Irwin native leads Fuhrer
own game and just kind of chop at it,” said Obremski, an Irwin native. “Don’t let anything affect me, good or bad.”
On a day when only eight of the 40 players bettered par at the Pittsburgh Field Ckub, Obremski tied the low round of the tournament with a bogey-free 64 on Tuesday, giving him a three-shot lead on 2018 champion and Korn Ferry Tour winner Dan McCarthy, who shot 68 and is alone in second at 10 under.
The next closest player is PGA Tour member Michael Gligic, the defending champion, who is at 3 under, 10 shots behind. The unofficial 72-hole scoring record is 9-under 279, a number Obremski and McCarthy each are sure to break, barring a finalround collapse. Of course, only one will collect the $40,000 first prize.
Only one other player is under par after three rounds, and that’s Riley Wheeldon of Scottsdale, Ariz., the firstround leader who is at 1 under. Obremski and McCarthy have not only made it look easy, they’ve lapped the field three times as they head to Wednesday’s final round.
“Today was solid, definitely a good day,” Obremski said.
Obremski is doing all this without a driver, instead relying on a TaylorMade M2 3wood and RocketBallz hybrid on tee shots. But, on the rare occasion when he wasn’t finding the fairway, he hit shots such as a 9-iron from 175 yards in the right rough at the par-4 17th to calmly save par. But his best save came at the 228-yard 14th when his 5-iron tee shot landed in the deep right-side bunker and he recovered to four feet to keep his bogey -free streak going.
“Probably one of my best bunker shots I’ve ever hit,” said Obremski, who has made just three bogeys in 54 holes.
“Dan played a hell of a round of golf,” McCarthy said. “He made a bunch of birdies and couple clutch par saves to keep the round going. He probably made three or four good par saves. That’s what you need to do to keep a good round going.”
McCarthy, who skipped this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event in Denver to play at the Field Club, will try to do what he did in 2018 when he overcame a three-shot deficit in the final five holes to win the $40,000 first prize.
“It’s a tough golf course,” McCarthy said. “The lead can change in a heartbeat. I’m going to go out there and try to put myself in position where I can be aggressive, as opposed to [Tuesday] where I kept putting myself above the hole all day long. If there’s one thing I learned at the Field Club, you can’t be above the hole.”
While McCarthy will head back to the Korn Ferry Tour next week in San Antonio, Obremski, 33, doesn’t know where he will play after this. He doesn’t have any status on any tour right now, at least none that are playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been spending a lot of time teaching at the John Prince Learning Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., and playing to get his game in competitive shape. Prior to coming to the Field Club, he had played in just three one-day events this year.
“I don’t really know what’s going to happen or when,” Obremski said. “I’m still chasing, I’m still believing.”