Paul Barjon, Austen Truslow share 36-hole lead at TPC San Antonio Challenge at the Canyons

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Floridian Austen Truslow and Frenchman Paul Barjon co-lead at 11-under after 36 holes at the TPC San Antonio Challenge at the Canyons. Truslow and Barjon lead Kristoffer Ventura and Chip McDaniel by one stroke entering the weekend in the Alamo City.

Truslow followed up a first-round 66 with a 67 on Friday morning to make just the second cut of his career (in his sixth start). Truslow offset a lone bogey with six birdies to reach 11-under, easily the lowest 36-hole position of his career.

“This is the first time I’ve been in contention on the Korn Ferry Tour,” said the 24-year-old, known for chipping one-handed. “It’s pretty exciting. I’m just going to go out and play like I did the last two days and hope I can keep it rolling…I felt like I worked really hard during the quarantine, but at the end of the day I didn’t make the cut in my first two starts back. But maybe it was just leading up to this week.”

Truslow turned professional at 19 years old in 2015 after one year at Rollins College outside of Orlando. Since then he has competed in Q-School each year but had never made it to Final Stage until last fall. With a golden opportunity at Orange County National, Truslow finished one stroke shy of guaranteed starts at T41, resulting in strong conditional status.

He made his Tour debut at the Panama Championship in January and used a final-round 68 to finish T34, setting him up for the reshuffle category. But after Panama, Truslow missed the cut in each of his next four starts. Even with some early-season struggles, Truslow is enjoying the ride after six years of toiling on mini-tours and unsuccessfully attempting to get through Q-School.

“I’ve loved this season just from a standpoint of the golf courses,” said Truslow. “Every week I’ve liked the golf courses a lot…I think the biggest reason for those missed cuts was that I had never played at altitude before. Every start I’ve made since Panama has been at high altitude with bent grass, which is something I’m just not used to…But out on this Tour, you always feel like you are playing for something. Making the cut this week is important because I was looking like I was going to reshuffle down a lot.”

While Truslow was happy just to return to lower elevation, Barjon is likely even more comfortable in South Texas.

“I live about three hours north of here, so I feel good out here obviously,” said Barjon, a Fort Worth resident. “It was just one of those days out there. I made a few mid-range putts around 15-18 feet and that always helps. I kept the ball in play most of the time. I had a couple of holes where I was in the cacti, but I got out of them pretty well.”

On Friday, Barjon turned in 4-under 32 and briefly reached 9-under after going 5-under over five holes on Nos. 11-15. A bogey at the 16th dropped him back to 8-under on the day, leaving Fred Couples’ competitive course record safe (10-under 62).

“A lot can happen on this course,” noted Barjon. “You can get hot and get it going, but there is trouble off of the tee as well. It’s going to be a good battle this weekend.”

Barjon grew up in New Caledonia, a small French island in the South Pacific, where he lived until he was 16. He then moved to France during high school before coming to America to play golf at Texas Christian University.

The 27-year-old suffered a back-breaking defeat in a playoff at the El Bosque Mexico Championship by Innova in February. He entered the par-5 18th hole on Sunday tied for the lead and hit the green in two, setting himself up for a two-putt birdie to win the tournament. A three-putt from 70 feet left him in a playoff where he eventually fell to David Kocher. The tournament ended up being the final event before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a three-month shutdown.