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Safeway Open: Top five sleeper picks

By Mike Randleman

BOISE, ID - SEPTEMBER 14: Peter Uihlein hits his on the ninth hole during the first round of the Web.com Tour Albertson's Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club on September 14, 2017 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID - SEPTEMBER 14: Peter Uihlein hits his on the ninth hole during the first round of the Web.com Tour Albertson's Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club on September 14, 2017 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /
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Safeway Open
ATLANTIC BEACH, FL – SEPTEMBER 29: Brice Garnett lines up a putt during the second round of the Web.com Tour Championship held at Atlantic Beach Country Club on September 29, 2017 in Atlantic Beach, Florida. (Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images) /

Brice Garnett was the Web.com Tour regular season money leader. The 34-year-old Missourian has spent time on the PGA Tour, so stepping up to tee it up at the Safeway Open shouldn’t be too big of a moment.

In fact, Garnett made his only cut at Silverado in 2014, A T46th finish with three under-par rounds.

Garnett had an outstanding 2017 Web.com Tour season, making 14 of 24 cuts, picking up two wins and three other top-10s and qualifying for the U.S. Open on the side.

He was one of the more well-rounded players statistically en route to finishing 10th in scoring average (69.55): fifth in putting average, fourth in greens in regulation and 36th in driving accuracy.

Garnett’s improvement can be traced back to his work with swing coach John Tillery beginning in the summer of 2015, according to a Q&A with PGATour.com.

It took some time to adjust to the changes. Patience was needed before the scores caught up to his progress.

“We made a few setup changes that I wasn’t really comfortable with. It took some right-to-left curve out of my ball, but for the past year-and-a-half, I felt I could play well but I just couldn’t score,” Garnett told the PGA Tour. “My targets were a little bit off with my new ball flight. I was super frustrated. I was very happy and content with what we were working on, but I just had to play a different game.:

He didn’t exactly tear it up in the Web.com Tour finals, but he didn’t have to. Reifers followed up a missed cut with a T29 and two T20s.

Now with a week off to prepare, Garnett can make good on the PGA Tour after a season away.

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