Jonathan Byrd watches his drive on the 10th tee Wednesday at Montreaux during the Pro-Am event.
RENO — Repeat champions have been extremely rare on the PGA Tour this season.
Through last weekend’s Quicken Loans National only three players — Ryan Moore (CIMB Classic), Jimmy Walker (Sony) and Matt Every (Arnold Palmer Invitational) — have defended their titles.
Besides that trio, seven golfers have top-10 finishes in their title defenses — Webb Simpson (t-4, Las Vegas), Chris Kirk (t-4, McGladrey Classic), Zach Johnson (7th, Hyundai TOC), Scott Stallings (lost in playoff, Waste Management Open), Matt Kuchar (5th, RBC Heritage), Hideki Matsuyama (t-5, Memorial), and Justin Rose (t-4, Quicken Loans).
The only repeat champ in Reno is Vaughn Taylor, who won in 2004 and 2005. Geoff Ogilvy hopes to become the second golfer to win twice at the Barracuda.
“I think there’s an element of it that should be easy,” Ogilvy said. “Because you’re the last person to win around that course and you feel better; you’re becoming more comfortable and happier than everybody else on the field on some level.
“But obviously there’s … at the start of it is against you. Winning a golf tournament is really difficult. It’s 155 other guys there to try to beat you. I just think repeating is, as I said there’s an element of it that should be kind of easier, but it’s still really, really hard to win a golf tournament. So it’s just not going to happen very often.”
Brendan Steele has had two good performances at Montreux — fourth in 2013 and a tie for eighth in 2012. He tied for 25th last year after shooting 74 on the last day.
“It is so hard to win,” Steele said. “The fields are so deep. You can be hot, but sometimes somebody plays better. Look at the WGC this week (at Firestone). There are only 78 players which means you still have to beat 77 other guys.”
Jonathan Byrd, who’s coming off back-to-back top-5 finishes here, agreed.
“A lot of guys don’t come back (the next year),” he said. “It’s hard to win a golf tournament. There are good fields every week.”
WHO TO FOLLOW
The featured pairing for today’s first round is defending champ Ogilvy, who’s playing with Tim Clark and K.J. Choi. That group tees off today at 12:55 from No. 1.
If you like veteran golfers, look for the group of Billy Mayfair, Scott Verplank and Len Mattiace. The trio goes off today at 8:06 a.m. Verplank won the event in 2000, the second year the event was in Reno.
Two up-and-coming stars, Will Wilcox and Patrick Rodgers, have early tee times today. Wilcox, who’s paired with Wil Collins and Ryan Armour, goes off at No. 10 at 8:50 a.m. Rodgers, who’s playing with Jhonattan Vegas and Bryce Molder starts at 8:06.
The featured pairing on Friday is Alex Cjeka, David Toms and Retief Goosen. That group starts on No. 1 at 12:55 p.m.
SAYING ADIOS
Four players — Ben Curtis, Guy Boros, Nathan Green and Ryuji Imada — have withdrawn from the tournament.
Robert Gamez took Curtis’ spot and Steve Lowery is now in Boros’ spot. Ted Purdy is in Imada’s spot and Paul Stankowski took Green’s slot.
THE BROTHERS
Michael and Andrew Putnam are the only siblings in the Barracuda Championship. The pair attended Pepperdine.
Michael Putnam, in his second full season on the PGA Tour, has four top-25s and has made the cut in 16 of 26 tournaments. He has won $557,807 on the season and is 128th in points. His best finish was a tie for 11th at the Canadian Open, and earlier this year he tied for 15th at the Humana Challenge.
Andrew Putnam, in his first full season on tour, has two top-25s and has won $276,400.
He tied for 12th at the McGladrey Classic and tied for 25th at the Shell Houston Open.