Player Highlights
Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but a week after Anders Albertson had elbowed his way into The 25 with a third-place finish at the Brasil Champions in April, Ollie Schniederjans leapfrogged past him after losing in a playoff to Brad Fritsch at the Servientrega Championship presented by Efecty in Colombia. Albertson, Schniederjans’ friend and friendly rival since they began their careers at Georgia Tech together in 2011, probably just sees it as Ollie being Ollie. For every accomplishment Albertson piled up as a Yellow Jacket, Schniederjans seemingly always had a response. And then some. The long-hitting Schniederjans played his way onto two Palmer Cup teams, was twice named ACC player of the year, and twice was a first-team All-American. Among Schniederjans’ most impressive credentials was winning the 2014 Mark H. McCormack Medal after holding the No. 1 spot on the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 41 consecutive weeks. The perks of that honor included exemptions into last year’s U.S. Open and The Open Championship, and Schniederjans gained valuable experience—and turned heads—on both occasions. He finished T42 at Chambers Bay, a course that vexed some of the most decorated players in the game. A month later he was even more impressive at St. Andrews’ Old Course, where he closed with a 5-under 67 and tied for 12th. Immediately thereafter, Schniederjans turned pro at the RBC Canadian Open, where he finished T22; he continued his splendid midsummer run the next week when he notched a T15 at the Quicken Loans National. Schniederjans missed the first two cuts of his rookie season on the Web.com Tour, but that may partly be explained by a couple of stops on the PGA TOUR’s West Coast swing and also squeezing in The Honda Classic as he hoped to land Special Temporary Membership status on the big tour.
