But Brehaut didn't make things easy on himself. He hit one of his worst shots of the tournament on the 206-yard par 3, hooking the ball into the hazard left of the green. Brehaut was forced to drop, and he walked away with a double after failing to get the ball up and down.
"I'd like one mulligan," Brehaut said. "The one shot in the water on 8 kind of hurt."
Despite the double, Brehaut finished up with a two-putt par on the 9th for a 69 on the round. The two-day total of 5-under leaves Brehaut in safe position to make the cut, which he deemed his "first step" in the fight to regain decent status on the Nationwide Tour.
Making the cut assures Brehaut of a paycheck, along with the spot on the 2012 money list that he lacked before the week. Being on the money list will put Brehaut in the next reshuffle, used to select tournament fields. As a result, the Los Altos, CA resident will have a chance to play in more tournaments this summer, without having to rely on possible sponsor's exemptions.
But without the bad swing on 8, Brehaut would certainly be feeling a lot better about his position right now. A top-25 this week would automatically qualify him for next week's event in Indiana, and he would have likely entered the weekend in the top 25 if not for the late double.
"I'm still a little bit bitter about 8," Brehaut said after completing his round. "But yeah, I'm happy I made the cut."
After striking the ball well in hitting 16 of 18 greens Thursday, Brehaut picked up right where he left off, with birdie looks inside 15 feet on his first three holes. But like Thursday, he struggled to convert, making only one of the three.
Brehaut talked Thursday about the frustration of making bogeys after a succession of missed birdie chances, and his words held water after he made a sloppy bogey on 13, failing to get up and down from the front-right bunker. The bogey dropped him to even on the day, when it felt like he should have been 2 or 3-under.
But the 49-year old quickly responded, hitting two quality shots and rolling in a 20-footer for eagle on the short par-5 14th. A 6-footer for birdie at the next hole put him at 6-under for the week, and it looked like he was in a rhythm.
However, things started to get choppy at the 16th, when an errant drive found trees right of the fairway. Brehaut was able to save par with a 4-footer, and again at the 17th with a 8-footer after a long birdie putt rolled left.
Brehaut found the trees again at the short par-5 18th but was still able to birdie, after punching out and hitting a wedge to inside 15 feet. Brehaut has played the two back-nine par 5's, 14 and 18, in 5-under par this week. He made the turn in 4-under 32, and was well within the top 10 on the leaderboard at that point.
Despite a few more off-center drives on the front, Brehaut's iron play and short game kept him from making big numbers until the 8th. Brehaut got up-and-down from 40 yards short of the green on 1, and rolled in a 6-footer for par on 3 after sending his birdie putt past the hole.
But his best shot of the day may have been on the dogleg-left par-4 4th. After hooking his tee shot into the left rough, Brehaut was faced with a dangerous approach shot over a collection of tall trees. To make matters worse, a pond between Brehaut's ball and the green threatened to swallow the ball if it didn't make it over the trees. No matter, though. Brehaut struck his shot cleanly, and the ball landed 15 feet from the hole.
All in all, the day was a mixed bag of sorts for Brehaut. He may have been able to score better if the driver was more accurate, but then again it could have been a lot worse if he didn't make a few key putts.
"I hit my irons good again," Brehaut said. "I didn't drive it as well. I putted a little better than yesterday."
Maybe Brehaut can put it all together on the weekend. If he does, he certainly has the chance to post a few scores in the low 60's and soar into the top 25.
No comments:
Post a Comment