Gonzalo Fernández (-1) missed the cut in the John Deere Classic after shooting a 69 and a 72 on TPC Deere Run course, PGA Tour headquarters before the Open Championship.
Gonzalo showed a slight improvement in his long game this week. The work he’s been doing with Mariano Bartolomé and José Carlos Gutiérrez is paying off. His game was much more solid than it has been in previous weeks from tee to green, but the putt, his main ally this season, did not come through.
On the 36 holes he played in Illinois, he only made one putt for par from two meters away, and his longest putt for birdie was from one and a half meters away. The other two birdies he made were already in the bag. Between Thursday and Friday, he let thirteen opportunities for birdie get away from the three to six meter range, a key distance in the PGA Tour to make it to the top of the rankings.
It’s the fourth consecutive week that Gonzalo hasn’t made it through to the weekend, a dry spell that’s come at a bad moment, when the options to earn the PGA Tour card are becoming scarce.
In any event, he’s still in time to reach the objective, and that’s what Gonzalo is going to fight for with everything he’s got. Enthusiastic about the improvements in his long game, he only needs to have a good week with putter to make it to the top. There are four tournaments left before the FedEX Cup playoffs start, what’s left of the opportunities to secure next season’s card.
