Former CU golfer Yannik Paul remains on track for European Ryder Cup spot, but much work is left to do; Coloradan Scott Vincent earns 7-figure payday at Liv event; former Buff Jenny Coleman 2nd in playoff on Epson Tour
By Gary Baines – 4/30/2023
Five months from today, the Ryder Cup will be being going full throttle in Rome. And it’s very possible that Yannik Paul could be the third former University of Colorado golfer to compete in the USA-Europe showdown, one of the biggest events in golf.
There’s still plenty of work to be done to see if Paul can join Dale Douglass (1969) and Hale Irwin (1975, ’77, ’79, ’81, ’91) as ex-Buffs to play in the Ryder Cup. But, if the automatic qualifying process ended today, the German would be on the European team that will face the Americans Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Italy.
Paul, who played for CU on and off from 2013-18, was hoping to considerably help his cause after sharing the lead through 36 holes of the DP World Tour’s Korea Championship. But a poor weekend by his standards (76-73) led to a 38th-place finish on Sunday.
Still, Paul sits in third position on the European points rankings for the Ryder Cup, with 1,362.14 points, trailing only Jon Rahm (2,883.53) and Rory McIlroy (2,189.2). The top three on that points list as of Sept. 3 will automatically make the team, along with the top three on the World points list. Then Luke Donald will round out the European team with six captain’s picks.
Paul finds himself No. 3 on the European points list thanks mainly to six top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour since September — when the qualifying process began. That includes a win at the Mallorca Open in September, two seconds, a sixth and two eighths.
Paul is trying to become just the third German to make the Ryder Cup team, following Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymer.
“If I get better and improve my game, and repeatedly work on the right things, then I’ll hopefully get a lot of good results which will hopefully lead to the Ryder Cup,” Paul told Worldwidegolf.com prior to the Korea Championship. “It’s a byproduct of playing well. I’m in third place right now, but I know there’s a lot of golf and a lot of big events, multiple majors, coming up.
“There are so many points. I think I need to win one or two events, and then I’ll have a legitimate chance.”
For the current Ryder Cup standings, CLICK HERE.
Paul sits No. 10 on the DP World Tour’s season-long Road to Dubai points list. The top 10 on that list — not already exempt on the PGA Tour — at season end will earn PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season.
Liv Golf-Best Showing for Coloradan Scott Vincent: Colorado resident Scott Vincent garnered a nice — make that VERY nice — payday on Sunday for finishing fourth out of 48 players.
By posting his best showing on Liv Golf — by 10 spots — Vincent earned $1,000,000 for his solo fourth-place individual finish at the Liv event in Singapore.
Vincent ended up 15 under par for three rounds, leaving him behind only champion Talor Gooch, runner-up Sergio Garcia and third-place Brooks Koepka. It was Vincent’s 12th Liv Golf event.
“To end up two shots short of a playoff means you did a lot of things really well,” the 30-year-old from Zimbabwe told LivGolf.com. “So I’m really happy with how that went.”
Vincent claimed the International Series Order of Merit in the 2022 Asian Tour season to earn a spot on Liv Golf in 2023. He also played regularly on the Liv circuit last season.
Another Near Miss on Epson Tour for ex-Buff Jenny Coleman: Former University of Colorado golfer Jenny Coleman came ever so close to claiming her first victory on the Epson Tour on Saturday, but she came out on the short end of a playoff at the Copper Rock Championship in Hurricane, Utah.
It marked Coleman’s fourth runner-up finish on the tour, with the other three coming in 2019, including in the Symetra Tour Championship.
Californian Savannah Vilaubi, winner of the 2021 Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open, prevailed in a three-way playoff that lasted two holes. Her bogey on the second extra hole was enough for the victory, her first on the Epson Tour.
Coleman went 70-67-64 — going bogey-free the last two days in regulation — for a 15-under-par total. At one point, she went 44 straight holes without a bogey. Also in the playoff was Therese Warner.
Coleman played regularly on the LPGA Tour in 2017 and 2020-22, with a best finish of third place.
For all the scores from Utah, CLICK HERE.
About the Author: Gary Baines owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com