Peter

Uihlein

Signing for rounds of 65-69-68-67 last year, Uihlein and Werenski were dominate in Rounds 2 and 4 which featured the Alternate-Shot format. Playing those 36-holes in 8-under, they topped the field in that category, but unfortunately could not do enough during the Best-Ball portion of the tournament and fell one-stroke outside the two-team playoff. This year, they appear to be flying under the radar as they are listed at +15000 at PointsBet Sportsbook. The Oklahoma State product has played consistently since late February, connecting on six straight cuts between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour, including a runner-up finish at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. Werenski on the other hand has been more up-and-down after a dreadful start to his 2022. Missing his first five cuts of the year, the 30-year-old has since made 3-of-5 with finishes of T-28 and T-21 sprinkled in.

The 47-year-old Percy has made three cuts in seven starts this season, most recently finishing T-4 at the Corales Puntacana Championship last week. He also finished T-7 earlier this month in Puerto Rico. In seven previous Valero starts, Percy has made four cuts, but he was disqualified at last year’s event after signing an incorrect scorecard in the second round. Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Uihlein will attempt to make his first cut in his fourth start at TPC San Antonio. Uihlein has made the cut in his last three Tour starts and finished T-36 last week at Corales. Additionally, South Africa’s Dawie van der Walt got in on the number and will make his 13th start of the season. Van der Walt has made just two cuts in 12 starts, most recently missing the cut at Corales. He’s made one other start at the Texas Open, missing the cut in 2016.

The 32-year-old Uihlein, who held the outright lead after 54 holes, failed to get any momentum going on Sunday and was even par through 16 holes before making birdie at 17 and finishing with a 1-under 70 to end regulation play tied with Yuan at 14-under 270. Yuan made birdie at the first playoff hole, hitting a wedge to 12 feet and making the putt. Uihlein hit a wedge 6 feet short of the hole but missed his birdie chance to extend the playoff. It marked the second consecutive year that Uihlein, a 2021 KFT Finals grad who’ll play mostly on the PGA Tour the rest of the season, finished solo second at Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club. “That may be harder to do than to win – to finish runner-up twice,” he said. “I did that actually when I was in junior golf, the Orange Bowl event down in Florida, I finished runner-up three straight years. I think that was more impressive than actually winning. Back-to-back seconds, it is what it is. I enjoyed my time. I like coming here.” He’s back to PGA Tour action this week at the Corales Puntacana Championship, where he’ll make his fourth start. He finished T-22 in 2021 and 2019.

Last year at Le Triomphe Golf & CC in Broussard, La., the 32-year-old Uihlein opened with a pair of 67s and shot 66-67 on the weekend to come up one stroke shy of Diaz. In one previous KFT start this season, at the LECOM Suncoast Classic, he finished T-17 before heading to the PGA Tour, where he was T-55 at the Honda Classic and T-38 at the Puerto Rico Open. Uihlein has made nine Tour starts this year with four cuts made. Last season on Tour, he made 12 starts with seven made cuts including a solo third-place finish last May at the Zurich Classic where he partnered with Ricky Werenski.

The Oklahoma State product split 8-of-14 fairways and landed 11 greens in regulation. Both rank right around field average. Where did his scoring come from? A pair of chip-ins certainly helped his cause, gaining 2.4 strokes around-the-green. The Jupiter resident is happy to be back in the Sunshine State, “I prefer this coast. I prefer the East Coast. Anything east of Dallas I like really, anything east of Texas. I like it when it’s windy, I like Bermudagrass even though it’s kinda overseeded quite a bit here. It’s just a style of golf I prefer a bit more.” Uihlein arrived with an 0-for-3 record at the Honda but is off to a much better start this week.

The 32-year-old finished 48th in the Korn Ferry Tour Priority Ranking to earn his card back for the first time since 2019. While fully exempt, he is subject to the KFT grad reshuffle, but it’s an improvement on the conditional status he’s been playing on the prior two seasons (last season the result of the pandemic-related extended eligibility). As a refresher, the Oklahoma State product owns 10 top 10s on TOUR in 111 events and one podium, a solo 3rd at last season’s Zurich teamed with Richy Werenski, which came one week after claiming his second victory on the KFT. His best individual finish is a T4 at the 2014-15 Sanderson Farms as a non-member, and has never made the cut at the Fortinet in three prior attempts. On four (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, the Massachusetts native camouflaged one bogey with five birdies, highlighted by three straight at holes 3-5, posting an impressive 3.727 Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, No. 1 in that stat at last check, but losing 0.841 on-the-green.

Uihlein, who turns 32 this coming Sunday, arrives at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State off a T-32 at the Albertsons Boise Open and sits on the bubble at T-22 on the KFT Finals 25 list as he looks to regain full PGA Tour status. The two-time KFT winner, who most recently won at the MGM Resorts Championship in April, missed cut at the Pinnacle Bank Championship earlier this month to fall outside the top 25. Uihlein, who won the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay and has one European Tour title (2013 Madeira Islands Open), has made 15 cuts in 18 starts over the combined season with five top 10s. He finished runner-up twice this year, recording a solo second at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March and T-2 at the Utah Championship in August. Uihlein, son of Wally Uihlein, former CEO and president of Titleist, also played in 12 PGA Tour events this season making seven cuts and notching a third place at the Zurich Classic. In 2017, Uihlein secured his PGA Tour card for the first time with a victory in only his third career KFT start after earning a berth in the KFT Finals through non-member FedExCup points. He entered the final round four shots back of Ryan Armour, but earned a one-shot victory with the best round of the day, a 6-under 65 at the Scarlet Course.

Uihlein cracked the field for the 3M Open this week but he’s made the tough decision to play on the Korn Ferry circuit instead. He’s currently just 172nd in the FedExCup race but sits at 29th in the Korn Ferry Tour Points race. In a perfect world, there would be some form of points conversion across tours that would allow him to play on the PGA TOUR without getting punished by missing out on possible KFT points, but that isn’t in the cards at this point.

For Uihlein, this is a career best in 106 events, eclipsing a T4 at the 2015 Sanderson Farms as a non-member. It was his third Zurich and first cash, missing the cut in 2018 as a TOUR rookie (w/ Emiliano Grillo) and MC’ing in 2019 with Dominic Bozzelli. Uihlein, who checked in off his second Korn Ferry Tour title last week in Las Vegas as the 54-hole leader by one, is not in the published field at this coming week’s Valspar, but would get in on under the top-10 provision (top-5 teams and ties). Werenski, who is in the field at the Valspar, records his best finish at the Zurich in four tries, previously a T25 in 2018 with Nicholas Lindheim. This will go in the books as his seventh podium in 120 events, first since his maiden TOUR victory at last season’s opposite-field Barracudan 20 starts ago. For the week, the teammates posted rounds of 65-69-68-67, and were the only team to records all four laps in the 60s. On Sunday, they camouflaged a lone bogey-4 at 17 (failed scramble) with six circles at 2, 3 (Werenski hole-out from 30'5" away), 7, 12, 16 and 18.

The Massachusetts natives showcased their comfort together today as they traded four birdies with just one blemish, a bogey at the 9th after finding water off the tee. Highlights included a 19-foot par save at the 12th, a 30'2" birdie bomb from the fringe at the 13th, and a near-ace from 224 yards at the par-3 14th. Werenski became a PGA TOUR winner last August at the Barracuda Championship and Uihlein just won on the Korn Ferry Tour last week. “We grew up playing against each other, and we just kind of know each other’s games really well. I think foursomes is kind of more our style, so we feel like we have a good game plan and we’re looking forward to the weekend.”