Second day brings lower scores, rain
Altoona’s Gillam enters final day with 2-shot lead
The first day of the West Penn Open at Oakmont Country Club featured soaring temperatures and scores to match.
Tuesday’s middle round was sandwiched around an hourlong rain delay and had seven players finish at par or under.
The change in weather led to some lower scores, golfers said, but the inconsistency shown across the board between the first two rounds shows the intense challenges presented by Oakmont, a course that has played host to nine U.S. Opens.
“I did get a little tired yesterday,” said Jimmy Gillam, a professional from Altoona who has a two-stroke lead over the rest of the field. “This course, disaster lurks at every corner. So it really takes a lot out of you, mentally.”
Gillam made a five-stroke improvement on the 3-over 73 he shot Monday, tying for the low round of the day with a 68, and goes into Wednesday’s round at 1 over.
Like a couple of other golfers who jumped up the leader board Tuesday, Gillam said the rain came at a good time for him. He had just made a poor decision for his tee shot on the fifth and put it into the ditch, so the 15 minutes of intense rain and 40 minutes or so of waiting for the course to dry gave him a chance to cool off.
Jason Li, one of four players tied for third place at 4 over, had a near-miss on a putt before the rain began about 10:55 a.m., so he knew he would restart the day with an easy tap-in. The sophomore at Carnegie Mellon welcomed the delay as a chance to rest his mind.
“Even though it’s kind of stressful just sitting out there having to wait, you’re not really thinking,” Li said. “Just refresh, reboot and come out and play again.”
When Li teed off on his first hole of the day, he joked that he had “only played 16” in the previous round. On Monday, he finished his round with a bogey and a double bogey on 17 and 18, pushing him to 4-over par.
Fatigue and the humidity played a role in that sluggish finish, Li said, but so did a loss of focus. He was fresher Tuesday, mentally and physically, and used a birdie on 16 and par on 18 to offset a bogey on 17 and close at an even-par 70 for the day.
Few of the players at the top of the leader board got there through consistent efforts on day one and day two. Evan Long, who’s alone in second place at 3 over, is one of them, having shot 71 and 72 in the first two rounds. Long, who’s entering his sophomore year at Minnesota, is happy to be in the final group, he said, and figures that merely continuing to hang around par will give him a chance at the trophy.
Zach Ford, meanwhile, shaved four shots off his first-round 74 and is tied for third, three shots back.
The junior at Eastern Tennessee said most of his improvements came on the greens, which are playing friendlier than their infamous reputation but still tripped him up the first round.