The Florida swing on the PGA Tour unofficially marks the start of the road to the Masters, and it's that time of the year when every point matters.
In this case, it's world ranking points.
Five tournaments remain before Augusta National takes the top 50 in the world ranking on March 30, after the Houston Open on the PGA Tour and the Indian Open on the European tour.
Stephan Jaeger currently is the only player to have moved into the top 50 through two months of the season. He has two top-10 finishes, a tie for third in the Sony Open and a tie for sixth last week at the Mexico Open, moving him to No. 42 in the world. Now it's a matter of hanging on.
Two of the biggest jumps belong to Daniel Berger and Laurie Canter, who both ended last year outside the top 100 in the world. Berger tied for second in the Phoenix Open and tied for 12th in the Genesis Invitational and now is at No. 52.
He is in the field this week at the Cognizant Classic, his hometown tournament previously called the Honda Classic. He needs a good finish to maintain his No. 9 position in the “Aon Next 10” standings that would get Berger into the Arnold Palmer Invitational the following week at Bay Hill.
Canter, who spent two seasons on LIV Golf, won the Bahrain Championship earlier this month to get in range. The Englishman is at No. 53 and this is a big week for him at the South African Open Championship. A good finish might be enough to crack the top 50, and this week is the cutoff for the top 50 to get into The Players Championship. It has been just over a year since his last LIV appearance in Las Vegas.
Otherwise, Canter would have European tour events at the Joburg Open, Singapore Classic and Indian Open before the Masters cutoff.
Other players in range starting the Florida swing are Ben Griffin, who moved up eight spots to No. 57 after his tie for fourth in the Mexico Open, and Eric Cole at No. 58.
The Masters field is currently at 91 players expected to compete. There are six tournaments left in which players can get into the Masters by winning. It's looking more and more likely that Augusta National's field will stay under 100 players for the 59th consecutive year.
Masters memories
Austin Eckroat missed the cut in his Masters debut last year, and he couldn’t have been happier.
The week was a bit overwhelming.
He qualified by winning the Cognizant Classic, one month ahead of going to the Masters. His game wasn’t in great shape and he knew it. There was so much that was new to him.
“I don’t know if it’s a little bit of a hazing thing, but you don’t know anything until you get there, and the yardage book sucks,” he said with a laugh. “There’s so many things that you have to figure out through experience. I think going into this year having been there before, I hope there will be a comfort level. There will be some prior knowledge.”
The wind and rain early in the week didn’t help. He shot rounds of 74-77, and it looked briefly like it might be enough to make the cut when the scores kept getting worse.
“I did not want to play Saturday,” he said. “I was watching the cut line fall, and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, I’m about to make this cut. Oh, my gosh, I’m going to shoot 80 tomorrow.’”
Eckroat has won again since that Masters and is eager for another crack at it.
"I really look forward to getting another chance at the beast,” he said.
Tampa tournament
The PGA Tour now has two of its regular tournaments on the Florida swing locked up through 2030, with Cleveland-based Sherwin Williams announcing it has extended its title sponsorship of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook.
Valspar has been title sponsor since 2014, and Sherwin Williams acquired the company in 2017. It has a tough spot on the schedule, following a signature event at Bay Hill and The Players Championship, but the Copperhead course at Innisbrook is strong enough for the tournament to attract a reasonably strong field.
The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, which leads off the Florida swing, also is signed as title sponsor through 2030.
Babineau honored
Jeff Babineau, the longtime golf writer for the Orlando Sentinel and Golfweek who died in December at age 62, is the fifth recipient of the Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Journalist Award.
Babineau worked at the Orlando Sentinel in 1986 and was the golf writer when Tiger Woods moved to town after turning pro in 1996. Babineau moved to Orlando-based Golfweek as a senior editor and became the editor in 2008. In later years, he was writing the annual book for the Masters and providing coverage for the PGA of America’s premier events, such as the Ryder Cup.
The award by the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches was named after Rosaforte, whose award-winning career for newspapers, magazines and network television made him golf’s consummate “insider.” Rosaforte was the first recipient before he died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in January 2022.
Divots
Brian Campbell became the third member of the 2015 Illinois golf team to win on the PGA Tour, doing so in the Mexico Open. Thomas Detry won the Phoenix Open earlier this month, and Nick Hardy was on the winning Zurich Classic team in 2023. ... Rafael Campos has a good reason to miss his home event at the Puerto Rico Open next month. He said he received one of the four sponsor exemptions to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, one of the $20 million signature event. ... Blades Brown, who turned pro at age 17 this year, made his first cut as a pro and earned $35,159 for his tie for 34th in the Mexico Open. ... Four more spots are available to the British Open this week. The leading player not exempt at the New Zealand Open will earn a trip to Royal Portrush. Three spots are available to the leading players at the South African Open.
Stat of the week
Scottie Scheffler has lost more world ranking points (97.8) in the first two months of the season than any player has earned. His gap over second-ranked Xander Schauffele is still equal to the gap between Schauffele and Adam Scott at No. 26.
Final word
“It's hard to look at a guy next to you hitting it 60 to 80 yards past you. But you've really just got to stay focused on what you're there to do and do the best you can.” — Brian Campbell after beating big-hitting Aldrich Potgieter in a playoff at the Mexico Open.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press
