New Cut Line Stalls Potter - and 15 Others
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

    One of the new PGA Tour rules changes hit home in spades in the A Military Tribute at Greenbrier last week. The rule is quite simple and replaced an age-old one - the cut line is no longer the low 70 and ties, it's down by five to the low 65 and ties. As a result, Ted Potter and a huge group of 3-under-par shooters - 16 in all - missed the cut Friday night while 67 players at 4 under or better made it into the weekend. 

    Part B of that rule change is that there is no longer an 'MDF' category, that group that used to get to play Saturday but didn't make the 54-hole cut with all collecting a minor paycheck. With five less places to pay, plus no MDF to worry about, the checks will be bigger for those who do make the low 65 and ties, as if the many millionaires are in need of some extra cash. 

    Joaquin Niemann added a final-round 64 and finished at 21 under to run away with the Greenbrier event. Tom Hoge was six behind at 15 under and there were four at 14 under. Kevin Chappell, who became one of the rare 59 shooters on Friday after posting a 71 in the opening round, had little success in the final two rounds (73-72) and wound up at 5 under. Central Floridian Rob Oppenheim was 8 under, and Seminole Hank Lebioda 6 under. 

    The best any of the big-name players could muster up was a tie for 24th by Keegan Bradley. Bubba Watson was 5 under and Jason Dufner 4 under as the Young Turks again dominated play - as they have been doing for so many months.

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