Kyle

Stanley

Coming off a tie for 35th at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in a limited field, no-cut event, Stanley will attempt to carry the momentum from Japan to Mexico. As before, the 33-year-old missed the cut at the Fortinet Championship and the Shriners Children’s Open. Gaining strokes from tee-to-green, it was Stanley’s putter that was his eventual downfall. Looking to flip the script on the greens at El Camaleon Golf Course, Stanley readies for his eighth appearance at Mayakoba. With four missed cuts and no top-40 finishes since his tie for 13th in 2011, the former Clemson Tiger will look for a similar result to that of a decade ago.

This was the 33-year-old’s eighth Schwab, first since a missed cut in 2017, and first top 25, brushing aside a prior-best T27 on debut in 2010 as a non-member. He improves to 15-for-21 on the season with five top 25s, first individually since T14 at the Valero Texas Open, and two top 10s, first since T6 at last fall’s RSM Classic 15 starts ago. For the week, the Clemson product recorded laps of 69-67-68-70, totaled 16 birdies versus 10 bogeys, and ranked No. 1 in SG: Approach (8.210) and SG: Tee-to-Green (9.892), but 45th in SG: Around (-0.623) and 66th in SG: Putting (-3.035). On Sunday, he exchanged four birdies with four bogeys on 11 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, gaining 1.672 strokes approaching but losing 1.715 on-the-green with 30 total putts, lowlighted by 3-jack bogeys at 10 and 12 from 43'0" and 25'7", respectively. Stanley is not in the published field at this coming week’s Memorial Tournament.

This is the 33-year-old’s eighth visit, fourth made cut with a best of T27 on debut in 2010 as a non-member. After opening with 69-67, he began two short of the overnight top 10 and hit nine (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation. The Clemson product was rolling along at 3-under thru seven holes (4 birdies, 1 bogey), but after bogey-4 at 8 (missed par-saver from 5'0"), stalled out with 10 consecutive pars. He still gained 1.810 strokes against the field average on Saturday and is in the top 10 after 54 holes for a second consecutive start on the season, joining the Wells Fargo three weeks ago, where he was T7 before fading to T26 (67-74-68-75). Stanley was also in the top 10 at the three-quarter pole at Valero in San Antonio (T10) and ended up T14, his best finish since T6 at the RSM in November, his lone top 10 of the campaign thus far in 20 events.

After opening with 67 and a one-birdie four-bogey 74, the Clemson product got back into the game with the only bogey-free lap in the books thus far on Saturday. On 10 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, he posted 1.623 SG: Off-the-Tee, 0.375 SG: Approach, 0.620 SG: Around, and 2.679 SG: Tee-to-Green. The 33-year-old penciled three birdies at holes 7, 13 and 14, each from between four and nine feet, posting 1.750 putts per GIR and 1.095 SG: Putting. This is the fourth time this season in 20 starts that he’s in the top 10 after 54 holes, first (individually) since T10 at the Valero Texas Open, where he ultimately finished T14 (71-68-72-71). Stanley’s most recent of two TOUR wins in 278 prior events is the 2017 Quicken Loans National exactly 100 starts ago, where he came from four back (T7) with 4-under 66 before prevailing in a 2-man playoff over Charles Howell III. He owns two prior top 10s at the Wells Fargo, including a T8 at the last edition played in 2019, where he was T19 at the three-quarter mark (69-69-71-68). UPDATE: With R3 completed, Stanley is T7, five back of leader Mitchell, who carded just the second bogey-free lap of the day (66) with Stanley.

The Clemson product, who wrapped today with 11 consecutive pars, is making his eighth appearance with three previous top 25s and two top 10s, including a T8 in the last edition contested in 2019 (69-69-71-68). He arrived 13-for-19 on the season with four top 25s and one top 10, a T6 at The RSM Classic 14 starts ago, where he was T5 after 36 and 54 holes, respectively (67-65-68-66), and off a T39 at last week’s Valspar (68-70-72-71). The Gig Harbor, Washington, native is in the top 10 after 18 holes for a third time this season, first since T3 two starts ago at the Zurich teamed with Kyoung-Hoon Lee, where the tandem ultimately finished T23 (63-74-64-75) after struggling in the alternate-shot portion of the event. On 12 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, he posted 1.285 SG: Off-the-Tee, 2.523 SG: Approach, 1.064 SG: Around, and 4.871 SG: Tee-to-Green, No. 3-ranked in the latter. All of the 33-year-old’s scoring took place on his first nine, offsetting a lone bogey-4 at 13 (missed par-saver from 5'7") with three circles at 10, 15 and 16, each from inside of six feet, and a hole-out eagle-2 at 11 from 163 yards away. He recorded 1.583 putts per GIR and -0.026 SG: Putting, saving par two times from between 12 and 13 feet, but missed four other putts from inside of 10 feet.

This duo can catch fire with the irons but they showed off their short games today. The duo combined for nine birdies and five were converted from outside of 10 feet. That included a hole-out from 47 feet for birdie, from Kyle Stanley, at the par-4 13th. “We were just kind of there for each other all day. If I got out of position he kind of bailed me out and vice versa. Nice team effort. We birdied a lot of the same holes.” This is their team debut together but both arrived with some good results here at TPC Louisiana. Stanley teamed up with Ryan Ruffels to post a T29 in 2017 and Kyoung-Hoon Lee snagged a T3 in 2019 while playing alongside Matt Every. Next up is a Friday, alternate-shot tee time.

Stanley started his day on the back nine and didn’t impress out of the gate, missing his first three birdie chances from the 10-for-14 foot range. His putter caught fire from there, rattling home five birdie putts from outside of 10 feet before his day was done. That included a 50'8" bomb at the par-4 first hole. He walked off the course gaining 3.598 strokes putting which falls just outside of the top 10 in terms of his best measured putting rounds on TOUR. Stanley arrived with a T52 being the best result for him in five previous Valero appearances but he’s on pace to shatter that with two days to play.

Stanley has a reputation of being a steady ball-striking and he’s living up to that tag with +0.625 SG: Approach per round this season. He’s gained strokes on approach in seven of his last eight measured events. That iron play has translated well to TPC Sawgrass over the years, as well. He’s played 18 career rounds at the Pete Dye design and gained 10.5 strokes approaching-the-green in those rounds. The result has been a 3-for-6 record including a standout finish of T4 back in 2017. The putter is always a big question mark.

Stanley split 9-of-14 fairways today and has missed just nine fairways all week (T19 in the field). From there, he peppered 14 greens in regulation to keep this round relatively stress-free. The highlight of his day came early in his round when he holed out for eagle at the par-5 13th, completely a three-hole birdie-or-better train. Stanley is scoring in bunches this week, already racking up 10 birdies to go along with the eagle. The Clemson product arrived without much success at El Camaleon Golf Club. He was just 2-for-6 with a T13 in 2011 being his lone top 50 at the event. However, he did enter with a T6 finish in his most recent start (The RSM Classic) so current form is winning out over course history so far this week for Stanley.