Kevin Streelman leads this week’s Kevins.
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Given his latest taking part in historical past, it was considerably shocking to see Kevin Streelman surge into the lead on Thursday on the Valspar Championship.
But it was no shock that somebody named Kevin could be out in entrance. More on that in a second.
First to Streelman, a 45-year-old PGA Tour veteran who hasn’t been fairly himself since final fall, making solely made one minimize in his final 9 begins. But on Thursday he gave the impression to be taking part in a totally different golf course than the remaining of the sector; by his 14th gap on Innisbrook’s Copperhead course he’d made seven birdies and opened up a two-shot lead.
“I felt some really good feelings on the range this week and in the pro-am,” Streelman stated post-round. He additionally defined he’d put a new ball marker into play, one which helps him with alignment. “Sticks into the ground, so it doesn’t move, obviously, from its location, and you can spin the top where the line is and then you kind of get back and you see where it looks good.”
But by the point he completed off his spherical of seven-under 64 he didn’t simply have the title of event chief — he was additionally Low Kevin. On Wednesday golf stats guru Justin Ray deep-dived his database and returned to the floor with a fascinating enjoyable truth: this week’s seven gamers named “Kevin” ties a record for many Kevins in a PGA Tour discipline — no less than within the final 40 years.
Seven Kevins!
Let’s buzz by ’em.
We’ve talked about Kevin Streelman. He’s No. 179 on the earth and the seniormost member of this group; he performed his first PGA Tour occasion in 2003.
Kevin Kisner is a four-time PGA Tour winner who peaked at No. 14 on the earth and performed on the U.S. Presidents Cup staff as not too long ago as 2022; he’s been battling his golf sport however has been spending time in NBC’s broadcast sales space, a nod in direction of a potential second profession.
Improbably, of the 4 spots accessible in Monday qualifying, two had been gained by Kevins.
Kevin Aylwin is a mini-tour legend who works at a course in Florida and has a incredible story; by capturing seven-under 65 on Monday he earned his first PGA Tour begin after greater than a decade as a professional.
Kevin Tway has now spent a decade on the PGA Tour; he’s an Oklahoma native who went to Oklahoma State University and gained the 2018 Safeway Open. He shot 65 in Monday qualifying, too.
Kevin Dougherty, like Tway, went to Oklahoma State and turned professional in 2014. But he’s solely made spot begins on Tour till this 12 months; he’s within the discipline this week after ending inside the highest 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour final season.
Kevin Yu is simply 25 and in his second season on the PGA Tour however he’s off to a scorching begin: he has three high 10s in his final eight begins and is definitely the top-ranked of the bunch.
Kevin Roy was a PGA Tour rookie final season and completed the autumn at No. 161 within the FedEx Cup; he was additionally a teammate of Valspar event favourite Xander Schauffele’s at Long Beach State. He obtained a sponsor exemption into this week’s discipline.
So, yeah. Those are your Kevins!
What’s the purpose? You may in all probability extrapolate one thing about naming developments within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties and cross-reference these with hotbeds of gifted younger golfers and find yourself with some type of unified principle of Kevin. The title peaked in reputation in 1963 because the eleventh commonest boys title and stayed inside the highest 30 till 1998; it’s now outdoors the highest 150. But principally there isn’t a level. It’s simply a statistical oddity.
So right here’s one other oddity: regardless of this clear abundance of gifted {golfing} Kevins, there isn’t a single one inside the highest 100 on the earth.
There’s a Scottie and a Rory. There’s a Jon and a Wyndham. There’s a Viktor and a Ludvig and a Hideki.
There are three Justins (No. 28 Thomas, No. 53 Rose, No. 96 Suh) and three Camerons (No. 23 Cameron Young, No. 57 Cameron Smith, No. 58 Cameron Davis) and three Taylors (No. 62 Taylor Moore, No. 80 Taylor Montgomery, No. 94 Taylor Pendrith).
There are 4 Adams (No. 50 Hadwin, No. 51 Scott, No. 56 Schenk, No. 70 Svensson) and 4 Toms (No. 13 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 20 Tom Kim, No. 55 Tom Hoge plus No. 75 Thomas Detry) and 4 Matts (No. 11 Matt Fitzpatrick, No. 27 Matthieu Pavon, No. 89 Matt Kuchar and No. 92 Matt Wallace).
But no Kevins. These are the everymen. The folks’s golfers. But this week, they shine.
Streelman completed off his glowing spherical to guide the crew, however as he completed Kevin Roy was charging, too, with six birdies in his first 12 holes. He birdied his fifteenth gap, too, getting him to 6 beneath par with three holes to play. Suddenly the titles of first-round chief and Low Kevin had been each again in query.
Not each Kevin was so fortunate; finally examine 4 of the seven had been over par and Kisner introduced up the rear after a nine-over-par 80, giving Kevins possession of each first and final place.
These Kevins can do all of it.
