A lonely but great round by Harrison Endycott

NAPA, Calif. — They call golf the loneliest game. You’re on your own, other than a caddy. But usually there’s another golfer nearby. A playing partner, who keeps score while he keeps at his own game. Usually.

Not for Harrison Endycott in the third round of the Fortinet Championship on Saturday. He was in a one-some, if you will. Very alone, and it turned out very successful.

Seventy-three pros made the Friday cut at Silverado Country Club, and Harrison, playing in his first event as a PGA Tour member after qualifying from the Korn Ferry Tour, was No. 73.

Which, because the Tour doesn’t use markers, stand-ins to turn an odd number of players into an even number, as do the majors, meant that Harrison was by his lonesome.

He loved it, starting at 7:40 a.m. before the breeze kicked up, before the greens got tracked, and shot a 7-under-par 65 to move from that all-alone-just-made-it-to-the-weekend 73rd position to well within the top 10.

In a way, Endycott, born and raised in Australia, knows well what it’s like to be on his own. He was in his teens when his mother, Dianne, died from ovarian cancer.

According to Adam Pengilly of the Sydney Morning Herald, the young man, shaken, became a rebel — delinquent is too strong a term — and, already a golfer, devoted time to the game.

Now 26, Endycott is prepared to join the group of other Aussie golfers, including British Open champion Cameron Smith, on the world leader board.

“I mean it’s still very new,” he said, bringing a big attempt of reality to his making the Tour. “You know you’ve got a little more atmosphere, more people, bigger grandstands, TV everywhere I look. It’s funny. Like I feel very comfortable there when I’m within my own element, but when you kind of smell the roses in between shots you’re like, this is a different atmosphere. It might take a little time getting used to. But right now I’m enjoying it.”

When you shoot 65 in your third round on Tour, what’s not to enjoy?

The only mini-disappointment to Endycott’s round was that his girlfriend, Brandy, missed it. She didn’t awaken in time to attend.

At least his father was there, after being unable to travel from Australia because of the nation’s very restrictive Covid laws (see Novak Djokovic).

“It was very challenging not to see family and friends,” said Endycott. “But it’s going to be awesome to have them here on Sunday when I’m in contention.”

Endycott turned pro in 2017 and joined the Latin American Tour, where the language was a bigger worry than the golf. Then it was on to what now is the minor leagues, the Korn Ferry. Quickly enough, he advanced.

“I think my goals will come,” he said when asked his plans. “I expect the other guys will be shooting low numbers.”

As he must attempt to duplicate.