Kris

Ventura

The 26-year-old Oklahoma State product -- and member of their 2018 national championship team -- carded an 8-under 64 at Windsor Golf Club outside Santa Rosa, Calif., to share medalist honors with Justin Suh. Ventura will make his third start in the Fortinet Championship, having made the cut in two previous appearances and finishing T-7 at Silverdao Resort and Spa last year. Last season, he played a complete Tour schedule, making 10 cuts in 29 starts with three top-25 finishes and two top 10s (he also finished T-6 in the Sanderson Farms Championship last October). Ventura first earned his Tour status in 2019 thanks to two KFT victories at the Utah Championship and the Pinnacle Bank Championship. But of note, he started the 2019 season with minimal KFT status due to an emergency appendectomy before the final stage of the KFT Qualifying Tournament.

The Norwegian, Oklahoma State products put on a clinic today with eight of their 10 birdies knocked home from inside of 10 feet. Ventura did dial in a few from long range as the round came to a close, converting from 36'4" (from off the green) at the 15th and then splashing one home from 19'3" for birdie at the following hole. “I think just the mindset overall is just that we know each other pretty well and we’re comfortable around each other, so it was going to be a fun day no matter what. Obviously we played well today, but it’s always fun to play together, and we don’t get to do that very often in a tournament especially. It definitely brings back some memories to national teams in Norway and college golf for sure.” Hovland tossed out the idea that they’ve probably played a couple of hundred rounds together over the years. That comfort should only help as the week goes on, especially tomorrow as they turn their attention to the alternate-shot format. If this lead holds then it’ll be the first time either has held a first-round lead or co-lead in a PGA TOUR event.

Just yesterday, English shared on social media, “Excited to be back at @theplayerschamp. Hoping to keep it going where I left off.” He had roared out of the gate last year at this event before having the tournament canceled. It’s unclear what changed at the last minute this week but we will update you when that news gets passed along. Similar to last week with Oosthuizen, this news was unfortunately too late to make any weekly lineup changes.

The 25-year-old Norwegian sits at 96th in the FedExCup standings but he’s slumping as of late. He started the season with top 10s in two of his first three starts but has landed outside of the top 60 in each of his last seven starts. If gamers are looking for an optimistic angle to invest, they can note his performance on poa annua greens over the last few years. He posted two podium finishes on courses with poa greens, during his time on the Korn Ferry circuit. He also landed a T7 this fall at the Safeway Open. Silverado Resort is another California course with poa annua greens. He’s a longshot in any fantasy format but he won two times on the KFT so the upside is there for gamers that are willing to take a chance.

The 25-year-old improves to 3-for-3 on the season and bags his second career top 10 in 23 events, joining a prior-best T7 at the Safeway two starts ago. After opening with 67-68-68, he began T4, one back, and hit five (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation. The Oklahoma State alum gained 0.393 strokes off-the-tee but lost 0.513 approaching, 1.715 around, and 1.836 tee-to-green. He carded six birdies at holes 3, 5, 11, 12, 15 and 17, taking some luster off with five bogeys at 2, 7 (3-putt from 59'1"), 10, 14 (3-putt from 3'6") and 16 (bogey-save from 11'3"). The Norwegian, who’s in the field at this coming week’s Shriners, registered 1.769 putts per GIR and 1.427 SG: Putting with 30 total putts. He had an eventful day with the flat stick, converting five birdie chances from between 16 and 40 feet, but also missed five putts from inside of nine feet.

The 25-year-old is chasing his first TOUR title in 23 events and his second top 10. His best thus far among five top 25s is T7 at the Safeway two starts ago, and will play out of the third-to-last twosome in the finale with Aaron Wise. On eight (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Oklahoma State alum lost 0.662 strokes approaching but gained 1.097 off-the-tee and 2.006 around-the-green. He squared a lone bogey-5 at hole 9, camouflaged by five birdies at 1, 3, 10 (hole-out from 49'7" away), 11 and 18, two from between nine and 17 feet. The Norwegian recorded 1.692 putts per GIR and 0.302 SG: Putting with 27 total putts.

Ventura had a wild start to his round today with an 8'8" bogey save, 16'3" birdie splash, and a chip-in birdie, all in the first five holes. Things settled down a bit from there but he did add another highlight at the par-5 11th when he dropped home a 17'2" eagle putt which was set up by his 251-yard approach shot. Ventura’s round ended on a sour note when he three-jacked for bogey at the par-4 17th but he still walked off the course gaining strokes putting today. This start matches his previous Low 36 on the PGA TOUR (9-under 135 at the Safeway Open three weeks ago; 7-under 135 at the 2019-20 Shriners). The 25-year-old won two times on the Korn Ferry circuit in 2019 but is still searching for his first top 5 on the PGA TOUR. A T7 at the Safeway Open last month was his first top 10 so the confidence tank has to be high right now.

This was the 25-year-old’s second Safeway after a T62 last year, and his first top 10 in 21 career events, bettering a previous-best T18 at last season’s Shriners. For the week, he recorded rounds of 69-66-66-70, and tallied two eagles and 20 birdies, versus five bogeys and one double. On Sunday, the 25-year-old landed eight (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, gaining 0.817 strokes off-the-tee and 0.799 around-the-green, No. 1 in SG: Around with a cumulative 4.922. He scribbled down two birdies at holes 5 and 14, both from inside of seven feet, registering a commercial 1.875 putts per GIR and -1.457 SG: Putting with 32 total putts. The Oklahoma State alum’s prowess around-the-green really secured this career-best finish for him, as he ranked 66th (of 73) in SG: Approach (-3.343).

The 25-year-old is vying for his first TOUR title in 21 events and will play out of the penultimate twosome in R4 with Cameron Percy, who’s also chasing his first TOUR win. His best finish is T18 at last season’s Shriners back in October (T15 after 54 holes), and this is his first time in the top 10 at the three-quarter pole. On seven (of 14) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, the Oklahoma State alum outflanked two bogeys at 13 and 15, with six circles at 1, 3, 6, 8, 11 and 18, and a hole-out eagle-3 at 9 from 77'5" away. He recorded 2.578 SG: Putting with 27 total putts, converting six scoring chances from between 10 and 23 feet.