It’s the fifth and final opposite-field event on the PGA Tour’s 2024 schedule.
The 2024 Barracuda Championship is also the only tournament on Tour to use the Modified Stableford scoring system, which rewards aggressive play. The higher the score, the better over these four days. An albatross is worth eight points, an eagle worth five points, a birdie worth two, par is worth zero, bogey minus-1 and double bogey or worse minus-3.
Ben Silverman went nuts Thursday, scoring 19 points to hold the 18-hole lead, but fell back in the second round. One of the big movers on Friday was Rico Hoey, who scored 18 points to climb into the top 10 after 36 holes.
The overall leader heading into the weekend is Mac Meissner, who posted 10 points Thursday and 16 more Friday to lead by a point over J.J. Spaun. Meissner has never played a tournament with this scoring format before this week.
“I think it allows you to be a little bit more aggressive just because of birdies are worth more than a bogey hurts you. I definitely have been a little bit more aggressive to tucked pins than I probably would normally be on a Friday or coming into the weekend,” said the PGA Tour rookie seeking his first victory on the big stage. “You still know that you’re going to have to shoot low out here, especially with the winds down this week. It is nice to kind of have a format where you know you can kind of fire at a lot of pins and try and just make as many birdies as you can.”
This event also featured Andrew Johnston, the 35-year-old Englishman famously nicknamed Beef who is trying to resurrect his career. After spending one season on the PGA Tour in 2017-18, he failed to keep his card and then suffered a thumb injury that required multiple surgeries and sidelined him for most of 2021-22. That sent his world ranking plummeting to No. 1,932 late in 2023.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever play golf again,” Johnston said late last year.
This week, he posted scores of 7 points and 2 points.
Here are some other names who fell short of making the weekend at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood course after the cut came in at 13 points.
Tyson Alexander hits a tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Camilo Villegas hits a tee shot on the 10th hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Joel Dahmen hits a tee shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 18, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Beau Hossler hits out of a greenside bunker on the sixth hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Brandt Snedeker hits a tee shot on the seventh hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Andrew Johnston hits a tee shot on the seventh hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Keith Mitchell hits a tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the Barracuda Championship at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club on July 19, 2024 in Truckee, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
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