FedEx St. Jude Classic 2017: 5 groups to watch in Rounds 1 & 2
By Luke Norris
2. Mark Hubbard, Whee Kim, Ian Poulter
Round 1: 1st tee, 1:20 p.m.
Round 2: 10th tee, 8:20 a.m.
Again, I’m going to feel bad if I don’t at least mention two of the guys in this group so I’m going to go ahead and knock this out. If you don’t know the name Mark Hubbard, don’t feel too bad about it. He’s the 586th-ranked player in the world. After a few top-20 finishes in 2016, his best in 2017 has been 42nd and he’s done that twice. He’s never won a PGA TOUR event and won’t likely factor in on Sunday.
After a T-5 finish in Puerto Rico, Whee Kim missed five consecutive cuts until coming back with a T-34 finish at Muirfield Village this past weekend. The 25-year-old has one worldwide win to his name, that coming on the Korean Tour in 2012. Ranked No. 290 in the world, Kim attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open but fell short in a playoff in Memphis, the same sectional won by Steve Stricker. Kim is the first alternate from that qualifier and has to rely on that as even a win at the St. Jude Classic won’t get him into the field.
The real story of this group is Ian Poulter, who in 2010 was ranked fifth in the world. After a rough stretch of golf, Poulter found himself as low as 207th following the Honda Classic earlier this year. But determined to get into the top 60 before the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup hero had a couple of top-40 finishes to move up a couple of spots but then got knocked back down after missing the cut in Puerto Rico.
He came back from that with an 11th-place finish at the RBC Heritage but then again missed a cut, this time in Houston the week before The Masters, an event to which he did not receive an invite. But then out of nowhere, looking like the Ian Poulter of old, he found himself in contention at THE PLAYERS and ended up tying for second, which vaulted him 115 spots in the world rankings to No. 80. He dropped one spot after a T-35 at the Byron Nelson and a T-40 at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour but a win at the St. Jude Classic would assure him of one of the few remaining spots in the U.S. Open.
And aren’t things just a little more fun with Ian Poulter around? The first two rounds are going to be very important for Poulter and he’ll need some solid play to keep himself in contention to give himself any chance at a win on Sunday and a trip to Erin Hills next week.