Weekly PGA Recap: Give Me That Which I Kizzire

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

In nature, spring is the time for renewal, for rebirth, for new beginnings. But on the PGA Tour, it comes in the fall.

At 38 years old and coming off perhaps the worst 12 months of his golf career, Patton Kizzire could use some new beginnings. He lost his PGA Tour card last fall. He didn't make the FedExCup Playoffs last month. He didn't qualify for a major -- and, heck, they let almost everyone in the PGA Championship. He even played in a Korn Ferry Tour event for the first time in almost a decade.

But spring has sprung for Kizzire. All is suddenly right in his golf world.

Kizzire won the Procore Championship -- the first of eight tournaments in the FedExCup Fall -- by five shots over David Lipsky on Sunday at Silverado golf course in Napa, Calif.

For Kizzire, it was his third career victory in 242 PGA Tour starts. Interestingly -- amazingly -- the first two came in a four-event span during the 2017-18 season. 

Kizzire entered the week 132nd in the FedExCup Standings. He had won only $622,000 all season -- or as Scottie Scheffler calls it: "Thursday."

Besides moving to 70th in points and getting his Tour card for two more years, Kizzire will play in The Sentry -- a Signature Event -- to start next season and then the Masters. And, yes, even the PGA Championship. Kizzire has played in only 12 majors in his entire career and made only four major cuts (though one of them was a T18 in the 2019 Masters). If he can move into the top-60 in points by the end of the fall series, he'll also get into the next two 2025 signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera.

"I'm looking forward to going to the Sanderson Farms and competing this fall," Kizzire said. "This fall is really important for me and for a lot of guys. They're some of my favorite tournaments of the year. I found myself asking for sponsor's invites and now I don't think I have to do that. I may be wrong, I don't know."

[Narrator: He won't have to ask for sponsor's invites.]

Ranking top-25 in the all-important Strokes Gained: Approach category and an elite top-5 in greens in regulation, it's a little surprising that Kizzire has been so bad. Yes, it's because of his putter and he was ranked about 150th in SG: Putting. In theory, those other stats should make up for a lot of bad putts. They hadn't been.

Yet at Silverado, Kizzire led the field in putting, gaining almost nine strokes on the field.

Until a few years ago, Kizzire was an elite putter -- top-25 on Tour or even top-10 some seasons.

He said he didn't do anything differently this week.

"Nothing in particular this week, I just stayed extremely, extremely disciplined with my routine. I haven't done that well with my routine in quite some time."

Fun facts about Kizzire: His given first name is not Patton. It's Maxie. Not Max, Maxie. … At 6-foot-5, he is one of the tallest players on Tour. … He won the old Mayakoba tournament in November 2017 for his first Tour win and two months later after the holiday break he won the 2018 Sony in January. No other wins till Sunday. … He dipped down this past year and played a Korn Ferry event in April for the first time in nine years. He shot 80 in the first round and then withdrew. … With the Procore win, Kizzire is now over $13 million in career earnings. 

MONDAY BACKSPIN

David Lipsky
Lipsky entered the week 163rd in points, needing to get into the top 125 by the end of the fall series to keep his card. He's now 101st so, in effect, he's done it. It's possible that Lipsky will be DFS/fantasy relevant over the next couple of months. But after missing 14 of 22 cuts coming in, there's scant evidence of that. But that's okay with him, now that he all but has his card.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so," he said. "Close to being locked up at least, way closer than I was before. It's a good feeling. It's like, you know, obviously I wanted to win this week, but coming in second doing that, I'll take it. That's a small victory and that was sort of what my goal was going into the fall was just play consistent, play solid and sort of lock up my card for the next year. Did it in the first event, so now I can play a little more freely."

Patrick Fishburn
Fishburn, who finished solo third, began the week safely inside the top-125 at No. 102. Now, he's 82nd, so he'll turn his attention to getting inside the top-60 by fall's to earn berths in the two early signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera. This was Fishburn's eighth top-20 in 20 starts in 2024, so a continued rise is not out of the question.

