Ryan Blaum, Kyle Westmoreland tie 36-hole scoring record at 117th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro

Things to Know

• Kyle Westmoreland and Ryan Blaum tie the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro 36-hole tournament scoring record and share the 36-hole lead at 12-under 128
• Four of the 10 players standing T5 or higher – Westmoreland (T1), KK Limbhasut (T3), Brendon Jelley (T5), Van Holmgren (T5) – card 7-under 63s for the low round of the day
• Alvaro Ortiz logs second consecutive bogey-free round, following a 6-under 64 with a 5-under 65 to sit one stroke off the lead at 11-under 129 and T3 on the leaderboard; he is one of two players in the field without a bogey through 36 holes (Davis Shore, T5, -10)
• The winner of the 117th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro will earn an exemption for the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon this coming July

Ryan Blaum (T1/12-under)

• Follows 8-under 62 with bogey-free 4-under 66, highlighted by birdies on three of his final four holes (Nos. 6, 8, 9), to tie the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro 36-hole tournament scoring record at 12-under 128 (Jared Wolfe/2019/Jockey Club)
• Opening-round 62, a career-low round across his previous 724 career rounds played on the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour, tied the 18-hole tournament scoring record (Ángel Cabrera/2002/Round 2/Hurlingham Club; Tyson Alexander/2017/Round 2/Jockey Club), as well as the Olivos Golf Club course record (Mauricio Molina/1998 Torneo de Maestros/Round 2)
• Holds first career 36-hole lead/co-lead in what is his 134th career start on the Korn Ferry Tour (previous career-high 36-hole position: T2/2014 Chitimacha Louisiana Open/finished T11)
• Eclipses his previous career-low 36-hole score of by three strokes (131, three times in 248 previous career starts across the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour)
• Finished T5 in his only previous appearance at the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro in 2013, which, coupled with two victories earlier in the season, propelled him to a No. 1 finish on the 2013 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Order of Merit in what was his only year on the circuit
• Earned guaranteed starts for the first eight events of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season with a T14 finish at Final Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry; he was exempt to Second Stage of Q-School and finished T12 at the Savannah, Georgia site, qualifying for Final Stage on the number
• Played four seasons at Duke University (2002-06), winning four times individually, with the crown jewel being medalist honors a the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship; he also earned back-to-back ACC Player of the Year awards in 2005 and 2006, joining David Duval (1992, 1993), Bryce Molder (1999, 2000, 2001), and Bill Haas (2003, 2004) as the only players at that time with multiple ACC Player of the Year awards

Kyle Westmoreland (T1/12-under)

• Ties the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro 36-hole tournament scoring record at 12-under 128 (Jared Wolfe/2019/Jockey Club)
• Holds second career 36-hole lead/co-lead in what is his 41st career Korn Ferry Tour start (1st/2023 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH/finished 5th)
• Eclipses previous career-low 36-hole score of 129 (twice, 2023 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH; 2022 Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics)
• Finished No. 192 in the 2022-23 FedExCup Fall standings with 10 made cuts in 32 starts as a PGA TOUR rookie last season
• Finished No. 60 on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Points List and earned his first PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals, finishing No. 25 within the group of 25 players awarded TOUR cards through the old Finals structure (changed to current format beginning with 2023 season)
• Became the first United States Air Force Academy graduate to earn a PGA TOUR card; he has since been joined by Tom Whitney (Korn Ferry Tour Class of 2023)
• Played four seasons at the United States Air Force Academy (2010-14), posting four individual victories and earning a fourth-place finish at the 2014 Mountain West Conference Championship – which was the highest finish by an Air Force golfer in a conference championship since 1985
• Following graduation from the Air Force Academy, served a five-year active service term and attained the rank of captain in the United States Air Force

Quotables

Kyle Westmoreland on what is different about him after a season on the PGA TOUR…“We made some changes at the end of the season last year, and we started trending in the right direction ball‑striking‑wise. Really, it's kind of just a confidence thing. You earn your confidence in the game of golf, and it's just been awesome to come back down here, compete. I'll say it anywhere, I love competing. I don't care if it's the PGA TOUR or the Korn Ferry Tour. Obviously want to be on the PGA TOUR, but if we need to go through here first, what we've got to do and no tournament's too big or too small.”

Westmoreland on his driver… “It's definitely been my biggest advantage, but like everything else, you do have to develop it. Hitting it far is one thing, but we're trying to hit it in the fairway and we're trying to do well in that strokes gained category. It's been my biggest advantage and it's also been a work in progress, so I think we're driving it better than we ever have this year.”

Davis Shore on what he’s looking forward to this weekend…“I think there's going to be a lot of people out here. I know (the) last two years of this tournament, they get a really good crowd. The Argentinian fans, they love golf out here. I'd say this is the biggest fan turnout in any of the countries I played down south here. They love it down here. So that will be fun to play in front of some nice crowds. Should be a good atmosphere out there.”

Additional player notes

• Mexico’s Alvaro Ortiz (T3/-11) stands inside the top 10 through 36 holes of a Korn Ferry Tour event for the first time since holding the outright lead at the 2022 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club (finished T22)
  • Ortiz co-led through 36 holes of last week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta on the PGA TOUR (finished T13)
• KK Limbhasut (T3/-11) leads the field with 16 birdies through 36 holes
• Argentina’s Augusto Núñez (T5/-10) stands T5 or higher through 36 holes for the second time this season (T1/The Panama Championship/finished T27), while his 10-under 130 is a career-low 36-hole score in what is his 114th career start on the Korn Ferry Tour (previous: 2022 BMW Charity Pro-Am/131); he is making his 10th start as a professional at the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro, with three top-10s in his last five starts at the event (T5/2017, T7/2019, T5/2022)
• A total of 11 Korn Ferry Tour members record their first made cut of the 2024 season, including nine conditional members who entered the season without guaranteed starts:
  • Van Holmgren (T5/-10) – conditional member (second start of career and season)
  • Brendon Jelley (T5/-10) – conditional member (first start of season)
  • Davis Shore (T5/-10) – conditional member (Korn Ferry Tour debut)
  • Sam Saunders (T15/-8) – fully exempt member (finished No. 60 on 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List)
  • Jack Maguire (T20/-7) – conditional member (finished No. 79 on 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List; fourth start of season)
  • Mitchell Meissner (T20/-7) – conditional member (finished No. 95 on 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List; second start of season)
  • Ryan Hall (T30/-6) – conditional member (first start of season)
  • Connor Howe (T39/-5) conditional member (first start of season, second start of career)
  • Sam Choi (T52/-4) – conditional member (finished No. 2 on 2023 PGA TOUR Canada Fortinet Cup standings; fifth start of season; eagled final hole of second round, par-5 18th, to make cut)
  • Blake Elliott (T52/-4) – conditional member (second start of career and season)
  • Jeffrey Kang (T52/-4) – fifth of eight guaranteed starts to begin season (Second Stage Medalist at 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry)
• Two open qualifiers make the cut: Dalton Ward (T15/-8) and Drew Shepherd (T52/-4), with the latter posting a birdie-eagle finish at the par-3 17th and par-5 18th to make the cut on the number
• All three past champions of the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro in the field this week missed the cut: three-time winner Ángel Cabrera (T85/-2), 2021 champion Jorge Fernández Valdés (T85/-2), and 2013 champion Marcelo Rozo (T108/E)