Record rounds at Paradise
How low can you go? As the second day of the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open at the at the Paradise Canyon Golf Resort wrapped up, the overall consensus was “very”.
Co-first round leader ZachWright and Chris Williams established a new tournament course record with rounds of 10under 61 asWright followed up an opening day 62 to sit at 19under, five shots ahead of a field of five golfers as the weekend portion of the Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada stop tees off today.
“So far its been easy forme, just hitting wedge shots and they’ve been going close, driving it pretty well and just making putts where I can,” saidWright, whose -19mark also breaks the Tour’s all-time 36-hole record. “It’s just golf, you go out there, you don’t have to worry about anybody, you just have to play your own game and if I just continue what I’ve been doing I’ll be fine.
“I’mhitting the driver really far and it’s going relatively straight. Its been leaving me short clubs and I’ve been hitting those close and when I’ve had 15-footers I’ve been rolling some of those in so things seem to be going my way and just have to keep going.”
After an opening round 67 Thursday, Williams joined Wright in the record books and also joined the five-player contingent tied for second at 14-under.
“I’ve been playing really well leading up to this tournament, I’ve been playing well all year just haven’t been making the putts and these greens are perfect and got in themorning wave and putts started dropping,” said the 26-year-old from Idaho. “One thing led to another, Sam(Fidone) was playing well who I was playing with and we just kinda fed off each other.”
On Friday, some Canadian content jumped up into the log jam for second place asMichael Gligic of Burlington, Ontario carded a secondround 63 after a 65 Thursday.
He joins co-first round leader Cody Blick, Danny Walker and Jared Bettcher at 14-under.
“Scores are really low and theres a lot of birdie opportunities,” said Gligic. “The par 5s are gettable and ball going further helps too, just have to keep foot on gas pedal and keep making birdies this weekend.”
Blick a three-stroke lead after a 31 on the front nine, bogeyed the 12th and made par on the remaining 6 holes to shoot 66.
“After yesterday I was trying to battle some expectations here, got off to a hot start on the front, made the turn and gave myself a lot of opportunities but didn’t capitalize and had 9-iron into 13 andmade par,” he said. “That was pretty disappointing, but all-in-all it was a pretty solid day.”
And it’s still anyone’s tournament heading into the weekend.
“I think it’s close,” said Blick. “ZachWright is kind of on a tear right now, but if we get get some wind you never know what could happen.”
Coming in in one of the final groups of the day, Jonathan Khan carded a second day 67 to sit at 11under after two days.
“The scores were low, especially going into the afternoon,” said the 29year-old from Tucson. “Seeing all the low scores and then the winds blowing and you have to just kind of grind it out, especially the first aid holes. It was really windy, then it calmed down, then it got windy again at the end. So I'm happy with my play today"
Khan joins four players tied at 11-under headed into the weekend.
“Apparently you're going tomake a lot of birdies out here and go low. I'll just keep trying to make birdies and try and make my way up. That's all you can do, really."
There were 52 eagles made during the second round, with 105 players shooting rounds under 70.
The cut after Friday’s round was six-under.s
Pincher Creek’s Ethan Choi fired a second round, one-under 70 Friday afternoon to finish even after two days and miss the cut.
Choi, 16, was one of six exemptions for the event named earlier this month and was the youngest player in the field.
To beat some potentially stormy weather, tee times today will start at 7:40 a.m. on the first and 10th tees with each group golfing in threesomes.