Mackenzie Hughes
Hughes was a somewhat surprising captain's pick for the upcoming Presidents Cup. But with the competition in Montreal, International captain Mike Weir chose a bunch of his Canadian countrymen. At least for now, Hughes has made Weir look good by tying for fourth. 

Ben Silverman
Another Canadian, Silverman was not in consideration for the Presidents Cup. But in tying for fourth, he moved from 107th in points to 92nd. As a top-10 putter on the season and second in the Procore field, Silverman could be a productive low-priced DFS option throughout the fall. Although after this top-5, his price just went up.

Greyson Sigg
Sigg's tie for fourth was huge. He moved from 130th in points to 112th. Not yet secure in keeping his card for next season, but close. He had missed six straight cuts before the playoffs and eight of nine overall, so the long layoff obviously worked wonders for Sigg.

Sahith Theegala
Theegala finished in a five-way tie for seventh in his title defense. He'll now head to Royal Montreal for the Presidents Cup in good form following back-to-back successful tournaments at the Tour Championship and Procore.

Corey Conners
Conners is another International Presidents Cupper who will be heading to his native Canada on a good note after tying for seventh.

Tom Hoge
As a member of the FedEx 50 – those who qualified for the BMW Championship – Hoge cannot move up any higher in the standings. He'll play in the fall for cash and world ranking points. Finishing in a five-way tie for seventh, he did a good job there.

Neal Shipley
The former Ohio State star who was low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open tied for 13th. He is playing as a non-member of the PGA Tour, so he does not have an easy path to get a card for next season.

Brandt Snedeker
The recent Payne Stewart Award winner who will be an assistant to U.S. captain Jim Furyk at the Presidents Cup had by far his best result in a terrible season. After missing 17 cuts in 22 starts, the 43-year-old Snedeker tied for 26th. He did better than two playing members of the U.S. team. You'll have to see the Missed Cut section for that.

Min Woo Lee
Also on the International Presidents Cup squad, the Australian tied for 32nd. He also entered the week at No. 60 in FedEx Cup points and stayed there. So there's more for Lee to play for in the fall events.

Webb Simpson
Another U.S. assistant Presidents Cup captain, Simpson tied for 32nd, beating the same two team members that Snedeker did.

Luke Clanton
The Florida State junior tied for 50th as he continues to play in Tour events via sponsor invites. It was his second-worst finish in seven Tour starts that included a couple of top-5s.

Michael Thorbjornsen
The 22-year-old Stanford alum who won the PGA Tour University race to get his card tied for 50th.

MISSED CUTS

Max Homa, Wyndham Clark, Maverick McNealy, Nick Taylor, Ben James, Wenyi Ding. The big news here is Homa, who continues to play terrible golf just a week-plus before the Presidents Cup. He was one of six captain's picks by Furyk, who went strictly by the numbers in picking the golfers who were seventh through 12th in the point standings. We'll see how this works out for Furyk. … Clark made the President Cup team on points. He has been playing quite well of late so this missed cut doesn't not have the same concerns as does Homa's.  … McNealy finished far outside the cut line but dropped only one spot in the point standings, to 54th. … Taylor continued to show why he was not a captain's pick for the International team. He hasn't had so much as a top-25 since March(!). … James is the University of Virginia player getting a bunch of sponsor invites of late. … Ding, the 19-year-old from China, is heading to the DP World Tour next season after leaving Arizona State following an All-American freshman year. 

DP WORLD TOUR

A brutal and heartbreaking year for Rory McIlroy got a little more brutal and a lot more heartbreaking. After leading by two shots onto the back nine of his national championship at the Irish Open, he was overtaken by Rasmus Hojgaard, who birdied the final three holes to win for the fifth time on Tour.

"Unfortunately, I'm getting used to it this year," said McIlroy, who bogeyed two of the final four holes. "Hopefully, the tide is going to turn pretty soon, and I can turn all these close calls into victories."

This win means the 23-year-old Hojgaard will finish in the top-10 of the DP World Tour standings, thereby securing a PGA Tour card to join his twin brother Nicolai Hojgaard next season.