Wyndham Championship: Jim Herman soars with 61 on Saturday
By Tim Letcher
As Saturday’s round started at the Wyndham Championship, Jim Herman was in the middle of the pack. By the end of the day, he was near the top.
Jim Herman made the cut but was not in contention at the Wyndham Championship. That’s until he literally had the round of his life on Saturday.
The round did not appear to be anything special as it started. In fact, he parred the first four holes to start his round before things really got going.
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On the fifth hole, a par five, he was able to run in a 10-foot birdie putt to get under par on his round. And from there, the avalanche began.
Herman would birdie the sixth hole, after an approach shot that left him just seven feet, to get to 2-under par on the day. He would par the seventh hole before another birdie on the eighth hole. Herman would par the ninth to shoot a 3-under par 32 on his front nine.
On the back side, Herman started with a birdie on the 10th hole to get to 4-under on the day. He would par the 11th and 12th holes before getting scorching hot.
Herman birdied the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes to move from 4-under to 9-under on his round. That’s right, five birdies in a row for the 42-year-old, which actually vaulted him into the tournament lead at that point.
He would finish with a 29 on the back nine and a career-best 61 on his round. He moved from 36th place to first in one day, and now has a legitimate shot at a pair of significant goals.
First, Herman could win for the third time in his PGA Tour career. And second, he could move into the FedEx Cup playoffs. The only way he can jump from 192nd place, where he started the week, into the playoffs is to win this week.
Herman has not had a very good season on the PGA Tour. Prior to this week, Herman had played in 18 events and made just seven cuts. His best finish came in January at the Sentry Tournament of Champions when he tied for 27th.
Since the tour resumed in June, Herman has made two cuts in five starts. He tied for 33rd, his second-best result of the season, at the RBC Heritage in June. And, he tied for 77th at the PGA Championship last week in San Francisco.
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Herman has two wins in his PGA Tour career, so winning would not be totally foreign to him. He claimed his first win at the 2016 Shell Houston Open and followed that by winning the 2019 Barbasol Championship in Lexington, Kentucky.
If he is to add a third career win, Herman will need another big day on Sunday. And if he can do that, he will also get into the FedEx Cup playoffs this season for the first time since 2017.