Robert

Streb

Streb split 7-of-14 fairways and landed 12 greens in regulation. He needed three par-savers from outside of 8 feet to maintain his clean card today, but those conversions only made up for the reasonable birdie putts that he failed to convert on. Streb missed four chances from 7-to-14 feet today. He walked off the course gaining 1.9 strokes around-the-green and another 1.5 strokes putting. Streb arrived with three straight missed cuts on his resume and he’s gone 12 straight starts without a top-30 finish. The K State product is certainly flipping the script early in the week at TPC Twin Cities. This will be his 25th time posting inside of the top 10 thru 36 holes on the PGA TOUR and he’s converted 13 of those previous 24 fast starts into eventual top-10 finishes. He could really use one this week as he finds himself just 128th in the FedExCup race with just two regular-season events after this week.

Six players, three from each wave, managed an error-free lap today at a breezy, TPC Twin Cities, including Streb. On seven (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, he posted 0.379 SG: Off-the-Tee, 2.683 SG: Approach, 0.530 SG: Around, and 1.203 SG: Putting with 28 total putts, the latter reduced by a hole-out for par on his first hole (10th) from 24'1" away. The 35-year-old, who arrived off three consecutive missed cuts and at 128th in the FedExCup standings, saved par two times from the 9- to 10-foot range, birdied 7 from 3'10" after an approach from 122 yards, and eagled the par-5 18th from 4'6" after a stellar approach from 264 yards. This is his fourth 3M with a lone cash of T34 at the inaugural in 2019 (68-70-67-67).

It’ll be twosomes for Saturday’s third round on Hilton Head Island and Streb will be in the final group with reigning FedExCup champ and Player of the Year Cantlay. He’s won on an island before, two times to be exact (in 252 career events), both down the coast on St. Simons Island, Georgia, at the 2015 and 2021 RSM Classic’s, both of those in extra time. Most recently, the Kansas State alum claimed the 2020-2021 edition after being the 36-hole leader by two, outlasting past RSM champ Kevin Kisner with birdie on the second playoff hole, that win coming 39 starts ago as a pre-tourney 350/1 outright. This week, he’s posted laps of 68-67 for just his third made cut in the event in seven tries but second straight after a T52 last year (68-69-74-71). Thru 36 holes, the 34-year-old ranks 23rd SG: Tee-to-Green (3.345) and 2nd SG: Putting (4.536), and tallied 10 birdies against three bogeys, five versus one today, though whiffed a chance from 4'8" at his final hole today for an 11th birdie. See link below to post-round comments.

This was the Kansas State alum’s fifth Valspar and second cash after a T51 on debut in 2013 during his rookie campaign. After opening with 68-69-65, he began T6, seven back, and went out in birdie-less 2-over with bogey-5s at 2 and 6 (errant tee balls). The 34-year-old righted the ship for three back-nine birdies at 11, 12 and 14, two from between 12 and 21 feet, posting 0.099 SG: Tee-to-Green and 0.731 SG: Putting. For the festivities, he totaled 20 birdies, currently T2 in that stat, against six bogeys and a double en route to his third top 10 of the season in 14 events, first since a season-tying-best T7 at Houston nine starts ago.

The 34-year-old, who opened 68-69, shared the low round of the day with two others before Riley strolled in out of the third-to-last pairing. This is his fifth appearance, first since 2019 (CUT), with one prior cash, a T51 on debut in 2013 during his rookie campaign (73-70-69-75). The Kansas State alum, mired in a month-long-slide, began the season with two top 10s in the fall, but had since missed six of his last eight cuts with nothing better than a T56 (Farmers). That can all end tomorrow out of the third-to-last pairing with past champ Adam Hadwin, and has an outside chance for a third TOUR victory in 251 events, first since a P1 at last season’s RSM Classic (37 starts ago) as the 54-hole leader by three.

The 30-year-old Pan finished T-16 last week at the Honda Classic following a 69 on Sunday. His top 20 comes on the heels of a ninth-place finish at the Genesis. In five previous appearances at the Arnold Palmer, Pan has made two cuts with a best finish of T-41 in 2019. Streb finished T-72 at the Honda after missing back-to-back cuts at the Genesis and Phoenix Open. The 44-year-old Byrd missed the cut in his most recent start – at the Phoenix Open – but he was T-9 early in February at Pebble Beach. He’s 2-for-2 in four previous starts at Bay Hill with his best finish being 31st in 2003. The 29-year-old Mullinax finished T-30 last week at PGA National and he’s 5-for-11 on the season. This week will mark his tournament debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Capturing top-10 finishes at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT and more recently last week at the Houston Open, Streb has had a nice start to his 2021-2022 season. When asked about his start to the season, Streb said, “Yeah, just trying to get one last really good tournament in before the fall’s over. It’s been going all right. I’ve got a few good finishes. Hopefully kind of carry that good golf into this week at a place I like.” Set to make his eighth RSM Classic appearance, the former Kansas State Wildcat will look to join rare company by capturing his third tournament title. When asked about the possibility, Streb said, “Yeah, that’s obviously pretty rare company. It would be really cool. Obviously, a win here would be outstanding and hopefully this place can treat me well again.”

The Oklahoma native, who began four swings shy of the overnight top 10, bags his second top 25 and first top 10 in the event in six tries. He improves to 4-for-5 on the season with two top 10s, joining a T9 two starts ago at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT as the 18-hole leader (61-72-65-70), and heads off to The RSM Classic to defend that title for a second time, having claimed both of his TOUR victories there. For the week, the Kansas State alum posted laps of 68-71-71-65, the closing five-birdie effort one of just two error-free rounds thus far on Sunday, totaled 11 birdies against six bogeys, and currently ranks 55th in SG: Approach (-1.136) but 6th in SG: Around (3.782) and No. 1 in scrambling (83.87%).

The 34-year-old, making his second appearance, first since T40 at the inaugural in Korea (2018), falls to 0-for-2 as an 18-hole leader/co-leader. He does hang on for his first top of the season in three events, and first since his second TOUR win at last season’s RSM Classic 26 starts ago. After opening with a career-low, tournament-record 61 to lead by one, he followed with 72-65-70. For the week, the Oklahoma native totaled one eagle and 26 birdies versus eight bogeys, four against two in R4, and ranked 20th in SG: Off-the-Tee (1.508), 47th in SG: Approach (-0.907), 9th in SG: Around (2.320), and 19th in SG: Putting (2.812). He is in the published field at this coming week’s ZOZO in Japan.