Roberts sets crucial goal: Hit first fairway
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - Loren Roberts wants to win this Commerce Bank Championship, and he's in pretty good shape, leading it as he does by two shots through two rounds. It would be his first Champions Tour victory of the season and the eighth of his career. And for openers in the third and final round Sunday, he's not asking much, really.“My only goal,” he said, “is to hit it in the fairway on the first hole.”
Come to think of it, maybe that's asking a lot. Roberts is a magician with the putter, but he shoes horses with the driver. He admits he's not a very good striker of the ball. This means he doesn't always have a good idea where the ball's going.
He hit only six of 14 driving fairways in the second round Saturday. One of his misses was at No. 1, and it cost him his only bogey in the two rounds.
“That bogey,” Roberts said, “put me in neutral for the rest of the front nine.” He slogged his way through in pars, and then woke up on the back nine, notched four birdies, and shot Eisenhower Park's Red Course is 3-under-par 68 and a 9-under 133 total. He leads by the two strokes going into the finale over David Eger, who shot a flawless 66, and Scott Simpson (67). All three, in fact, are looking for their first win of the season.
Eger, a two-time Champions Tour winner, will be remembered as a guy who used to help set up tournament courses for the U.S. Golf Association and the PGA Tour. It's not what it may seem. “There's no advantage in setting the courses,” he said. “Now you've got to play 'em.”
Simpson, a one-time winner, and a former U.S. Open champ, was more than pleased with his play. “I played really well,” he said. “I hit the fairways, and that's the key out here.”
If that's the key, then it's also the puzzle. Simpson hit all 14 driving fairways and shot 67. Eger hit only eight and shot 66, and Roberts hit only six and shot 68.
Try this for a key. Roberts, after that so-so 1-over on the front nine, made four birdies coming in on wedges to 3 and 6 feet at the 11th and 14th, a 3-iron to 6 feet at the 15th, and a wedge to 12 feet at the par-5 17th.
“The birdie at the 15th - that was huge,” Roberts said. “That was like a half a stroke on the field.” That's because the 15th, a 454-yard par-4, was playing to an average of 4.3, the toughest hole on the course. His birdie there was one of only five out of the field of 78.
And don't forget the 18th, where he drove into the rough, hacked the ball to about 60 yards short of the green, then floated a pitch to 6 feet and made that for par. In all cases, he had the course where he wanted it - with his putter.
(And he's eating up the last five holes. He's played them in 6 under through the two rounds.)
Eger also was hot on the greens, making his first two birdies from 15 feet, one from 10, another from 12 and the last from 18. Eger noted that in the last few weeks, the scores haven't been as low as fans might have expected. What's causing this phenomenom?
“I don't know,” Eger said. “Last week [Bank of America Championship], the greens were bumpy. This week, the greens are smooth but the rough is deep.”
Smooth greens? For handicapping the field, note that Roberts has needed 29 putts in the first round, 28 in the second, and that average putt made is 7 feet, 2 inches.
You know what they say about putting for dough. First dough in this case is $240,000.
NOTES - Roberts is bidding to become only the third player (and fourth time) to win the Commerce Bank going wire-to-wire … He's finished second three times this season, including last week behind Jeff Sluman in the Bank of America Championship … Nick Price, still hunting that first Champions Tour victory, saw his chances shrink; “If the lead stays at 7-under, I've got a chance,” said Price, after tying for 10th with 69-137, 5 under and four behind Roberts … There were 37 rounds in the 60s Saturday, compared to 29 in the first round … Peter Jacobsen, making his first appearance since having a knee replaced in March, bounced back with a 73 Saturday after an opening 77, and gave a thumbs-up.
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