Bryan trying to turn the trick at the PGA Tour level in RBC Heritage

Columbia native Wesley Bryan was a proven winner on the Web.com Tour, earning a battlefield promotion in August to the PGA Tour after winning three times last season on the feeder circuit.

He’s now looking to show he can be a winner at the game’s top level.

Bryan, who gained popularity as half of the golf trick shot duo the Bryan Bros. – his brother brother George IV is playing on the LatinoAmerica Tour – enters Sunday’s final round in a tie for sixth at 9-uunder 204, four shots off Jason Dufner’s lead.

He has gone 40 consecutive holes without a bogey and shot a 68 Saturday with an eagle and one birdie.

Bryan made three of four PGA Tour cuts last year with a tie for eighth in the John Deere Classic. In his rookie year on the PGA Tour, Bryan strung together three consecutive top-10 finishes with ties for fourth in both the Genesis Open at Riviera and Honda Classic in consecutive weeks. Those tournaments were won by Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.

“The times I’ve gotten into contention I’ve been able to handle my nerves really well, I’ve been able to hit the shots when I’ve needed to,” Bryan said. “One of the weeks Dustin was doing his thing and nobody was catching him at Riviera, and Honda I didn’t play my best golf but Rickie really separated himself on Saturday and Sunday, so those are the two times I got closest and those are two of the best players in the world.

“I found out I’m not that good yet. Hopefully one day in the near future I can establish myself in that category, but right now I’ve got some work to do. … If I want to be one of them I need to do a little better on the weekends.”

Bryan is making his Heritage debut this week, but it’s hardly his first time on the Harbour Town property during Heritage week. He has been a spectator numerous times, including 2004 when his father, George Bryan III, played with his son George IV caddying after winning a Carolinas PGA tournament qualifier.

“This was one of the weeks I had starred on my schedule. I’m super excited to come here and actually tee it up because I’ve been on the other side of the ropes for a number of years. To see that side of it and to finally make it here as a player has been really, really special.”

The 2012 University of South Carolina graduate, who played on the Grand Strand as a junior numerous times in tournament including the George Holliday Memorial Junior,

has a lot of support as he tries to become the first South Carolina native or resident to win the Heritage in its 49 years.

“It’s a lot of fun just having a lot of family and friends out here, a lot of really familiar faces, it’s been really, really special,” Bryan said.

This story was originally published April 15, 2017 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Bryan trying to turn the trick at the PGA Tour level in RBC Heritage."