The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Walker Takes Two-Shot Lead into Final Round
Published 8/1/2009 in Pro-Am
By BRETT MARSHALL
GARDEN CITY — One usually associates logjams with traffic and if the 2009 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am is anything like rush-hour traffic in Los Angeles Sunday, then it will be busy at the on-ramps as no fewer than 21 players are within five shots of leader Mark Walker at the 36-hole mark of the 54-hole event that will conclude Sunday at The Golf Club at Southwind.
Walker, from Hurst, Texas, has posted consecutive 3-under-par rounds of 69 (at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course) and 68 (at Southwind) to take a two-stroke lead over a trio of golfers — including former El Dorado native Rich Morris, who is at 139 after posting rounds of 68-71 in the 30th edition of this tournament that raises money for the Garden City St. Catherine Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit.
Included at the back end of that logjam are Hutchinson’s Jesse Schulte, the 2007 Pro-Am champion, and Lyons’ Tim McKinnis, both at 1-under-par 142. Schulte posted consecutive rounds of 71 while McKinnis, who turned professional earlier this year, had rounds of 72 at Southwind and a 2-under-par 70 at Buffalo Dunes Saturday.
For Schulte, the Pro-Am has meant a return to competitive golf for the first time in two months. His wife gave birth just over a month ago to a baby girl and that has kept him home during much of the summer.
“I haven’t played for awhile and today it felt good back out there, thinking fairway/green/putt,” Schulte said. “I had it a couple of under par at one time and let it slip away but overall it was a good round to build my confidence.”
Playing Southwind Saturday morning, and teeing off on the northbound first hole (465-yard, par-4), Schulte and his amateur team found themselves facing a brisk 15-17 mile per hour wind, something he had never seen in more than a dozen competitive rounds on the layout.
“It’s a good thing they let us use the Bushnell’s (range finder for yardage) or I would have been completely lost,” Schulte said. “I’ve never played the course with a north wind and I’m not sure I would want to very often. Every hole was completely different than I’ve ever played.”
Schulte said for example that the first hole is usually a driver and short iron, but Saturday it was driver, 4-iron. The same could be true on the par-3, 16th, a 183-yarder where he typically hits 8-iron but Saturday it was 6-iron.
“No matter what you think the distance is telling you, it’s darn near impossible to get your mind to think it’s the right club,” Schulte said when talking about club selection complications. “On 18 (475-yard, uphill, into the wind) was driver and 4-iron today and I’m usually hitting something like a 9-iron or wedge. It was just crazy at times.”
The only major blip on his scorecard came on the par-17th, another hole playing into the north wind. After a decent drive, he pulled his approach shot left and it hopped over the green and ended up in a shallow hole. From there, it was a chunked chip shot, chip onto the green and a missed putt and he walked off with a double bogey that dropped him back to even par with the final hole remaining, which he then parred for his 71.
“I had my chances to get it a couple more under and I just let them get away,” Schulte said. “As difficult as it was today, it was a lot easier than the wind we played in yesterday (Friday at Buffalo Dunes where it blew about 25-30 miles per hour for much of the day). I at least managed to get into a good rhythm for much of the round today.”
Trailing Walker by two shots at 139 are former El Dorado standout Rich Morris (68-71), former University of Kansas golfer Ryan Vermeer of Lawrence (72-67) and Ron Vlosich of Lakewood, Colo. (73-66). Four golfers are tied at 140, nine are at 141 including three-time Kansas Amateur Champion Clay Devers of Lake Quivira. Five others, including 2006 Kansas Amateur Champion Drew Lethem (at Southwind), are tied with Schulte and McKinnis. That puts 21 golfers within five shots of Walker.
For Vermeer, who turned professional in 2000, it marked the first appearance at the Pro-Am but was not the first time he’s seen Southwind. In 1994, he was a member of the Nebraska team that competed at Southwind in the annual Kansas-Nebraska Junior Cup Match, a Ryder Cup-style competition. Kansas won that match 9.5-6.5 but Vermeer had fond memories of the layout.
“Southwind’s not overly difficult if you drive the ball well,” Vermeer said. “You just try to give yourself a chance to win on Sunday and see what happens. It (Southwind) is a fantastic course and I think somebody will have to get it lower tomorrow (today) to win. I was able to extricate myself from a few errant tee shots but my chipping and putting was pretty good.”
For Nick Mason, his 67 gained some redemption for his final round experience of 2008 when the wind blew 30 miles per hour constantly. He stood at 141 then before struggling in with a 92, his highest competitive round as a professional. He plans to take the same approach Sunday that he had Saturday.
”If ever there was a round of golf where anything that could go wrong, did go wrong, that was it,” Mason said of his final round meltdown. “But it’s a new year, a new deal and I’m more confident and today’s round gives me that going into Sunday.”
For Devers, who won a Kansas Amateur on the Southwind course back in 1990, he hopes to find his putting stroke that disappeared during his round Saturday at Southwind. He has not won in any previous Pro-Am appearances.
“I just putted horrible, missed a bunch of 6-7 foot putts that I’ve been making,” Devers said. “I know that if I can get the putter rolling, that a good score is out there to be had. It should be a fun day and let’s see what happens.”
Garden City’s Walker Frey made the cut by finishing at 2-over-par 145 on rounds of 72-73. There were 50 players who made the cut of 146.
The first place prize money is expected to be $17,500 of the projected $82,500 purse. The final purse amount will be announced when the tournament concludes Sunday afternoon.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
