Ryan Gerard should feel a lot more comfortable than most of his opposition this weekend at the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship. And he’s playing like it.
The Raleigh native and University of North Carolina standout shot 65 Saturday to move into second place entering the final round at El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Gerard is 17 under par through 54 holes, four strokes behind Ben James.
No. 3 on the FedExCup points list, the 27-year-old Gerard can get into any tournament he wants to play next year. Meanwhile, most of the field is scrapping to maintain or improve their status.
The latter group includes James, who could wrap up a full exemption if he can hold onto his four-shot advantage. James is No. 52 on the points list (the top 100 at the end of the series earn full 2027 status).
The Sunday leaderboard is void of the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Harland. Instead, James and Gerard must stave off Chris Kirk, Denny McCarthy and Alvaro Ortiz.
It’s easy to figure why Gerard has kept playing — he’s striping the ball. According to PGA Tour notes, Gerard gained 5.631 strokes on the field on his approach shots during the first two rounds. Hard to imagine that figure going down during Saturday’s 65.
Plus, his putting is vastly improved. The only player in the top 20 losing strokes on the green for the season, Gerard has lost strokes in only three of his last 14 events.
For Saturday’s round, Gerard switched putters from a Scottie Cameron Phantom 3 prototype to a 2015 Newport 2 Timeless, a club he said he sometimes uses as a training aid.
“Just been putting with the same putter all year and something about these greens and that putter weren’t lining up, so switched to something I’ve had success with on Paspalum. Just rolled it pretty nicely all day,” Gerard told the media Saturday. “Feel good about the pace. I just need a couple of them to go in (Sunday) and to keep hitting the center of the face and we’ll be fine.”
Though the top 50 on the points list after the Tour Championship have locked in positions and don’t collect points during the Fall Series, Gerard should pick up a nice check, and possibly, his second PGA Tour career victory.
Another UNC alum, David Ford, could be playing his way into a full exemption. Ford is tied for ninth at El Cardonal. He’s 118th on the FedEx list. Tar Heel and Chapel Hill native Ben Griffin, who clinched full exemption status during the regular season, is also playing this weekend and is tied for 27th.
