Freeport
McDermott Classic
English Turn Golf Course and Country Club
New Orleans
2nd - 5th April 1998
Par
72 Prize Money $1.7 million
Second
Round Report
Second
Round Scores
First Round Report
First
Round Scores
Left-hander
Flesch takes a two stroke lead
New
Orleans, 3rd April 1998 - While the big names were packing up and leaving
town, Steve Flesch, a left-handed rookie who couldn't make it into the Players Championship two weeks ago, was planning on staying
the course.
He
carded a 4-under-par 68 today for a two-stroke lead after 36 holes at the Freeport
McDermott Classic.
Flesch
failed to qualify for the Players Championship two weeks ago, and returned to
the Nike Tour rather than sit home in snowy Cincinnati.
It
paid off. He offset three bogeys with seven birdies for a two-round total of 10-under-par
134, two strokes better than Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki and Duffy Waldorf.
"It's
the first time I've ever been in the lead going into the weekend," Flesch
said. "I'm thrilled to death."
Flesch
has made the cut in five of seven tournaments this year. His best finish was a
tie for 15th at the Honda Classic last month.
Flesch
was two strokes back to start the round. After birdies on the first two holes,
he bogeyed Nos. 3 and 4, made a 10-foot putt for a birdie on No. 5 and a 20-foot
putt for birdie on No. 6.
Flesch
added birdies on 11, 12 and 13 before playing even over the next four holes, including
a 12-foot putt on 17. He then missed a 4-foot putt and took a bogey on 18.
"I've
been driving good, and last week and this week I've been putting good," Flesch
said. "It was kind of embarrassing some of the putts I was making while the
other guys were struggling."
Flesch
learned to play golf right-handed, but even though he writes right-handed, he
bats and pitches left-handed and switched his golf game to that side after three
years.
It
was a day for the underdog with the likes of Ozaki, who has won 28 times in Japan
but never done better than second in the U.S. in a decade of trying, shooting
the best round of the day -- a bogey-free 67.
It's
the second straight week Ozaki has gotten off to a good start. He was the co-leader
at The Players Championship last week after two rounds, then shot a 76 to fall
seven strokes behind.
"Maybe
I was a little tired -- physically and in my mind," Ozaki said. "Last
week there was a lot of pressure. I tried hard, hard, hard. This week I hit soft
and no pressure. But it's only Friday."
Four
players were at 137, including Mark Wiebe. Four more were another shot behind.
Among
the top finishers, only a handful like Waldorf, Ian Woosnam, Wiebe, Steve Lowery,
and David Toms had ever won a tournament.
Meanwhile,
name players the likes of two-time Masters winner Ben Crenshaw (149), Seve Ballesteros
(150) and Jim Thorpe (150), failed to make the cut.
Waldorf
followed up a first-round 67 with a 69, offsetting three bogeys with four birdies
and an eagle on the par-5 15th.
"The
key shot for me was on 11," Waldorf said. "I hit a chip shot 40 feet
past the hole and made it for a birdie."
Waldorf
failed to make the cut his last two times out.
After
becoming the first player this year to be more than one stroke ahead of his challengers
following the first round, Glen Day birdied 12 and 15 to drop to 10-under. His
first bogey of the tournament was on the 18th hole -- a 474-yard, par-4 torture-chamber
rated among the toughest on the PGA Tour in 1991.
Day
moved to the front nine, where the gusty wind was at its worst, and followed up
with his second bogey of the tournament on the first hole to drop back to even
par. He also bogeyed Nos. 7 and 9 for a 75 that put him at 5-under for the tournament.
"I
misjudged some of them because of the wind," Day said. "That was definitely
the big factor out there."
Day
and five others were bunched at 139.
The
wind picked up in the afternoon, blowing a steady 9-12 mph and gusting to 23.
"The
holes into the wind -- it adds 30 yards off the tee," said Jim Carter, who
was in the group at 7-under, along with England's Lee Westwood.
Eighty
players made the cut at 144.
