In his first Sunday round of the season on the Nationwide Tour, Brehaut knew he needed to handle the greens if he wanted to have a chance. The problem? With Sunday being only his sixth competitive round of the season on the circuit, Brehaut was rusty on Tour-level greens, and admitted as much.
Unfortunately for Brehaut, the unfamiliarity shined through, loud and clear. Brehaut four-putted the second green from three feet Sunday, taking a double bogey. The untimely 7 caused Brehaut to plummet down the leaderboard, outside shouting distance of the top 25.
After the mishap, Brehaut had to play near-flawless golf the rest of the way, knowing he would have to go anywhere from 4 to 6-under from that point to have a chance. The Los Altos, CA resident played solid golf the rest of the day, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Brehaut closed his week with a round of 1-over 72 to finish the Wichita Open at 4-under par. With the finish outside the top 25 (8-under is the current number), the 49-year old fails to move on to next week in Indiana. However, making the cut assures Brehaut of a paycheck, and as a result he may be able to get in a few tournaments later in the year. But then again, nothing is certain.
Aside from the second-hole meltdown - of which Brehaut openly admitted that he got the yips - the Pacific grad putted fairly well, going without a three-putt until the par-3 17th. He even made a few nice putts, including a pair of 20-footers on 12 and 13, for par and birdie respectively.
The back-to-back efforts on 12 and 13 came immediately after Juli Inkster entered Brehaut's gallery (which had consisted of solely this reporter up to that point). Inkster cheered enthusiastically every time Brehaut made a nice shot the rest of the way, and it seemed that the 7-time LPGA major champion gave him a moral boost in the face of his struggles.
But Brehaut's iron game never found the level it saw Thursday, when the veteran hit his first 11 greens and 16 of 18 on the day. Brehaut missed five consecutive greens from hole 4 to 8, and got four of them up and down - with the exception being hole 7, where he drove into trees right of the fairway and had no choice but to hit his approach 30 yards left of target.
After a 5-footer for par on 17 spun out of the hole, Brehaut finished admirably with a two-putt birdie from the front of the green on the short par-5. Despite the struggles, and despite knowing that he will not be playing next week in Indiana, Brehaut was more than happy to answer a few questions afterwards.
What's next for Brehaut? He has ten lessons lined up this week at home, where he is kick-starting his teaching career while biding time until he can give the Champions Tour a run next year. He is still practicing regularly, in the hopes that he can get into another Nationwide event here and there.
By making the cut this week, he kept his hopes alive of getting into a few more events. But either way, he enjoyed the chance to compete, and to be around on the weekend.
Quotes from Brehaut will be added later tonight.
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Some early notes:
-The 343-yard 3rd has been shortened by 20 yards for Sunday's round, encouraging players to try and drive the green. After the 2nd-hole collapse, Brehaut did just that, taking driver and hitting his tee shot to the front fringe. Brehaut got up and down for his bounce-back birdie.
-The promised high heat is here, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees. Leaders, I hope you are prepared. Surprisingly, I was fine. Looks like I'm used to Kansas already.
-Barking dog again missing in action. All for the best, I'm sure.
-Inkster preferred to remain in anonymity, walking with her hat on and head down, but was more than willing to talk to me. When Inkster caught up with Brehaut on the 12th green, she immediately recognized me from Thursday and came up to me. She asked for my name and then introduced herself as Juli. I told her I knew who she was, but refrained from asking about her career. I wanted to, but didn't want to bother her.
So we talked for a while about Jeff's game, and she reflected on the fine line between PGA Tour success and Nationwide Tour anonymity. Inkster said that Brehaut's wedge game has held him back from making it to the next level, and that his putting has been fine overall despite struggling on the greens throughout the week in Wichita.
Inkster had some fun on the 17th hole, offering to race the caddies up to the green if paid $100. Once the offers got serious, though, she decided to add a few zero's to the offer. At that point, nobody obliged.
Brehaut enjoyed the atmosphere on 17 as well, running up to a spot about 40 yard short of the green and having the two caddies line up in preparation to run. Once the caddies were in position, Brehaut threw his hand down, and the caddies sprinted to the green. Brehaut's caddy won by a hare, but clubs started tumbling out of his bag once he 'crossed the finish line' onto the green.
As we were watching Brehaut finish up on 18, someone asked if Jim Herman (current leader) had ever won before on the circuit. I immediately answered the question, saying yes, he has won, at the 2010 Moonah Classic. Inkster then turned to me and laughed, telling the surrounding gallery that I know my stuff.
She then asked me to spell her first name, and I told her that it was Julie, without the E. She again laughed, telling the gallery that she told them so.
In shaking Juli's hand goodbye and telling her it was nice to meet her, I told her I will come watch her at the Wegmans LPGA Championship next year in Rochester, if she plays.
She told me she didn't believe me, that I would be too big-time a sportswriter by then to attend an LPGA event.
I promised her I won't be.
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