27 March 2021: Andrew Yun shot a second-round 72 to remain at 5-under par and in contention at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic on Friday. Arjun Atwal had his back to the wall after an opening 76. But he showed plenty of grit as he laboured his way to an even 72 with the help of an eagle and three birdies in a desperate attempt to work his way back. Unfortunately though, Atwal’s valiant attempt was in vain as he suffered the cut.
Rafael Campos has a share of the lead with Fabrizio Zanotti and Justin Suh, with all three men standing on 7-under through 36 holes. Tyler Duncan and Joel Dahmen are tied in fourth at 6-under with six men trailing them by one in the next group. Yun, a Monday Qualifier, is keeping company with Graeme McDowell, Michael Gligic, Roberto Castro, Thomas Pieters and Stephan Jaeger at 5-under 139. Gligic shot the day’s best score of 66 on a tough day all around.
Andrew was quick to credit his wife, former Symetra Tour player Luci.
“She’s the real MVP,” Yun said.
Luci, back home in Scottsdale, Arizona, delivered the couple’s second child, Ezra, at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Her mother, Kelly, acted as videographer, sending the live feed through her phone to Yun who was watching via FaceTime some 2,750 miles away.
They hadn’t planned it this way; Ezra was due March 31. But they knew it was a possibility when Yun, a 29-year-old pro who played collegiately for Stanford, Monday-qualified for the Corales Puntacana at The Preserve at Ironhorse, in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 8.
The tournament was going to be March 25-28; he’d be cutting it close.
“She definitely understands how tough it is,” said Yun, who in 2018, his only year on the PGA TOUR, made three cuts in 22 starts. “I mean, it would be probably – it would be a whole different scenario if I had status and I could play in whatever events and whatnot, but the fact that I played maybe 60, 70 Monday qualifiers in my career and this is the first one I actually got through, these opportunities don’t come too often, right?
“And her being a professional golfer,” he continued, “she totally understands that, yeah.”
Yun held the second-round lead but two late bogeys dropped him two behind early clubhouse leader Rafa Campos (69). One of Yun’s playing partners, Eric Cole, another Monday qualifier who survived a 10-for-1 playoff, also will make the cut after a 70 (2 under total).
A First Team All-American as a sophomore at Stanford, Yun has had mixed results since turning pro in 2013. He lost his confidence and, briefly, his love of the game in his lone stint on TOUR in 2018. And after finding moderate success on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada in 2019 – two top-10s in 12 starts – he has mostly struggled to find playing opportunities since the pandemic began last year.
“Yeah, the only status I have is Mackenzie,” he said, “so that’s still up in the air, we don’t know exactly if we have a season or not. In the meantime, because I had PGA TOUR status in 2018, I’m able to play in these Monday qualifiers. That’s what I’ve been doing this past year and a half, just playing all these Mondays.”
Skipping the trip to the Dominican Republic would have been a tough give-up, all things considered. He’s thankful for his mother-in-law, thankful for technology – “I was there, somewhat” – and thankful he was not signed up for the Wednesday pro-am.
“I had a late tee time Thursday,” he said, “so slept in a little bit and practiced in the afternoon, so it worked out great. Other than the fact that I wasn’t there, you know, everything worked out.”
He plans on meeting his second son live and in person back in Arizona next week.
Cameron Morfit on PGA TOUR
