ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – As the PGA Tour continues to alter its competitive landscape, Daniel Berger is unconcerned.
Sure, he’s at the RSM Classic this week, fighting to keep his job. He entered ranked No. 127 in FedExCup points, just a few spots from maintaining fully exempt status for next year, and after Saturday’s 7-under 63 around Sea Island’s Seaside Course, he’s tied for third and currently projected to jump to No. 108.
But no matter what transpires on Sunday, Berger is confident he’ll find his way back to the player he once was – four-time PGA Tour winner, Ryder Cupper, top-12 player in the world, all before a severe back injury robbed the 31-year-old of 19 months of his prime.
“It doesn’t really concern me,” Berger said of an quickly-evolving PGA Tour and current top-125 battle, “because when I play 1/10th of what I’m capable of, I’m at a level that’s – it’s going to sound terrible, but I think I’m just at a different level than some of the other guys I’m competing against. Regardless, anytime you take two years off of anything competitive, it just takes a while to come back. I’m giving myself 12 more months to be where I want to be.
“Yeah, like it’s not ideal to be in this position and I’d like to have won or whatever, but it’s just challenging to take that amount of time off and expect to come back and be exactly where you were before.”
Though Berger missed a season and a half with a bulging lower disc and deep bone sensitivity, when he returned at The American Express back in January, he was not afford a major medical extensions because he was on a multi-year exemption stemming from his victory at the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In 26 starts this year, Berger showed so rust, missing 12 of his first 21 cuts with just one top-20 finish during that span.
However, he’s looked more like his old self this fall, starting at the Sanderson Farms Championship where he finished solo seventh. This week marked his sixth straight cut made.
“I was playing well and then something happens and you take time off and next thing you know the whole landscape of the Tour’s changed and I’m playing in events that I’ve never played in before, I’m going to places I’ve never played,” Berger said. “It’s just a different way to look at it, but I’ve been really positive the whole year about it. Just control what I can control and that’s it.”
That’s a mindset that helps explain Berger’s lack of worry.
All he can do is play good golf, which, as Berger contends, is clearly enough.
