By Patrick Donahue
Assistant Sports Editor
Under sweltering conditions, the Nationwide Tour pros took their turns blistering the Black Creek Club course today.
Garrett Willis and Brandt Snedeker each turned in course-record-tying 10-under-par 62s in the first round of the 2006 Chattanooga Classic. Willis and Snedeker also gave the top of the leaderboard a distinctive home-state flavor: Willis is from Knoxville and played at East Tennessee State University, and Snedeker is from Nashville and played for Vanderbilt.
Both felt right at home at Black Creek today.
Willis, who lived in Chattanooga for a year while his wife attended UTC, ran through two birdie binges. He birdied holes 14-17 and repeated the feat on holes 6-8.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I got off to a slow start, but the last four holes of the back nine got it going.”
His career-best round is a 61 he shot in 2002. He owns wins on the Nationwide Tour, last year at the Envirocare Utah Open, and on the PGA Tour, with the 2001 Chrysler Classic of Tucson.
A putting lesson from Bob Wolcott may have made the difference in Thursday’s round. Wolcott told him he was moving his head too much.
“I’ve been going through such a bad slump in putting,” Willis said. “Today I was just trying to stroke them, and they were finding the hole.”
Snedeker’s round included eagles on Nos. 6 and 14 and clutch saves on 7 and 8. He blasted out of the front greenside bunker on the par-3 seventh and made his par putt. Then, after driving into the left rough on the eighth, he hit a wedge from 95 yards and dropped in a long, twisting putt for birdie.
He missed a shorter putt on the ninth, his final hole, that would have broken the course record and given him the outright lead.
“I hit such a bad putt,” Snedeker said. “It was my worst putt of the day. But I can’t complain. I played pretty solid.”
Snedeker said he hasn’t played well this year, but the kind of round he turned in today has been a long time in the making.
“I’ve worked for six months,” he said. “I’ve been playing terrible, stupid golf. Every time I believe I’m on the right track, something else leaves me.
“I know I’m on the right track. Three years ago, I couldn’t have shot this.”
The two-year pro said his opening 30 was relatively easy and he could have picked up even more strokes. He missed a 10-foot eagle putt on the 10th, after driving the green, and missed birdie putts at the first, second and third holes.
“I thought my round was stalled,” Snedeker said.
He birdied the fifth and eagled the sixth to get his round going.
“If you stay patient, the birdies are out there,” Snedeker said.
Craig Bowden and Kevin Gessino-Krat are a shot back at 9-under 63. Bowden, who has two career Nationwide victories, tied his best round on the tour with a 9-under 63.
“I putted the ball very well today,” he said. “I hit a lot of good wedges. It felt like I was going to birdie every hole.”
Bowden reeled off three birdies to start his round and held the lead at 9 under, for about 15 minutes, until Willis finished his sterling round.
“I just had a good feeling,” Bowden said, “and thought, ‘Here we go, we’re off to the races. This could be a good day.’”
The thought of a 59 did cross his mind, he said, even after he three-putted from 15 feet on hole No. 1. He also made par on the sixth hole, statistically the easiest of the day, but closed with birdies on the eighth and ninth.
“I left a couple of strokes out there,” Bowden said. “I really felt like I was in control.”
Gessino-Kraft finished second in the season-opening Movistar Panama Championship for his only top-25 finish so far.
“It’s about time,” he said of his bogey-free 63. “I’ve struggled the last three months. Everything came together today.”
Wednesday night, Gessino-Kraft had nine putters on the practice green, trying to find the right one.
“Thankfully, I picked a hot putter this week,” he said. “This is a great golf course. It’s a lot of fun. You know there’s going to be a lot of birdie opportunities.”
Dicky Pride and Huntsville’s Spike McRoy are at 8 under. Eight players, including 2004 Chattanooga Classic champ Justin Bolli, are at 7 under. In all, 116 of the 156-man field broke par on a day when the heat index hit 101.
Thomas Hagler IV, a rising senior for the University of Alabama golf team from Ringgold, turned in the best round of any the area players in the tournament. Hagler started out eagle-birdie and finished at 5-under 67.
He battled a case of nerves at the start, but his 2 on the par-4 10th settled him down.
“I was telling my caddie, ‘I forgot that the 10th hole was my starting hole,’” Hagler said. “I had an absolute blast. It was more than I could have hoped for.”
And with the leaders at 10 under now, the winning score could be in uncharted territory.
“I said before the week started it was going to be 30 under,” Willis said. “And I don’t know if that will hold.”
E-mail Patrick Donahue at pdonahue@timesfreepress.com
See tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for full coverage.
