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NAPA, Calif .– The Fortinet Championship marks the start of a new season and, for 26 rookies and other Korn Ferry Tour graduates, the start or restart of a career on the PGA TOUR.
For Phil Mickelson, 51, it feels more like the culmination of a crazy 2021 season, and he can’t wait to take three months off to deal with it all. Well, winning the PGA Championship, above all. Other than that, his season reminded him that it was September of his years.
So far that just happens to be, ahem, September.
Mickelson chained five consecutive birdies out of nine to reach 10 under par and with a very real shot at the Fortinet Trophy on Sunday. He’s just four behind surprising Jim Knous (65) and Stanford product Maverick McNealy (70), with just eight players ahead of him.
“I’m in a position where a good round tomorrow will do good,” said Mickelson after putting out 123 feet 8 inches of putts with his new method of extending the grip and locking the arms. “And it’s fun to have a tee time a little bit later and feel some of the nerves and so on. I know I’m going to have to shoot probably 7, 8, 9 under par to have a chance, but anyway, it’s fun to have that chance.
This was before the wind picked up in the afternoon and the leaders stalled. The distance he might have anticipated between himself and the rulers never really materialized.
“I’m going to have to be a little more specific,” he said after hitting just five of the 14 fairways.
Mickelson’s wood 2 broke on Friday, but he travels with saves and just jumped on a new header. Whatever happens on Sunday, he will stay busy. Although the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits will mark the first U.S. Ryder or Presidents Cup team that he has not made as a player since 1993, he will always be there as Steve Stricker’s vice-captain. He plans to fly from Napa to San Diego after the final round, spend a night in his own bed, and then leave with his wife Amy to Wisconsin.
While Mickelson will be aiming for his 46th TOUR win on Sunday, the eight guys ahead of him in the standings total seven wins. Scott Stallings (67) leads the way with three, while Max Homa (65) and Troy Merritt (69) have two apiece. All are 12 cents, two behind.
Co-leaders Knous and McNealy are each seeking their decisive TOUR victory, and just one of them is a surprise at the top of the table. McNealy, 25, had 11 wins at Stanford, just 60 miles south of here, and won the BMW Championship in each of his first two seasons on the TOUR.
A victory on Sunday would be a very natural next step in his progression, and it would be difficult to find a more suitable place to do so. McNealy grew up in the Bay Area, got sponsorship exemptions in the Fortinet as an amateur and his parents, uncle and friends cheered him on on Saturday.
“This is one of the places on TOUR where I don’t feel as much of a rookie,” he said, “and it goes back to the roots of the Bay Area. Something about the air here. , I feel really comfortable, and the grass and the conditions and it’s a lot of fun having people supporting you.
As for Jim “Hard K” Knous – his real nickname by the way – well, no one saw it coming. He made just five cuts in 18 Korn Ferry Tour starts last season and entered the Fortinet field on a major medical stretch with a wrist injury. Knous, who finished 25th in the 2018 KFT Final to earn his TOUR card, has this and another start to qualify for his overtime.
A two-way tie for third or better Sunday would give him enough points to tie the 125th player in the 2018-19 FedExCup standings, while a 12th or better solo would give him conditional status on the TOUR and full status on the. Korn Ferry Tour, allowing him to skip the next Q school.
“Do your best,” he told him, his wife. “Let God do the rest. “
So far, it seems to be working. Two days after world number 1 Jon Rahm missed the cut, Hard K is playing to radically change the trajectory of his career.
“Yes, nothing really for me to lose,” he said. “I can go out there and play for free and hit the shots that I know I can hit, try to win the tournament. I know that sounds like a lot, but I’m going to play like this because it’s when I’m playing my best golf, when I’m doing fully engaged swings.
With so much inexperience at the top; 18 players less than four ahead; and Mickelson, Webb Simpson (65) and newly created Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris (71) are in hiding, the stage is set.
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