Wesley Bryan (-15) has earned more money on YouTube in the past year than on golf courses. This week he has created a good opportunity to reverse that trend. The 34-year-old golfer from South Carolina, has strengthened his lead in the Corales Puntacana Championship after signing a card of 66 strokes on the second day.
Bryan’s case is really curious. He is one of the few professional golfers who can boast of having been really famous before arriving for the first time on the PGA Tour. He was one of the pioneers of viral golf content on YouTube. He set up a channel with his brothers (Bryan Bros Golf) more than ten years ago and they still upload a video a week. Three days ago, just 24 hours before starting to play in the Dominican Republic, they published the latest one. They have about 350,000 subscribers on their channel and some of their creations exceed two million views. They have had guests such as Jon Rahm, a good friend of Wesley, or Akshay Bhatia.
Fate often insists on being capricious and has put Bryan at the head of a tournament after a very long time precisely this week. Not a month ago, or within two, just this week. Why do we say this? Well, because Wesley’s only victory came in 2017 at the RBC Heritage, the elevated tournament that is being played in Hilton Head this very week and where he cannot play because he does not have the necessary category on the circuit. If he were not designated, he might be there as a former champion.
He is a real genius of the short game. Not surprisingly, trick shots are the specialty in the brothers’ house. However, between injuries and low form, he has lived a real nightmare in recent times. He has a single top 10 in two years and has missed 23 cuts in the last 34 tournaments played. It is true that his results at the end of last year began to improve, although this year he has not been able to endorse them because he has only been able to play the Puerto Rico Open and missed the cut. Now he has the opportunity to give his life a new twist.
Bryan is debuting putter and moustache this week and is involved in a meta competition with Mark Hubbard. They have shared tee time on Thursday and Friday and have crossed a bet. It all started with a chip holed by Hubbard on the first hole of the tournament… Then Bryan holed it… Then Hubbard… and now this particular duel in ok corral is three to three. “We agreed to talk again on Sunday,” Bryan pointed out. By the way, neither the moustache nor the putter move at least until he plays over par.
Bryan has a one-stroke lead over Justin Lower (-14) and three over Greyson Gigg (-11). There are 36 holes left, but the opportunity he has created is significant. Certainly, do not doubt that he will have Jon Rahm glued to the TV in Australia, where he leaves tomorrow to play next week at LIV Golf.
Jorge Campillo (-4) has secured the cut with some fatigue. First step forward taken. Let’s not forget that he came from missing two cuts in a row, something that had not happened in his career since 2021. Therefore, the first thing was to get that out of his head and he has succeeded. The game has not accompanied him at all and today the putter has not been as brilliant as on Thursday. In fact, two three-putts on the par 5s of the 7th and 12th have caused very painful bogeys.
From the 12th it was time to suffer and bring out the claw. And he has done it. He made five pars in a row before committing a bogey on the 17th that placed him on the abyss. One more bogey and he was out of the cut. It was not an easy situation, as in the last two cuts he also ended up falling in the last stretch of the round. That’s the merit of this round, finishing with an easy par on the 18th with all the pressure on. Now he has the whole weekend ahead and nothing to lose. By the way, once again he was in the last groups and finished playing with very little light at the Corales Golf Course.
