Zac Blair makes cut after sleepless trip to Puerto Rico Open
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After a flight cancellation and multiple delays Zac Blair arrived at the course at 6:30 a.m. for a 7 a.m. tee time.
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Zac Blair barely slept Wednesday night.
But he made his tee time in Puerto Rico – as the last guy in the field – shot 1 under, and then, it was time for a nap.
“I told myself I’d rather be here and not get in and be at home and get in,” said Blair Friday in Puerto Rico after a 1-over-par 73.
Blair is even par through two rounds and will play the weekend. It’s his first PGA TOUR event of the year.
Blair was far down the alternate list when the week got started, but after a myriad of withdraws, he found himself as first alternate by mid-day Wednesday.
He decided to head to the airport and test his luck and got the call from PGA TOUR officials that he was in the field at 2:30 p.m. ET.
He had a flight that was supposed to get into Puerto Rico at 2 a.m. local time, but that flight got cancelled. He was scrambling, he said, to just get to the East Coast somehow, but all flights from Utah – where Blair lives – were grounded for nearly three hours.
Blair finally made it to New York and left on a flight at 1 a.m. ET that landed Wednesday morning in San Juan at around 5:30 a.m. local time.
He arrived at the course at 6:30 a.m. for a 7 a.m. tee-time.
“I hit three balls and two putts and went to the tee and hit it as good as I’ve hit it in a long time,” said Blair with a laugh. “I thought, ‘Man, I should come in on Wednesday all the time.’”
Blair said he struggled with the putter Friday, but he’s happy to see the weekend.
He admitted he’s got unlucky with the draws on the Web.com Tour so far this year but chalked that up to just the nature of professional golf.
He finished T8 at the opening Web.com Tour event of 2019 but has missed the last four cuts in a row.
“It’s okay. It’s new down (on the Web.com Tour) for me. I’ve never played out there a full year so I’m seeing some new courses,” said Blair. “But I’m excited to be here and hopefully rip it up on the weekend.”
Blair already played five weeks in a row on the Web.com Tour to start the year, but he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to play on the PGA TOUR this week.
“It’s the PGA TOUR,” he said. “Having a good week changes a life.”