Back that start-up date for University Place’s Michael Putnam in his return to the PGA Tour.

Putnam, who broke the small lunate bone in his left wrist while working on the driving range last summer, has been cleared by doctors to resume golf-related activities.

He originally targeted his 2012 debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am – set to start Feb. 9 on the Monterey Peninsula – but after a few recent sessions of physical therapy, his wrist is nowhere near ready from a strength and flexibility standpoint.

Putnam’s new target date is mid-April at the Valero Texas Open …

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This is the tweet University Place’s Michael Putnam (wrist) sent out Tuesday:

“Just got the doctors call saying its ok if I start golf related activities again!!! Can’t wait to be back out there!”

Great news! He will need a few weeks of practice, then a warm-up tournament or two. He could return to the PGA Tour next month.

In these winter months, Tacoma’s Michael Putnam has spent more time answering questions than hitting golf balls.

His fractured left wrist (lunate bone), which he had in a cast for nearly two months starting in late August, has healed much slower than first anticipated. The Life Christian graduate has not resumed any golf-related activity.

And it appears at this juncture that Putnam will not be ready to go at the start of the 2012 PGA Tour season.

“(Doctors) did not give me best-case scenario – just the normal-case,” Putnam said. “And I have been slower in the bone-healing.”

So, how much longer? Putnam is not sure. He said the last doctors’ exam showed 40 percent improvement in the wrist’s healing. Another magnetic imaging resonance test (MRI) is scheduled next week in Seattle.

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Rest – which means eight to 10 weeks in a cast – and not surgery will be the treatment for Tacoma golfer Michael Putnam’s ailing left wrist.

Putnam, the Life Christian Academy and Pepperdine graduate, suffered a fracture in the lunate bone June 22 while hitting golf balls at a practice facility in Raleigh, N.C. – the day before the start of the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour.

He played in that event – and two more tournaments thereafter before withdrawing from the Greenbrier Classic midway through the second round in July.

A week later in Reno, Nev., doctors detected the wrist fracture. Putnam immediately returned home, and had been meeting with hand specialists for the past month.

Finally on Tuesday, his hand was put in a full cast, performed by Dr. Carleton Keck, of Seattle Hand Surgery. Keck also does work with athletes from the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks as well.

“The injury is probably not as uncommon as doctors once thought, because it never usually gets diagnosed … by an X-ray,” Putnam said. “I had an X-ray today, and it showed my bone perfect with no flaws.”

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Michael Putnam finally found out what was wrong with his left wrist and the news was not good.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), done Wednesday in Reno, Nev., where Putnam was scheduled to play the Reno-Tahoe Open, revealed a severe fracture of the lunate bone in his left wrist. The injury likely ends his season, his second stint on the PGA tour.

The lunate, located right next to the hamate bone, is one of the smallest bones in the wrist.

Putnam said he knew exactly when he suffered the injury, too. He was on the practice range June 22 in …

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This week: Reno-Tahoe Open, Thursday through Sunday, Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nev.

World rankings: Putnam is 300th; Gonzales 826th.

2011 earnings: Putnam has $398,400 (136th on the PGA Tour), and Gonzales has $84,909 (211th on the PGA Tour).

Last tournament: Because of a nagging left wrist injury, Putnam withdrew midway through the second round of last week’s Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia. The Life Christian Academy product will try and play this week – and needs to after not cashing in his past two tournaments, and falling out of the top 125 on the money list. He missed …

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This week: The Greenbrier Classic, Thursday through Sunday, The Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Stanley’s fourth-round score: 4-under-par 66.

Position: Stanley (8-under 272) finished tied for eighth, two strokes behind winner Scott Stallings (270). Gonzales (3-over 143) missed the cut, and Putnam withdrew midway through his second round Friday.

Recap: Lots of good came out of a great week, and a furious finish Sunday for the Bellarmine Prep graduate. He now has two top-10 finishes in his past three appearances. He moved into the top 40 in the FedEx Cup playoff standings, which means he will be around …

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This week: The Greenbrier Classic, Thursday through Sunday, The Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Stanley’s third-round score: 5-uner-par 65.

Position: Stanley (4-under 206) is tied for 18th, six strokes behind Anthony Kim (200). Gonzales (3-over 143) missed the cut, and Putnam withdrew midway through his second round Friday.

Recap: The Bellarmine Prep product made up 43 spots on the leaderboard, and should have felt pretty good about his round – until he saw the 62s being posted by Kim and Jimmy Walker, his playing partner. Stanley finished in grand style, nearly holing out from the fairway from 105 …

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