Harrison Endycott cracks driver, barely makes cut, shoots 7 under in Tour debut
Talk about a Tour debut to remember.
So far, Harrison Endycott has shot par to begin his rookie season, cracked his driver in the second round, birdied to make the cut on the number and then shot 7-under 65 on Saturday to jump into contention.
“It’s funny. I feel very, very comfortable out there when I’m within my own element, but when you do kind of smell the roses in between shots, you’re kind of like this is a different atmosphere,” Endycott said about the experience so far. “It might take a little time to get used to, but right now I’m enjoying it.”
Full-field scores from the Fortinet Championship
The 26-year-old Australian started the week at Silverado Resort with a clean card – bogey-free, but also birdie-free. He shook things up in the second round, firing a more eclectic 2-under 70 – three bogeys and five birdies – despite cracking his driver on the back nine, where he started.
“It sounded funny when I hit it, my second driver of the day,” the Sydney native said. “The ball kind of dipped low on me and it felt like a pretty good swing. Tour pros know when you put a good swing on it or not and it felt pretty good. The ball went weird, and I looked down and there was a nice big cut right through the center of my driver head.”
Grinding to finish on the right side of the bubble, Endycott played with a 3-wood on his “brutal” closing front nine. Things weren’t looking promising after two bogeys, but a closing birdie on the par-5 ninth put him through to the weekend.
On Saturday, Endycott was able to get a new driver in his bag and toss the 3-wood aside, freeing him up to make some major moves on the leaderboard. He did so with his dad in town all the way from Australia.
“He goes back to Australia on Wednesday,” Endycott said of his dad, Brian. “With COVID in Australia, it was very challenging to see family and friends. It’s been a long time, so to be able to spend some time and watch me play some golf has been really special for me and my family.”
Brian went from nervously watching Harrison narrowly make the cut to seeing him card seven birdies, jumping from T-59 into the top 5 by the time he entered the clubhouse.
From 72 to 70 to 65, Endycott seems to be getting the hang of the big leagues quickly.