KANNAPOLIS — Elliot Gealy said last week he enjoys playing the Kannapolis Country
Club golf course, and the young Salisbury pro found it to his liking again on Tuesday.Gealy, who turned pro in June, shot a
4-under-par 68 in the first round of the first stage of the PGA Tour/Nike Tour Qualifying
Tournament Tuesday morning. He was tied for second place, one stroke back of the leader,
Tim Weinhart of Duluth, Ga., entering this morning’s second round in the rain.
“I like the course,”
said the son of Catawba College golf coach Sam Gealy, who coached his son on state
championship teams at SalisburyHigh School. “I’ve liked it ever since high
school.”
Gealy played the back nine first
and shook off a bad tee shot on the par-3 17th hole, where he made a bogey. He birdied
three straight holes on the front nine.
“It’s playing a little
different,” he said of the par-72 course that underwent remodeling in 1997.
“I’ve never really played on it with fast greens. You can’t just step up to
the ball and hit it on the green like you could in the past. Now you’ve got to really
worry about where you’re placing it on the greens, because if you get on the wrong
side of the hole out there, it can get away from you. I think that’s the biggest
challenge this week. Maybe 15 feet on the right of the hole is better than two or three
feet left of the hole, because you know you can just relax and putt it up the hill.”
Gealy added of the greens,
“They’re fast. They’re rolling like 10, 10 and a half.” He said the
Kannapolis greens are faster than on most of the courses he played this summer on the
TearDrop Tour with one exception. “I did play in Virginia (Charlottesville), where
they were as fast or faster.”
Gealy was 2 under par when he got
to his eighth hole, No. 17, which has water (Kannapolis Lake) in front of and to the left
of a sloping green.
“The water’s definitely
in play when the holes over there, and I just made a bad golf swing. ... I got fast and
pull hooked it (into the lake),” said Gealy, who credited caddy Nick Sabol with
helping him save bogey.
“Nick kept on bugging me on
the way down there (to the drop area) and said, ‘We’re still going to make
4.’ I hit that wedge up there about 18 feet and made it,” said Gealy.
He made the turn in 1 under, then
parred No. 1 before his hottest streak of the day. He birdied the par-3 second hole from
15 feet, the par-4 third hole from 30 feet with a sharp-breaking putt and the par-5 fourth
hole with two 3-woods and a chip shot to within a foot of the pin.
“It was a good start. I made
some birdies and didn’t make too many mistakes,” he said.
Gealy, who won one tourney and
just over $30,000 in two months on the TearDrop Tour, said he’s not playing this week
just to advance to the second of three stages that determine PGA and Nike Tour status for
2000.
“Nick and I were talking. We
really want to go out and try to win this week. In this situation, it’s easy to tell
yourself, ‘I just want to get through.’ But I think, if you take the attitude of
trying to win this stage, you’ll get better while you’re doing it.”
Sabol, a former Catawba star who
also has pro aspirations, has caddied for Gealy several times.
“We work pretty good
together,” said Gealy. “He doesn’t get too up and down about his emotions,
and he’s really supportive.”
n
LEADER: Weinhart, whose 64 last
year matched the best round of the tournament and tied the course record, started play on
the back nine. He shot a 2-under 34 on the back, then followed it up with 4-under 33 on
the front.
Weinhart’s had seven birdies
to go with two bogeys (Nos. 3 and 9). The birdies came on Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13 and 14.
n
HOT SCORES: Thirty-one golfers in
the field of 69 broke par, while six others matched par.
Tying at 68 with Gealy were Dirk
Schultz of Hagerstown,Md.; Ryan Welborn of Fullerton, Calif.; Dave Wettlaufer of Ontario,
Can.; and Jace Bugg of Henderson, Ky.
n
CLUB PRAISED: Tournament official
Lew Gach of the Carolinas PGA Section, said the PGA is elated to be back at Kannapolis for
the second straight year.
“The folks here at the
Kannapolis Country Club are wonderful hosts for this event. They have a great staff here
and a beautiful golf course in excellent condition. We’re very happy to be
here.”
Results can be found on
Scoreboard, page 2D. |
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