Chris Kirk leads Utah Championship; locals in hunt

Friday, 10 September 2010 19:37

SANDY — Coming off perhaps the worst year of his golfing life when he made just $13,000, Chris Kirk has followed it up with his best year, as the Nationwide Tour's leading money winner with more than $400,000 in earnings so far this year.

So it's no surprise that Kirk is atop the leaderboard after the first round of the Nationwide Utah Championship. The 25-year-old Kirk fired a sparkling 6-under par 65 on a blustery Thursday at Willow Creek Country Club that included a hole-in-one and what he called an even better shot on his second-to-last hole.

The Knoxville, Tenn., native finds himself one shot ahead of three golfers at 66, while seven golfers are in a tie at 67 in the $550,000 tournament.

Utah native Daniel Summerhays, who is hoping to secure his spot on next year's PGA Tour with a top-five finish this week, stands in a tie for 12th place with eight other golfers after shooting a 3-under-par 68.

"I'm very happy. I felt like I hung in there and hit some good shots when I needed to and made some key putts," said Summerhays, who admitted he suddenly got nervous Wednesday night thinking about playing in front of family and friends.

"All these things started going through my head," he said. "I kind of worked myself up to where I was a little nervous or scared to go out and play. But I was able to say the right things to myself and really come out with no expectations for myself and for my game."

Summerhays started fast with birdies on the first two holes and made the turn at 2-under par after a bogey at 6 and a birdie at 9. On the back nine, he parred every hole, except No. 15, which he birdied to finish at 3-under.

Kirk was more than happy to finish in the lead after struggling with his driving all day. When asked if the statistic of just five fairways hit out of 12 was accurate, he said that was being generous. Perhaps the most amazing number of his round was just 21 putts on 18 holes.

Of course he didn't have any putts at the 191-yard No. 2 hole, his 11th of the day. At the time he had just gone to 4-under on the day when he hit his 7-iron, 10 feet in front of the pin and watched it roll towards the pin for the second hole-in-one of his life.

However, he was more impressed with his second shot at No. 8 after he hit his drive into the rough on the right side, while tied for the lead.

"I was in the rough, about 215 yards out, next to a tree and hit it over the water to about five feet and made that for a birdie," he said. "I felt like that was actually a better shot (than the hole in one)."

The conditions Thursday were not early-September-like as the temperature never got above the low 60s, the wind blew much of the day and a brief rainstorm dampened the course in the mid-afternoon.

Former Pepperdine golfer Michael Putnam had the low round of the morning with a 66, which was matched by Florida's Chris Kresge and Fabian Gomez of Argentina in the afternoon. The seven golfers at 67 include Rob Oppenheim, Paul Claxton, Josh Broadaway, Jeff Gove, David Morland, Chris Kamin and Chris Nallen.

Besides Summerhays, the best score by a local golfer was the 71 by Sandy's Steve Schneiter. Lehi's Tony Finau and Casey Fowles of St. George each shot 72, while Farmington's Clay Ogden, Pleasant Grove's Nic Van Vuuren and Eaglewood pro Ryan Rhees each shot 78.

With 64 players under par Thursday and the cut coming at 60 players and ties, today's cut will certainly be under par. The tournament continues Saturday and concludes late afternoon Sunday.