Patton Kizzire hugs tree, shoots 65 at Procore Championship

NAPA, Calif. – Patton Kizzire said he hugged a tree during Friday’s second round of the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort.

His wide grin called for clarification. Was he kidding?

“Oh, you know, not joking,” he said after carding a bogey-free, 7-under 65 to reach 13 under halfway through the tournament, which he led with the afternoon wave still on the course.

Kizzire pointed toward the 16th tee.

“I hugged that tree right there,” he said.

Tree-hugging and spending time outdoors in bare feet (sometimes called “earthing”) are new to him, but they are part of a savor-the-moment regimen drawn up by Kizzire’s new mental coach, a woman who lives not far from his home in St. Simons, Georgia.

“I've had a little bit of time off,” said Kizzire, a two-time PGA TOUR winner who is fighting to keep his TOUR card (FedExCup No. 132). “I missed the Playoffs, so I wanted to make a little bit of an adjustment with my golf game, mental game and physical game.

“It's been really cool to just get organized,” he continued, “and try to be more playful out there and be unflappable, that's kind of my word.”

Hey, whatever works. Through two rounds, Kizzire is filling up the cups at Silverado and leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. He hasn’t resembled the player who missed six straight cuts on TOUR from late January through March, or the guy whose FedExCup run ended with two more missed cuts at the 3M Open and Wyndham Championship.

The latter disappointment was Aug. 9, leaving Kizzire time to hit the reset button. He couldn’t have picked a better place for his return than Silverado, where tree-lined fairways and doglegs make it tough to keep tee shots in the short grass. Such were also the conditions for his two TOUR wins at Mayakoba and the Sony Open in Hawaii in the 2017-18 season.

When it comes to golf courses, Kizzire, it seems, has a type, and he might be a three-time winner but for his runner-up finish here eight years ago.

“I think I should have won,” he said of the 2016 Procore. “I had the lead with a few holes to play, another guy played really well, Brendan Steele played very well at the end and beat me by a stroke. I know I can do it and I'm looking forward to the opportunity this weekend.”

That kind of positivity, he added, has fueled him over the first two days as he’s racked up 15 birdies against just two bogeys.

Well, positivity and tree-hugging – but perhaps they are one and the same.