RALEIGH – Last year, Scott Brown tied the TPC Wakefield course record to lead the Rex Hospital Open after the opening round.
On Friday, Brown finished with an 8-under 63, one off the course record he tied a year ago, but still good enough to take a one-shot lead heading into the weekend.
“I think it’s just one of those courses that fits my eye,” Brown said. “It’s got big greens, and it’s kind of a big course, but you’ve really got to place it around the greens in the right spots. I’ve been fortunate enough to putt well here.”
With eight birdies on the day and a 10-under two-day total, Brown leads Martin Flores by a stroke. Flores was 5-under after 12 holes and was atop the leaderboard until a string of three bogeys, two birdies and a par down the stretch left him at 9-under.
“I hit a lot of good approaches, and I’ve felt good with the putter this week,” said Flores, who has made the cut in four of eight Nationwide Tour events this year. “I’ve been rolling them in, which is nice.”
Two players are at 8-under, and five more players are tied at 7-under.
Mathew Goggin, the Nationwide Tour money leader this week, is at 3-under, seven shots back of the leader. Also at 3-under is Raleigh native Ty Tryon, who fired a sizzling career-low 7-under 64 Friday. Defending champion John Riegger is eight strokes back at 2-under.
Eight of the Top 25 Nationwide Tour money leaders missed the cut Friday, including Steve Wheatcroft, who had a record-setting performance last week en route to his Melwood Prince George's County Open victory. Wheatcroft finished Friday at 6-over for the tournament, a big turnaround from his 12-shot win last week.
Ted Potter Jr., who was at No. 3 on the money list this week, missed the cut by one shot. Daniel Chopra, Garth Mulroy, Brett Wetterich and Bubba Dickerson, who also are in the Top 10, won’t be playing this weekend either.
The Top 25 money leaders at the end of the Nationwide Tour season earn a PGA Tour card for the following year.
Other notables who missed the cut Friday include Guy Boros, who bounces between the PGA and Nationwide tours; John Inman, retiring UNC golf coach; and Carter Jenkins, a 15-year-old high school student who earned his way into the field with a win last week at the Rex Hospital Open Junior Invitational.
J. Eric Eckard writes about all things golf on his second golfer blog. You also can follow him on Twitter.
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