Rory Sabbatini feels like a twinkie as he makes his 600th career start

Earlier this week, Rory Sabbatini received a cake to celebrate his 600th birthday^th Career Start of the PGA Tour.

A sweet reminder that Sabbatini is getting older at 46.

“Like I told my wife, I said my body breaks down quicker than a Twinkie in the hands of a fat kid,” Sabbatini quipped Friday afternoon at the Valspar Championship, where he turned back the clocks and feasted on a hearty Copperhead layout and shot 6-under 65 to make his first cut since early November.

“It’s been so long since I’ve played four rounds,” he added. “I don’t know if my legs will last the next two days.”

Sabbatini is a year and a day away from having surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus. The injury forced him to withdraw from last March’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Sabbatini went viral for staying on the course to walk the final six holes with fellow third-rounder Anirban Lahiri — and even raking bunkers for him.

“To those very kind viewers who commented on API that I was faking an injury and the others who told me it was unprofessional to back off, kiss my A$$,” Sabbatini posted shortly after of the operation on Instagram. “I can only say thank you to everyone who showed their support. I hope to be back out there and stronger soon.”

Sabbatini returned nine weeks later at the Wells Fargo Championship where he placed 41st^St. He made eight of his next 13 cuts, though he only managed two top-25 finishes, topped by a T-66 at Mayakoba, his last cut before this week.

After Mayakoba, Sabbatini missed seven straight cuts – and he seemed headed for an eighth in a row after opening the Valspar in 74. But he put on a bogey-free performance in Round 2, which included five back-nine birdies to climb the leaderboard.

“Like I said to my caddy yesterday, I said, you know, things were close. I wasn’t that far away. I could feel it was there. It was just slightly off the mark,” said Sabbatini. “Unfortunately this is a golf course where if you fall off easily you put the e-brake on and you definitely handcuff yourself and you don’t commit to shots out here. If you swing well and hit some good quality shots out here, you get a little freer and can actually use this golf course.”

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With Sabbatini back on the PGA Tour weekend – just four shots off the lead – the Slovakian Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo has been asked to join Paris in two summers.

Ranked 353 in the official golf world rankings, Sabbatini gave another honest answer.

“Paris 2024 has been on my mind for a long time, but after my knee went out last year and all, it’s almost become like smoke and mirrors,” said Sabbatini. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I would like to do it, but I don’t know if it will.”