RE: Kent Golfers in the Pros - 2021 Edition
The last golf season wound down a couple of weeks ago and a new one is starting this week. Here's where the Kent alum stand as best as I can tell.
Corey Conners finished 22nd in the Fed Ex cup and had the best year of his career. In 29 tournaments, Conners made the 25 times with 19 top 25 and 8 top 10 finishes. That is consistently excellent golf that only lacked a win (his best finish was 3rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational). At 29, he is entering his peak years and could become an elite golfer, so it will be very interesting to watch as he enters his 5th PGA tour season.
Mackenzie Hughes finished 67th in the Fed Ex cup and had a very solid year. In 28 tournaments, he made the cut 19 times with 7 Top 25 and 4 Top 10 finishes, with his best finish being third at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Hughes has been consistently good for the last few years but falls beneath Conners as a good, but not great PGA player. Like Conners, he is entering his peak years and it will interesting to see if he can raise his game further as he enters his 6th PGA tour season.
Taylor Pendrith spent the year waiting to join the PGA tour. Because of the COVID, no golfer from the Korn Ferry Tour were promoted to the PGA Tour after the 2020 season, so Pendrith had to wait through the 2021 year even though he had earned enough points to finish in the Top 25 of the Korn Ferry Tour even if he didn't play a tournament. For 2021, he made 16 of 17 cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour with 10 Top 25 finishes and 2 top 2 finishes. He also had 6 PGA tournament starts (based on his 2020 record), making one of two cuts at the US Open (essentially played twice in the 2021 season) and making the cut at all four alternative PGA tournaments with a best finish as T11 at the Barbosal Championship. He is now a PGA Tour rookie and given how well he has played in the last three years, I think there is a good chance he will stick.
Chase Johnson played the season on the Korn Ferry tour and finished 105th in the standings, which means he will have to re-earn his card through Q school. I think the experience was positive for Chase as he got to play at a high level and even though he only made 9 cuts in 32 tournaments, he showed signs of improvement making 5 straight cuts at one point last summer.
Ian Holt played the Forme tour, which is a COVID substitution for the Mackenzie Tour. He played well, making 6 of 8 cuts and finishing in the Top 5 twice, ending up 15th in points. Now, the problem is that you need to finish in the Top 5 in points to get into the Korn Ferry Tour, so Holt will have to go to Q school for the chance.
Finally, Kyle Kmiecik made the Latinoamerica Tour, but then COVID happened and he only played one tournament in 2020. I have no idea what his plans are.
And, for grins and giggles, here is a reminder of Kent's loss to Alabama in match play to finish tie for 5th in the 2012 season.
Kevin Miller (Kent) lost to Justin Thomas 6 & 5.
Kmiecik lost to Cory Whitsett 5 & 4
Connors beat Bobby Wyatt 4 & 2.
Pendrith lost to Scott Strohmeyer 2 & 1.
Hughes squared with Hunter Hamrick
Of course, Thomas is one of the best players in the world (with 13 PGA tour wins), but none of the other 4 have had significant pro careers (Bobby Wyatt played one year on the PGA tour). Kent now has 3 of this team on the PGA tour. Amazing.
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