Rick

Lamb

The 31-year-old Lamb, who played college golf at Tennessee and hails from South Bend, Ind., made an eagle and six birdies in an 8-under round of 63 to tie with Australia’s Daniel Gale atop the leaderboard. Also earning their spots in the field at TPC Twin Cities this week are Chris Naegel and Andre Metzger, who advanced in a 4-for-2 playoff. Lamb has Monday qualified for his two previous starts this season, finishing T-15 in the Corales Puntacana Championship and T-30 in the Honda Classic, after advancing in a 16-for-1 playoff that ended on Tuesday morning for the final position in the field. Last season, Lamb made 15 cuts in 31 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour during the wrap-around season and was 129th on the regular-season standings. He was a PGA Tour member in 2017 and 2018, with a best finish of T-3 at the 2017 John Deere Classic, where he shot 63 in the third round and finished two strokes back of winner Bryson DeChambeau.

The 31-year-old Lamb, who played college golf at Tennessee, had six birdies during his qualifying round including a clutch birdie on the 17th hole. At the Monday qualifier for the Honda Classic, Lamb survived a 16-for-1 playoff that ended on Tuesday morning. He made eagle on the first extra hole to earn the final position in the field and finished T-30 in his tournament debut at PGA National. Last season, Lamb made 15 cuts in 31 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour during the wrap-around season and was 129th on the regular-season standings. He played his way into the 2021 U.S. Open by finishing T-5 in the Atlanta final qualifier, surviving a 3-for-1 playoff and finishing T-46. Lamb was a PGA Tour member in 2017 and 2018, with a best finish of T-3 at the 2017 John Deere Classic, where he shot 63 in the third round and finished two strokes back of winner Bryson DeChambeau. He made one cut in 10 starts on Tour in 2018.

Connecting for an eagle-3 on the first playoff hole (video linked below), the 31-year-old successfully held off the other playoff participants. In what will be his first start in 2022 on a main circuit, the last time we saw Lamb was in September at the Rolling Green Championship on the Mackenzie Tour (PGA Tour Canada). Struggling on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, Lamb did qualify for the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Finishing in a tie for 46th, this marks Lamb’s last start on the PGA Tour as he makes his Honda Classic debut this week at PGA National.

Playing on conditional status, the University of Tennessee alum was making just his third start of the season, needing to Monday qualify this week just to earn his spot. He had missed the cut in his first two starts of the season. This week was different as he turned on the scoring machine early and often, collecting 26 birdies and two eagles over 72 holes at the New York venue. That included an eagle on the driveable par-4 12th today. The closing dagger came at the second playoff hole (the par-5 18th hole played for the second time) as the 25-year-old drained a chip-in birdie from the fringe while his three competitors (Pan, Bozzelli, and Gibson) settled for pars or bogeys. With $108,000 banked in today’s victory, the lefty now has a very serious shot at finishing inside the top 25 on the money list and securing a PGA TOUR card for the first time in his career.

The Web.com Tour grad posted rounds of 76-69 at the Safeway to MC by four. He made his way to the big leagues after finishing 24th on the WCT regular-season money list last season, highlighted by his first pro win at the LECOM Health Challenge back in July (playoff). In total, the 26-year-old made seven cuts in 13 starts on the junior circuit with four top 25s, three of which were top 10s.

The lefty has kicked off his PGA TOUR career with six straight missed cuts. The lone bright spot came in round one of The RSM Classic where he opened with a 5-under 67 to position himself T23 on leaderboard. Lamb has been outside top 100 on the leaderboard after 11 of his 13 rounds to date. The 26-year-old University of Tennessee product can be left on the bench in fantasy games until he shows any sign of form.

Lamb started round two as one of the three co-leaders. Instead of keeping his foot on the gas, he put it in cruise control, trading four birdies with two bogeys. When play was suspended (fog) on Friday night, Lamb found himself 1-under thru 14. He came back out to the course today and birdied the par-5 sixth hole and then scribbled three straight pars to end his round. At T4 on the live leaderboard, Lamb is in uncharted territory as he’s positioned himself T81 or worse in all six of his previous PGA TOUR starts and has yet make a cut. The 26-year-old will now head to Monterey Peninsula Country Club for his third round tee time.

The lefty is making his debut at this event, but had no troubles battling the elements on day one. He split nine (of 14) fairways en route to nine greens hit. The key was great scrambling as he squared just one bogey, going 8-for-9 getting up-and-down. Lamb needed just 23 putts to make his way around Spyglass, one-putting on 13 holes today. The PGA TOUR rookie has opened his career with six straight missed cuts, so this round was a bit out of the blue. He will turn his attention to Pebble Beach Golf Links in round two.

The University of Tennessee alum was a playoff winner at the 2016 LECOM Health Challenge on the Web.com TOUR as an open-qualifier, riding that and a T3 to 24th in regular-season money. He’s currently 41st on the WCT reshuffle, earning just 7.449 FEC points so far in nine events, with the next reshuffle post-WFC, so a big week is needed. The 26-year-old is 2-for-7 on the season, cashing a T60 two starts ago at the Puerto Rico Open (70-70-71-71), and a T62 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he was a first-round co-leader (68-70-74-75).