Assistant Sports Editor
Under sweltering conditions, the Nationwide Tour pros took their turns blistering the Black Creek Club course today.
Garrett Willis and Brandt Snedeker each turned in course-record-tying 10-under-par 62s in the first round of the 2006 Chattanooga Classic. Willis and Snedeker also gave the top of the leaderboard a distinctive home-state flavor: Willis is from Knoxville and played at East Tennessee State University, and Snedeker is from Nashville and played for Vanderbilt.
Both felt right at home at Black Creek today.
Willis, who lived in Chattanooga for a year while his wife attended UTC, ran through two birdie binges. He birdied holes 14-17 and repeated the feat on holes 6-8.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I got off to a slow start, but the last four holes of the back nine got it going.”
His career-best round is a 61 he shot in 2002. He owns wins on the Nationwide Tour, last year at the Envirocare Utah Open, and on the PGA Tour, with the 2001 Chrysler Classic of Tucson.
A putting lesson from Bob Wolcott may have made the difference in Thursday’s round. Wolcott told him he was moving his head too much.
“I’ve been going through such a bad slump in putting,” Willis said. “Today I was just trying to stroke them, and they were finding the hole.”
Snedeker’s round included eagles on Nos. 6 and 14 and clutch saves on 7 and 8. He blasted out of the front greenside bunker on the par-3 seventh and made his par putt. Then, after driving into the left rough on the eighth, he hit a wedge from 95 yards and dropped in a long, twisting putt for birdie.
He missed a shorter putt on the ninth, his final hole, that would have broken the course record and given him the outright lead.
“I hit such a bad putt,” Snedeker said. “It was my worst putt of the day. But I can’t complain. I played pretty solid.”
Snedeker said he hasn’t played well this year, but the kind of round he turned in today has been a long time in the making.
“I’ve worked for six months,” he said. “I’ve been playing terrible, stupid golf. Every time I believe I’m on the right track, something else leaves me.
“I know I’m on the right track. Three years ago, I couldn’t have shot this.”
The two-year pro said his opening 30 was relatively easy and he could have picked up even more strokes. He missed a 10-foot eagle putt on the 10th, after driving the green, and missed birdie putts at the first, second and third holes.
“I thought my round was stalled,” Snedeker said.
He birdied the fifth and eagled the sixth to get his round going.
“If you stay patient, the birdies are out there,” Snedeker said.
Craig Bowden and Kevin Gessino-Krat are a shot back at 9-under 63. Bowden, who has two career Nationwide victories, tied his best round on the tour with a 9-under 63.
“I putted the ball very well today,” he said. “I hit a lot of good wedges. It felt like I was going to birdie every hole.”
Bowden reeled off three birdies to start his round and held the lead at 9 under, for about 15 minutes, until Willis finished his sterling round.
“I just had a good feeling,” Bowden said, “and thought, ‘Here we go, we’re off to the races. This could be a good day.’”
The thought of a 59 did cross his mind, he said, even after he three-putted from 15 feet on hole No. 1. He also made par on the sixth hole, statistically the easiest of the day, but closed with birdies on the eighth and ninth.
“I left a couple of strokes out there,” Bowden said. “I really felt like I was in control.”
Gessino-Kraft finished second in the season-opening Movistar Panama Championship for his only top-25 finish so far.
“It’s about time,” he said of his bogey-free 63. “I’ve struggled the last three months. Everything came together today.”
Wednesday night, Gessino-Kraft had nine putters on the practice green, trying to find the right one.
“Thankfully, I picked a hot putter this week,” he said. “This is a great golf course. It’s a lot of fun. You know there’s going to be a lot of birdie opportunities.”
Dicky Pride and Huntsville’s Spike McRoy are at 8 under. Eight players, including 2004 Chattanooga Classic champ Justin Bolli, are at 7 under. In all, 116 of the 156-man field broke par on a day when the heat index hit 101.
Thomas Hagler IV, a rising senior for the University of Alabama golf team from Ringgold, turned in the best round of any the area players in the tournament. Hagler started out eagle-birdie and finished at 5-under 67.
He battled a case of nerves at the start, but his 2 on the par-4 10th settled him down.
“I was telling my caddie, ‘I forgot that the 10th hole was my starting hole,’” Hagler said. “I had an absolute blast. It was more than I could have hoped for.”
And with the leaders at 10 under now, the winning score could be in uncharted territory.
“I said before the week started it was going to be 30 under,” Willis said. “And I don’t know if that will hold.”
E-mail Patrick Donahue at pdonahue@timesfreepress.com
See tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for full coverage.
