No talk of tree hugs for Kizzire, just great golf to extend Procore lead

NAPA — Not a mention of trees hugged or unhugged from Patton Kizzire after his round on Saturday, which was perfectly understandable. This time his golf game said it all.

Kizzire took a one shot lead he established Friday in the Procore Championship before telling us relaxed activities such as embracing trees had improved his “mental approach, and hoisted it up to four strokes.”

He went out at Silverado Country Club and shot a bogey free 5-under par 67 for a 54 hole total of 198 and left his competitors someplace back among the Cabernet and Chardonnay grapes.

“Swing feels good,” Kizzire said in what is an understatement almost as large as his lead. “I’ve been a little bit more focused on the mental game because I think that allows my swing to work, so that’s been a good combo.”

There is no sure thing in golf, where an interchange of birdies and bogeys can erase strokes quickly—think of Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters—but you’d think Kizzire in his eighth year, seems in perfect position.

David Lipsky, the first round leader, is the man closest to Kizzire heading into the final 18 holes, shot a 2-under, 70 Saturday.

There is a 4 way tie at 13 under, among 2 Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners, and 2 Americans Greyson Sigg and Patrick Fishburn.

Kizzire, 38, has won twice on the PGA Tour in 2017 and 2018. And right here in the Napa Valley he missed by a shot in this tournament, when it was called the Safeway Open. 

On Friday he explained how a change of approach, one that included relaxing—and that was reflected in his jovial remarks about hugging a tree—had improved his game.

“I wanted to make a little bit of an adjustment with my golf game,” he had said, “mental game and physical game. It’s been really cool to just get organized and try to be more playful out there and be unflappable, that’s kind of my word.”

Unflappable, or remarkable, he seems to have taken control of his game. 

“I think what was wrong, you couldn’t see it in the stats,” said Kizzire. “I think the consistency comes from a solid mental foundation and allowing yourself to compete. So I have been working on that and that’s been a huge boost for me.”

So much of the success in any sport is in the mind, you have to think positively and believe in yourself. Through the decades, the athletes—golfers included—have tried everything to keep themselves sharp.

He told us Friday the key is “not letting yourself go the other way.”

Through three rounds of this Procore he has been definitely going the right way.