After just missing Tour card, Mitchell rebounds with early 65
GOLF
Three holes stood between Keith Mitchell earning his PGA Tour card. Last weekend at the Portland Open, he had birdied Nos. 14 and 15 during the final round, and he needed just one more to finish in the top 25 of the Web.com Tour money list.
On 16, he missed a 6-foot putt. On 17, a 20-footer came one roll short of falling. On 18, he yanked a shot left of the green and missed a putt that would have saved him. Instead, he finished the event in sixth place and, more important, in 26th on the money list — the first runner-up to not earn his card.
Playing in the Web. com Tour Finals on Thursday morning in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at the Ohio State Scarlet Course, Mitchell had put that near-miss firmly in the past.
“It’s really tough, what I went through,” he said. “The more you put yourself in those situations, the better you’re going to handle them next time. I’m really excited that I got that under my belt, and I feel like (I’m) stronger and tougher now.”
After one day, Mitchell sits atop the leaderboard with a 6-under-par 65. He leads by one stroke Abraham Ancer, who with a win would be atop the money list.
“I felt like I played really steady all day,” Ancer said. “Nothing really stands out, but I like it like that. Nothing really bad, but nothing really good. I’ll take it out here on this golf course.”
By finishing among the top 75 money-earners for the season, Mitchell still earned a spot in the Finals, a four-event competition that concludes Oct. 1 in Atlantic Beach, Florida. The top 25 earners during the Finals also will receive PGA Tour cards.
After bogeying the second hole, Mitchell got back to par two holes later, and he birdied three straight holes to move to 4 under after 11. He added birdies on 14 and 16 to cement his spot atop the leaderboard, and the latter one was arguably his biggest stroke of the day.
“I made a putt on 16 that I think was pretty big,” he said. “It was a tough read … and that was when I knew (it would be a good day).”
Mitchell was placed in the same group as Roberto Diaz, who finished 25th on the money list and earned the final card. Mitchell leads a field that includes 20 golfers who have won PGA Tour events, and he did it despite a balky left wrist that he described as “unstable” and that hurts when he swings.
Sam Saunders and Alex Cejka both shot 4-under 67s. Cejka, who is donating $100 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts for each birdie he records during the Finals, had four Thursday.
Ohio State alumnus Ryan Armour, who is No. 159 in the FedEx Cup standings and trying to keep his Tour card, shot a 3-under 68 to tie with nine others for fifth place.
Kyle Reifers and Ethan Tracy, both from central Ohio, failed to break par after teeing off together. Reifers, a Watterson alumnus, shot a 2-over 73, and Tracy, a Hilliard Darby graduate, had a 76.