MJ

Daffue

The South African stormed out of the gate with four birdies in his first seven holes, offset by a lone bogey. That put him on 6-under for the event and gave him a handful of holes played as the U.S. Open leader. “Saying you led the U.S. Open, it’s an unbelievable feeling. It’s, obviously, not the destination. It’s a step towards the goal.” Things took a turn for the worse from there. He swallowed three bogeys and a double on his way into the clubhouse, without adding another birdie. It’s all about perspective for Daffue, who is making his U.S. Open debut, “You know, if you’d told me before yesterday I would be 1-under par in the top 15 after finishing my round today, I would have said yes. So taking everything out of the equation, just being happy where I am and still in it with two really good rounds.” The Lamar product spends his time on the Korn Ferry Tour currently but has locked up his PGA TOUR card for next season already.

The Lamar alum and Korn Ferry Tour member after a six-birdie, three bogey debut (link below): “I actually wasn’t going to do it (attempt to U.S. Open qualify) because before Kansas City I hadn’t locked up my status and I didn’t want to skip a week, but then I locked it up there (PGA TOUR card for next season), and I said, oh, I’m going to do it.” The Kansas City reference was a solo 3rd four weeks (and three starts ago) at the AdventHealth Championship, his second straight solo 3rd in as many weeks and fifth top 10 of the KFT season, four of those top 5s. This is the 33-year-old’s 14th overall TOUR event, second of the season after a hometown T64 at the Houston Open back in November on a sponsor exemption, while his best finish among two top 25s is a T12 on debut at last season’s Sanderson Farms as an open-qualifier, where he was T18 after 18 holes (68-73-72-75).

Next week’s start at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., will mark the seven U.S. Open appearance for 39-year-old Stuard, who shot 68-65 on Monday and has qualified for all previous six appearances through the Springfield qualifying site. Also advancing to next week are Beau Hossler (67-68), amateur Maxwell Moldovan, Troy Merritt, Bo Hoag, Sam Stevens and amateur Adrien Dumont de Chassart from Belgium. Nick Hardy finished as first alternate with Jim Herman as second alternate. Missing out on qualifying were world No. 81 Cameron Davis, Scott Piercy, Brandt Snedeker, Robert Streb and Sahith Theegala.

The 33-year-old Daffue, who played college golf at Lamar, crossed the 900-point mark the KFT is currently using as its fail-safe threshold for players to finish inside The 25 at regular season’s end and earn a PGA Tour card. Daffue is the third player this season to cross the #TOURBound threshold, joining points leader Carl Yuan and No. 2-ranked Seonghyeon Kim. He finished at 14-under 274 for the week at Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Mo., two strokes behind winner Trevor Cone. Daffue has missed just one cut in 12 KFT starts this season, notching five top 10s including a T-2 at the LECOM Suncoast Classix in February and a solo second at the Visit Knoxville Open two weeks ago. Daffue is not list in the field for this week’s NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank, hosted by The Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois.

The 33-year-old Daffue carded a 5-under 65 on Sunday at Holston Hills Country Club, where he posted his fourth top-10 and third top-five finish of 2022. Daffue, who entered
the year without a single top-10 in 10 career KFT starts, moved to No. 8 on the KFT Regular Season Points List and is one of five players inside the current top 10 without a victory this season. Other notable finishes in 2022 include a T-9 at the Astara Golf Championship in February and a T-4 at the Lake Charles Championship in March. Daffue is in the field this week as the KFT season continues at the AdventHealth Championship, hosted by Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri.

Daffue is known for his strong track record in Monday Qualifiers but he cracked the field without qualifying this week. He’s playing on a sponsor’s invite. The Lamar University product is making his eighth start of the season and hoping to find his second top 25 (T12 at the Sanderson Farms Championship). Daffue is 3-for-7 overall this season, racking up $151K for his efforts. His ability to go low might make him a better single-round option for gamers.

The 24-year-old Australian traded eight birdies with two bogeys to play his way in, one shot clear of the 7-for-2 playoff below him. Lyras only reached as high as 798th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro shortly after qualifying for the 2019 Wyndham Championship (MC). Lyras is currently spending most of his time on the Australasian Tour where he is 2-for-6 since the calendar flipped to 2021 with highlights being a T17 at the TPC Victoria and a T4 at the Moonah Links PGA Classic. The young Aussie will be a longshot to contend this week but as you can tell from his Australasia resume when his game is clicking it’s generally dialed in for a top-20 finish. Perhaps someone to consider in one-day showdown formats as a boom-or-bust option. Others to qualify on Monday included MJ Daffue (64), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

Daffue took full advantage of the par 5s at Hurricane Creek Country Club, circling eagles at the par-5 2nd, 15th, and 17th. He added three birdies on top of that to offset a lone blemish. The South African is building up quite the Monday Qualifier resume as he’s now played his way into 12 events through qualifiers in the last two years, across the Korn Ferry and PGA TOUR. The Lamar University product has two top 25s in eight career starts on the PGA TOUR. Others to qualify included John Lyras (66), Tom Lovelady (67), and Dylan Meyer (67). The latter two survived a 7-for-2 playoff to earn their seat.

Gonzales traded five birdies and an eagle with one bogey while navigating Hoakalei Country Club. It earns him a third appearance at the Sony Open (MC/2013; T36/2017). The 37-year-old has played five seasons on the PGA TOUR but has been spending most of his time on the Korn Ferry Tour since the end of the 2016-17 season. Gonzales has finished outside of the top 90 on the money list in each of the last three Korn Ferry Tour seasons. All that adds up to make him a longshot to contend this week but stranger things have happened. Joining him from the Monday Qualifier will be MJ Daffue (67), In Hoi Hur (67), and Nick Hardy (68). For Hardy, he survived a 3-for-1 playoff to earn his spot at the Sony Open.