Nick Hardy
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Last week's winner Nick Hardy will take a breather, withdrawing from the Mexico Open at Vidanta prior to the start of the week. Ted Potter Jr. will take his place, as the next alternate.
Hardy teamed up with Davis Riley last week in New Orleans to earn his first PGA TOUR title. It was also Riley's first win on the big stage. They earned a week off and Hardy will take it, withdrawing from the Mexico Open after previously being committed to play. Hardy jumped from 95th to 39th in the FedExCup race with that win.
Nick Hardy pieced together a 2-under 70 on Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship, climbing to 13-under 275 at week's end, snagging a share of fifth place, the best finish of his PGA TOUR career.
It was a tale of two nines for Hardy and his putter today. He lost 1.1 strokes with the flat stick on the outward nine but picked up 1.7 strokes putting on the back nine, including back-to-back putts converted from outside of 17 feet to end his week. That was the story all week for Hardy who had a Jekyll and Hyde performance with the putter, eventually ending right around field average (+0.542 SGP). Hardy walked off the course ranked 1st in strokes gained approach this week and that's the main reason he can now say he's posted a top 5 on the PGA TOUR. Hardy has now posted top 15s in four of his last nine starts on the big stage and he still hasn't reached his peak.
PGA TOUR rookie Nick Hardy has flashed a lot of form in recent months but still finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the FedExCup Playoffs picture. He will look to pick up some points this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The Illinois product was slow out of the gate this season but a mid-season injury got him back on track. He is 6-for-6 with five top 35s since returning from that wrist injury. Despite the summer surge, he finds himself just 138th in the FedExCup standings. After the LIV Golf defectors are removed from the standings, Hardy will be flirting with the top 125 but he doesn't have much wiggle room with just two events remaining in the regular season. The 26-year-old ranks 30th in strokes gained off-the-tee and 47th in putting. That is the recipe for a consistent floor but he'll need to pick up one more strong finish to secure his seat in the Playoffs and lockdown his playing status for the 2022-23 campaign.
From the fifth-to-last twosome, PGA TOUR rookie and World No. 300 Nick Hardy pieced together an even-par 35-35=70 in R4 of the Travelers Championship to post 11-under 269, dipping one place to a career-best T8.
The Illinois alum, who was already in the published field at this coming week's John Deere in Silvis, IL., bags his first career top 10 in 28 PGA TOUR events, replacing a pair of prior-best T14s, including at last week's U.S. Open as an alternate. This was his second Travelers, first since his pro debut in 2018 (T61) as a non-member, sponsor invite, improves to 9-for-16 on the season with three top 25s, and is projected to move 23 spots to 137th in the FedExCup standings. For the week, the 26-year-old handed in laps of 67-64-68-70, totaled 19 birdies against eight bogeys, four versus four on Sunday, and ranked 22nd SG: Tee-to-Green (4.532), lowlighted by a -0.110 TTG today, and 18th SG: Putting (3.856), lowlighted by a -0.214 SGP in the finale.
DFS Last 5
Event | Finish | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Farmers Insurance Open | 78 | -2 |
| Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship | 75 | -1 |
| U.S. Open | 80 | 3 |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | 14 | -16 |
| Waste Management Phoenix Open | 42 | -8 |