SAN ANTONIO — Surprised to see Cameron Tringale’s name hovering around the top of the leaderboard through two days at the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open?
You shouldn’t be.
Tringale is off to his best start in years, bouncing back from the horror of being disqualified from last summer’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park when he signed for a score lower than what he actually made. That marked the second time he DQd from a PGA Championship — in 2014, a guilt-ridden Tringale called the PGA Tour a week later and disqualified himself after finishing T-36 at Valhalla and earning $53,000. He claimed to have missed a stroke when attempting to tap in on the 11th hole of the final round.
But ever since last August’s faux pas, Tringale has been flying somewhat under the radar in the process. In 14 starts this season, the California native has made 11 cuts and finished in the top 25 on six different occasions, including a third-place finish at November’s RSM Classic and a T-7 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
And during Friday’s second round on the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course, Tringale showed just how good his form has been of late — following a pair of bogeys and a par by ripping off five straight birdies to grab the lead. It marked the fourth time he’s ever turned that trick, the last one coming at the aforementioned RSM Classic.
Front nine for @CamTringale Friday:
Bogey
Bogey
Par
Birdie
Birdie
Birdie
Birdie
Birdie
ParHe leads by 3 @ValeroTXOpen. pic.twitter.com/5iRB5JJlzB
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 2, 2021
Tringale said his approaches were the key.
“I knew I made a nice birdie on 13, a tough par 3. But then 14 was a pretty easy, easy hole today. Then I just hit a lot of really good iron shots to those holes. I think my furthest putt was four feet after 13, so just good approaches to the green. Still gotta roll those in, but was able to do it,” he said. “I was 2 over through two, so I was really just trying to get back into the round and get into the red numbers again. I think when those things start to happen, you’re just kind of focused on where you’re at.
“But then I looked back and I thought, wow, that was five in a row and I didn’t even birdie 18, which is probably the easiest of all of them.”
Valero Texas Open: Leaderboard | Yardage book
Tringale has enjoyed success at the Valero before — he had two top 10 finishes early in his career (5th in 2011 and 8th in 2012). He also joins Charley Hoffman and Jimmy Walker as the only players to have played the event every year for the last decade. Both Hoffman and Walker have Valero titles during that span. (Hoffman, for the record, shot a 66 on Friday to get to 3 under for the tournament.)
But Tringale knows he’s only halfway home, and it will take stellar play over the final two days to earn his second PGA Tour victory — a team win with Jason Day at the 2014 Franklin Templeton (now QBE) Shootout is his only other one.
“My takeaway was that it was a good day. I made a lot of birdies and took advantage of when I was in the fairway, I took advantage most of the time. Except for the last hole, I kept it in play and just had a lot of looks and a few went in,” he said. “I’d like to hit a few more fairways. My driver was just kind of leaking left, or not fading back. Hit a few extra drives tomorrow. But other than that, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.”
