Brady Stockton On Top At Telus Edmonton Open
04/07/2009 17:40
Birdies galore move American up to share first place after Round 2
Listening to Brady Stockton is like talking to one of your weekend golfing pals: Lost balls. Unplayable lies. Wandering through the trees and bushes. Only seven pars all day...
"I go find it and try and hit it again," said the tall Arizona golfer.
Except that when we add up our scores they don't come close to Stockton's, who finds himself tied atop the leaderboard after the second round of the $150,000 Telus Edmonton Open with Saskatchewan's red-hot Graham DeLaet and Victoria's Jim Rutledge--all three at 10-under par.
"I'm making a lot of birdies," said Stockton.
In two days he's had 16 birdies. In Thursday's opening round, Stockton had nine of them en route to a 7-under 65. Friday he had seven more while shooting a 3-under 69.
"I'm in the trees a lot, but I've usually found my way out... (And) there's a lot of trees out here. It's the only way I can hit it around right now.
"I think my caddy(girlfriend Stephanie Denick) is getting stressed. She has to follow around and try to find my balls."
They never did find the one Stockton hit in the trees on the right side of No. 17. That cost him two strokes.
He wishes they didn't find the tee shot he hit on No. 11.
"I should have never looked for it. I should have just hit my provisional. Then I wouldn't have been climbing around in the bushes."
Forced to take an unplayable, Stockton dropped his ball 70 yards back from where he found it. Left with a blind shot, he hit that one so far left it almost landed on the 12th tee box. He ended up with a double bogey.
Pars on Stockton's scorecard are rare. It's either birdies, eagles, bogeys or double bogeys. Last week in Calgary, Stockton had 20 birdies and an eagle, but still only finished 5-under for the tournament.
While Stockton said he would be surprised if his lead held up, it did.
What's no surprise is that the two guys he is tied with are DeLaet and Rutledge.
DeLaet won last week's ATB Financial Classic in Calgary and finished second in the Vancouver Canadian Tour stop. Before that he played the Sunshine Tour in South Africa where he had a pair of seconds as well as a 12th-place finish in the Joburg Open.
Rutledge, who had his PGA card two years ago and now plays on the Nationwide, was second in Victoria, his only previous Canadian Tour stop this year.
Rutledge, 49, has also twice represented Canada in both the World Cup and Dunhill Cup.
DeLaet started fast. He birdied three of his first six holes. Moving to his back nine, he then birdied three more in a row.
"My putter was red hot the first (12) holes," said DeLaet, who made a pair of 20-footers and then a 45-foot bomb on No. 3. "Then it went ice cold the last six. I had good birdie chances on all of them. Maybe that's why I've got a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I had a good chance to separate myself."
Rutledge, who still has one of the best swings in all of golf, did it the other way. After missing a little two-foot putt on his second last hole, he finished with an eagle, landing a 6-iron to 15 feet from 206 yards out.
"Nice way to finish, but as far as momentum ... I'm not sure," said Rutledge. "There's a lot of golf left. Maybe if it was on the ninth hole on Sunday and it moved me up from sixth to a share of the lead, then giddy-up. But at this point it's just a nice way to finish."
Meanwhile, California's Josh Habig and Ontario's Scott Hawley had to play with borrowed clubs after they lost their car keys.
Sherwood Park's Danny Sahl walked off the course discouraged after an even-par 72 left him at 5-under in a 13-way tie for 12th place.
Seventy players made the cut at 1 under. David Jackson of Spokane, Wash., was disqualified after failing to sign his score card. He would have been tied for 12th.
SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
I have a friend who volunteers as a Marshal every year at the Telus Edmonton Open. This year, however, he’s at a wedding in Banff this weekend.
I wonder if Brady Stockton is any relation to PGA Champions' Tour legend Dave Stockton?