 strokes around-the-green but gained 0.430 off-the-tee, 3.030 on approach and 2.271 with the flat stick, converting two scoring chances from between 23 and 64 feet, highlighted by a 63'1" bomb for birdie-4 at 15. This is his second time this season in 17 events that he’s in the top 10 thru 36 holes, joining the Valspar six starts ago, where he was T10 before finishing T27 (64-71-72-70). See link below to post-round comments.

Vegas pelted 15 greens in regulation today but couldn’t get enough putts to drop. He burned a lot of edges, especially on the back nine, coming down the stretch. “Pretty good week overall. You know, my game wasn’t kind of quite where I wanted it to be, to be honest. Wasn’t really quite striking the golf ball the way I wanted, but I feel like I’ve been playing good golf, I just haven’t been able to put it all together. This week is another week even though I came close to winning. Satisfying, take a lot of positives from the week.” It’s always a good sign when you can snag a top 5 without your A-game. This T4 finish will be his first top 10 of the season and his best career finish at the Corales (T18 in 2021).

Vegas enjoyed the calmer conditions today as he piped 13-of-14 fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation. “It was blowing but it wasn’t blowing anywhere close to what it’s been blowing the whole week. Once the wind’s going to be that way, easy to get the mind on being a little more aggressive. Some pretty good shots, made a few good putts, but mainly just keeping a pretty aggressive mentality throughout the round.” The Venezuelan has three PGA TOUR wins on his resume with the most recent coming at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open. Starting Sunday in solo third place, he’ll have a good decent chance to pick up a fourth win but he’ll start the day three shots off the lead set by Ben Martin so he’ll either need another go-low round like today or Martin to come back to the pack.

The 37-year-old, who kicked off with 64, was the only one of four first-round co-leaders to post out of the early wave on Thursday and got there despite losing 0.509 strokes around-the-green. Today, he traded three birdies with three bogeys, losing another 2.356 around, and is currently ranked a lowly 141st in SG: Around at the midpoint (-2.865) but a lofty 13th in SG: Approach (3.107) and 4th in SG: Putting (4.487), including a 0.825 SGP in R2. The Venezuelan, who makes his second cut in the event in four tries (T48/2021), is now 8-for-11 on the season and is in search of his first top 10 since T2 at last season’s 3M Open 14 starts ago, where he was also a R1 co-leader (64-69-70-68).

Vegas opened his morning with a 14'2" birdie splash at the par-4 10th hole and that would be the trend of the day. The Texas Longhorn ended his day with five putts poured home from outside of 10 feet including a 23'1" birdie bomb at the 4th. He walked off the course gaining 3.6 strokes putting (2nd). That was all set up by steady striking as he landed 16 greens along the way. “To be honest, it was actually great because I haven’t been hitting my irons great. I’m in a switch of irons for this week after last week and kind of old irons, I just kind of have my feels back. I started hitting it good and solid again.” Vegas entered with a 1-for-3 record at the Valspar (T48 in 2021). UPDATE: With R1 complete, Vegas co-leads with defender Sam Burns, past champ Adam Hadwin and first-timer David Lipsky. It’s his sixth 18-hole lead/co-lead in 266 events, previously 0-for-5 converting, and his first since last season’s 3M Open, where he co-led with two others before finishing T2 (64-69-70-68), two shy of winner Cameron Champ.

In what will be his 10th start at PGA National, Vegas has found some success in Palm Beach Gardens in recent memory. Connecting on 8-of-9 weekend appearances, the Venezuelan has made five cuts in a row. Highlighted by a T-4 finish in 2017, the driving prowess from Vegas has proven to be a weapon on the Champion Course. After stumbling out of the 2022 gates with a missed cut at The American Express, Vegas’ iron play has returned to that of last season when he finished runner-up on three separate occasions. Capturing finishes of T-39, T-8, and T-55 in his last three starts worldwide, one should not be surprised if Vegas plays himself into contention this weekend at PGA National.

The Houston resident couldn’t finish off the job last week at home but he’s right back in the hunt this week. Vegas piped 10-of-14 fairways on his way toward 14 greens in regulation. Starting on the 10th tee, most of his highlight came before the turn as he racked up four birdies before splashing home an eagle at the par-5 18th. It would have been easy to be discouraged after dropping from T2 to T26 in the final round last week, while playing at home, but Vegas is not letting that linger at all. Fast starts have become the norm for Vegas. If you count the Olympic Games, Vegas has now been T12 or better after round one in 10 of his last 15 events played.