JACKSON, Miss. — Chesson Hadley performed bogey-free Thursday within the Sanderson Farms Championship and posted an 8-under 64 for a 1-shot lead in his newest bid to safe his PGA Tour card.
That is the third straight yr Hadley has been on the bubble to complete among the many high 125 within the FedEx Cup. At the very least now he has time on his aspect, and religion in a swing that he tweaked in the beginning of the yr.
He had two stretches of three straight birdies on a day of ever-shifting climate on the Nation Membership of Jackson to maneuver previous Henrik Norlander, who had a 65 within the morning, and Brandon Wu, who made an 18-foot birdie putt on his last gap within the afternoon for a 65.
Ludvig Aberg, the 23-year-old Swede who made his Ryder Cup debut final week at Marco Simone, had a 67 that left him a little bit pissed off. He missed three birdie putts from 7 ft or nearer on the again 9.
Aberg was No. 1 within the PGA Tour College rating, and thus is assured his PGA Tour card for 2024. Hadley is not so lucky.
The FedEx Cup Fall is for gamers to safe their positions inside the highest 125 on the finish of the yr. Hadley is at No. 122, with little room for error. He stated he wasn’t in panic mode like he has been in earlier years, primarily as a result of he has greater than a month left.
“I have been feeling good. I really feel harmful. I am feeling harmful proper now,” Hadley stated. “I really feel like a few of the laborious work and a few of the shot-shape change that I’ve performed has paid off, and my sport feels good. Simply have to preserve it going. The fuel is on the suitable.”
Hadley needed to tie for eighth within the last regular-season occasion to safe his card final yr. In 2022, he tied for fifteenth within the last occasion to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs.
So this sort of strain is nothing new.
“It is nice,” Hadley stated with a small measure of sarcasm. “I am not as panicky as I’ve been the final couple of years. We have loads of golf left. I really feel good. I am occupied with it lower than I’ve in years previous.”
Norlander, who’s No. 142 within the FedEx Cup standings, has a bit extra urgency. He confirmed that on the again 9 when he two-putted for eagle at No. 11, holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the subsequent gap, adopted with an 8-foot birdie after which holed a 100-foot chip for eagle on the par-5 14th.
The massive group at 66 included Russell Knox, who must good fall to maintain his card. One other shot behind was Kevin Kisner, who took the previous two months of the common season off due to a deep droop.
Aberg is among the many star points of interest at Sanderson Farms, primarily due to his speedy begin since leaving Texas Tech after his senior season. He did nicely sufficient to get the eye of Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, after which received the European Masters in Switzerland that assured him getting one of many captain’s picks.
He teamed with Viktor Hovland for a Ryder Cup document 9-and-7 win over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, and he spent Sunday night time celebrating a European victory.
Three of his teammates made the quick flight to Scotland for a European tour occasion. Aberg went to Mississippi to enhance his FedEx Cup standing. Whereas his card is assured, Aberg would like to get into the Gamers Championship and a few of the $20 million occasions subsequent yr.
“Going into the day, I used to be a bit drained, not going to lie,” Aberg stated. “However I knew what I used to be able to doing, and it was fairly cool to see that displaying up. Felt like I hit the ball strong at present. Type of a bizarre day on the greens, to be trustworthy. I made a couple of longer ones however then I additionally missed a couple of shorter ones. It is simply one in all them days.”
Additionally at 67 was Sam Ryder with a wild scorecard. Ryder had just one par on the again 9, 10 birdies for the day together with two bogeys and a double bogey.
