|
Gordonsville & Wintergreen, VA – The game of golf takes all types. From long hitters to short hitters, mental giants to mental problems, short putters to 54” putters – there is no discrimination in who can succeed. This week’s EGOLF Tarheel Tour Championship features two polar opposites atop a world-class leaderboard in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. Jeff Curl and Matt Davidson could not be less alike, but tomorrow they will try to claim the $34,000 first-place prize as they share the lead heading into Saturday’s final round.
Curl, who won last week’s Walnut Creek Open in Goldsboro, NC, is brash, confident, aggressive and long. He will tell you how good he is playing and more times than not he will back it up. Davidson, on the other hand, is reserved, unassuming, plotting and accurate. He is the proverbial silent assassin who lets his clubs do the talking. The two players play a game the other is unfamiliar with, yet they find themselves in the final pairing and eyeing one of developmental golf’s largest prizes.
Curl, who calls Charlotte, NC home these days, played his second round at Spring Creek Golf Club in Gordonsville on Friday and capitalized amidst wet conditions with a 4-under 68 after carding three birdies in his first six holes on a track playing closer to 7,700 yards than the measured 7,264. After winning last week in a playoff, Curl dished out what can only be referred to as the understatement of the year.
“I really feel like my game is starting to click.”
Indeed it is.
Curl has had his father Rod on his bag for the past two weeks and it is certainly paying dividends. The 1974 Colonial Invitation winner convinced his son to lay up on the final hole last week and play for par – a strategy that obviously worked well. This week, his fatherly advice has his son in position to be arguably the hottest player at any site in the next few weeks as PGA Tour Qualifying School begins across the country.
Davidson, who lives in Chapel Hill, NC, is at a point in his career where he is just happy to be playing good golf after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in January. The former PGA Tour player fired a 4-under 68 at Stoney Creek Golf Club at Wintergreen Resort on Friday and reflected on some short game practice that must be paying off.
“I wasn’t able to hit balls until June, but was able to do some short game stuff before that. It’s just getting back to the competition that has taken a little bit longer,” said Davidson, who garnered national attention in his first PGA Tour start in 2005 when he was paired with none other than teenage phenom Michelle Wie at the Sony Open.
The soft-spoken Davidson tied the day’s low round at Spring Creek with a 66 on Thursday, so heading back there for the final round is something he is surely looking forward to.
“Spring Creek should be playing pretty tough, so it should be fun. I’ve been close to the lead in a few of these before, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a share of the lead. It will be a good experience whatever happens.”
 |
Steve Gangluff and Matt Chandler, who both played their Friday rounds at Stoney Creek, sit tied for third through 36 holes at 7-under 137. Gangluff, whose wife is from nearby Staunton, recorded the day’s low round on either course with a 6-under 66 in conditions suited more for the NFL playoffs than championship golf. For Chandler, a second-round 67 has the Moneta, VA resident in prime position in what is only his second start of the year on the EGOLF Tarheel Tour.
First-round leader Luke List found the going rough on Friday with a second-round 77 that dropped him into a tie for 16th.
After nearly perfect conditions on Thursday, Mother Nature struck back on Friday at the EGOLF Tour Championship with temperatures roughly 30 degrees lower than the day prior. A morning rain put a delay on tee times as players were forced to stay warm before trying to stay dry. Needless to say, scoring was drastically affected as only eight players carded rounds in the 60s – a far cry from the 16 who managed to do so in round one.
In addition to the Tour Championship, the winner of the EGOLF Points Race and the S&K Fall Finale Series will be determined tomorrow as well. Kevin Kisner entered the week with a slim lead in the EGOLF Points Race, but missed the cut and will be forced to wait and see if he will be the recipient of the $20,000 first-place prize. Should Jeff Curl win the tournament and in turn the EGOLF Points Race, when coupled with his win last week, he will take home $80,000 from the tour in an eight-day span.
S&K Fall Finale Series leader David Robinson made the cut by a shot and will have to make up ground lost to claim his $1,000 worth of cash and gift cards from S&K Menswear.
 |
The 36-hole cut fell at 2-over 146 with 66 players making it to Saturday’s final round, which will begin at 9:00 am at Spring Creek with players teeing off of Nos. 1 and 10. As with all EGOLF Tarheel Tour events, the tournament is open to the public and free of charge.
View the Tarheel Tour Championship results here
|
