Playing from the Beyond 150 category, starts are not easy to come by for Barnes. He was 105th of 120 on priority in this week’s alternate-field event, as an example. As you can imagine, it’s tough to stay sharp with limited reps but his short game was on full display this week. He swallowed just 8 bogeys all week despite ranking 72nd in GIR (40 of 72). “I mean, my category, not playing much. You know, kind of doing some real estate stuff with a group out of Denver. And coming to a week like this and getting the juices flowing, I think I tied for the lead at some point, I just didn’t execute down the stretch. I’m still rusty and not practicing like I was four and five years ago. I’m excited I’m going to go play Valero.” As he alluded to, this top-10 finish will earn him a spot in the field for next week’s Valero Texas Open. Barnes posted a T4 there during the 2016 edition. This was his first top 10 on the PGA TOUR since the 2017-18 Sanderson Farms Championship (T10) in the fall of 2017.
