Wheatcroft hobbled during 2nd round
Cliff Kresge tees off on the fifth hole during the Mylan Classic Friday at Southpointe Golf Club. Kresge finished the day in third place at 8-under par.
Steve Wheatcroft chips at the 9th hole Friday at the Mylan Classic.
CANONSBURG – Steve Wheatcroft’s chances of winning the Web.com Mylan Classic might come down to the work of his caddy’s brother, a Pittsburgh physiatrist.
Wheatcroft, 35, limped around the back nine of the hilly Southpointe Golf Club Friday afternoon with a stabbing pain behind the ankle on his left foot.
It might have been the reason for a so-so 1-under par 70 that dropped him six spots on the leaderboard and put him five strokes behind the midpoint leader, Whee Kim of South Korea. Kim is 11-under after a 6-under 65.
Blayne Barber shot 5-under for the round, moving to 9-under for the tournament, and should have been in second place. However, he signed an incorrect scorecard and was disqualified from the tournament. Barber’s scorecard showed a three for his score on No. 16 when he actually had a four. Barber left the scoring area before catching the mistake.
That moved Ben Martin, who is at 9-under, to second place and Cliff Kresge (8-under) to third.
Wheatcroft began the round one shot behind first-round leader Zack Sucher, who shot even par yesterday to remain at 6-under.
“I got a little foot injury that started on the back nine,” said Wheatcroft. “It wasn’t bad on 10, 11, 12 but was throbbing on 13, 14, 15. I was limping all around the back nine. It was starting to get into my head a little bit, and it started affecting the golf swing just enough where I was thinking about it.”
Fortunately, Dan Hennessey, Wheatcroft’s caddy for this event, knew a good physiatrist, which is a nerve, muscle and bone expert for the foot. It just happened to by Hennessey’s brother, William, who works in Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know what it is,” Wheatcroft said. “It’s about an inch up from the heel, and when I press on it, woo, I see flashes. It never hurts to talk to somebody about it. Maybe they have a secret remedy.”
The round was not a tournament-killer, but it does make the final two rounds a tougher climb.
“On the first six holes, I hit four wedges that I thought were absolutely perfect, and none of them turned out good,” said Wheatcroft, a former Washington resident. “I feel like I hit a lot of great shots on (the front nine) that didn’t end up anywhere near where I thought they would.
“On the back side, I got a little loose and started making some ugly shots.”
Birdies on the final two holes saved the round.
“Dinner is going to taste a lot better,” said Wheatcroft. “I didn’t want to shoot myself out of the golf tournament, and I was starting to get to that point. I didn’t want to be seven back with two rounds to go. Five back is not what I wanted, so hopefully this is my bad round and I got it out of the way. I can’t afford another 1-under the way these guys are going.”
Kim’s bogey-free round was punctuated by two long birdie putts, a downhill 21-footer on No. 9 and a 40-footer, also downhill, on No. 12.
“Last year, I putted pretty good,” said Kim. “This year, I missed eight or nine cuts and I putted terrible and I hit terrible shots.”
Kim has one bogey in the two rounds. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and nine greens.
Martin shot 4-under, despite three-putting three greens. He made up for those three bogeys with a string of four birdies on the back nine.
“I don’t think I had a three-putt in weeks, then I have three in one round,” said Martin, who won the United Leasing Championship June 30 and is fourth on the Web.com Tour money list. “Those are shots you throw away. This is the most consistent golf I’ve ever played.”
Martin is somewhat unique in that he doesn’t want to look at the scoreboard, relying mainly on his caddy to tell him how important a birdie is on a hole late in the tournament.
“Last year in Springfield (Price Cutter Charity Championships), I deleted the tour app from my phone,” said Martin. “I was at the cut line, and I 4-putted on 17.”
Notes
Andres Echavarria of Colombia tied the front nine record for the tournament by shooting a 29, finishing with four birdies and an eagle for a round of 4-under. Unfortunately, he shot an 80 in the opening round and missed the cut at 5-over. Over the two rounds, Echavarria shot 65 on the front nine and 82 over the back. … The Golf Channel switched its television coverage for the tournament’s second round, moving it to 10 a.m.-noon Friday. … Tee times begin at 8:45 this morning, with threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10. The change is because of the threat of rain. … Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, shot 3-under and made the cut.