Friday, June 9, 2017
The roller coaster ride continued for Ted Potter yesterday in the first round of the $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship in Ivanhoe, Illinois. Ted shot 37-34-71, 1 under par, and is sitting precariously in a tie for 44th place, with the early projected cut at even-par 72.
Brice Garnett is the leader with a 7-under-par 65, one stroke better than the trio of Mark Hensby, Ben Silverman and Sebastian Vasquez. Hensby, a former PGA Tour winner, is looking to get back to the big time after a long drought. He has played in Ocala, making the cut at the FSGA event at Ocala National several years ago, in the tournament won by Ryan Gildersleeve.
Ted began on the back nine and parred the first five holes. He then birdied 15, 16 and 18 and bogeyed 17 to turn in 2 under. On the front, he bogeyed three holes and birdied two, including No. 9.
Seminole Jack Maguire probably shot himself out of contention with a 6-over-par 78. Both Ted and Maguire will be heading to Erin Hills for the U. S. Open next week after Ted made it through 36-hole qualifying Monday at Brookside Golf & Country Club and The Lakes Golf & Country Club in Columbus, while Maguire led the qualifiers at Tequesta Hills Club in Florida with 72-65-137.
There were 120 players vieing for 14 spots in Columbus and 49 shooting for three spots in Tequesta. Ted tied for eighth in Ohio with rounds of 65-70-135, 9 under par. J. T. Poston was the medalist with a pair of 66s, while Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar, Stewart Cink and Bryson DeChambeau deadlocked for second. Among those tieing for second in Tequesta was Gator Tyson Alexander of Gainesville, with 72-67-139 and he survived a three-man playoff to gain his Open spot, along with Joaquin Niemann, the world's top-rankeed amateur.
The medalist in Memphis was Steve Stricker, with 67-65-132, 10 under par.
REBOUND - It's been a long two years for Gator Matt Every since his second straight victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in 2015. Matt has been horrible, to say the least, and has missed 17 of 21 cuts this season, earning just $33,091. Among other things, he's 206th (43.23%) in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour and that's something no player can overcome.
But Matt (he was on the cover of Golfer when it was in print form, playing in the Ocala Open) went a long way toward redemption yesterday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, deadlocking for the lead with Scott Brown, Stewart Cink and Sebastian Munoz, all shooting 6-under-par 64. Matt hit 10 of 14 fairways and needed just 24 putts. Today will be the most important second round he's played in many years.
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