But after some strange occurrences at the end of his round, that was exactly the case.
After rolling in a 8-footer for birdie on 2 (his 11th of the day), Uresti was rolling. His drives were in play, his irons were spot on, and he was making some putts.
"I hit it really well that first nine holes," Uresti said. "I was fortunate enough to be able to make a couple of putts there. Nothing super long, but I was able to make some that I've been struggling with. That was kind of nice."
His caddy knew he was playing well, to boot - he told me on the 16th fairway that Omar could have easily been 6-under thru his first 6, as he made four birdies and missed make-able birdie looks on 13 and 14. However, he did chip in for birdie on 15 - and you can't expect to chip in, unless you're Donald Trump or the like (Rick Reilly reference).
Walking to the 3rd tee, Uresti was already just a shot back of the lead. On a course where going low is the law of the land, the Texan seemed poised to end the day at the top of the leaderboard - just like the first round in Indiana.
But from there, Uresti's game started to unravel a bit. He hit 3-wood on the 3rd tee in an an attempt to ensure keeping the ball in play - but pushed it into the right rough, couldn't get his approach near the green, and made his first bogey of the day. After three consecutive pars (including a missed 10-footer for birdie on 5), he three-putted the 7th for another bogey, missing a 4-foot comebacker for par after leaving himself a tough birdie look down a slope.
Needless to say, Uresti had to feel like he was letting a potentially great round slip away.
"I don't know what happened back there," Uresti said. "I tried to hit a couple 3-woods off a couple of tees to play it a little safer, and I missed the fairways with both of them...Just a weird second nine."
But if the round hadn't been strange enough, the 8th hole provided theatrics of the rarest form. The 8th is a strange hole that KJ refers to as 'kind of rinky-dink,' a dogleg-left par 5 down a hill with a very narrow fairway about 300 yards off the tee. The green is guarded by a pond to the front, and a group of trees behind.
Uresti hit his drive into the right rough, leaving himself with a decision as to whether he wanted to give the green a go. His caddy told me he thought about talking him into laying up, but the lie was so good that he re-thought it.
The lake was not the problem - it was the trees, and the cart path. Uresti pulled the shot about 20 yards, and the ball ricocheted off the cart path, landing some 50 yards past the green - with the trees between his ball and the hole.
Uresti went on to try a flop shot over the trees - which he later said he played about as well as he could hope to play it - but the ball took a hard bounce off a downslope and rolled onto the rocks in the water. Not wanting to try a risky shot off the rocks, Uresti had no choice but to take the lonely walk back across the bridge, to take a penalty drop some 80 yards away from the cup. He would now be hitting his 5th shot from all the way back in the fairway, having to think that the once-positive round had now been completely thrown away.
"I was in a lot of disbelief that (the ball) rolled that far, and that it stayed up but that it was on the rocks, up against the grass but underneath the grass," Uresti said. "I couldn't play it. So I wasn't real happy, but I just went back there, found a good comfortable number."
Naturally, he holed it. The ball landed on a slope about 20 feet past the hole, and spun back right into the cup. The crowd of about 20 sitting in a bleacher (one of the largest crowds seen all day) went wild, and Uresti threw his hands in the air in semi-mock triumph - shaking his head all the way.
"I wasn't expecting that much (spin)," Uresti said, laughing in recollection after the round. "It was kind of nice for it to go in for par."
"That's one heck of a par," one of the gallery members was overheard saying.
Indeed it was.
From there, Uresti finished fittingly - with a perfect drive, a nice approach left 15 feet below the hole, and a birdie on the closing par-4 9th. The effort left Uresti with a 66, probably one of the most bizarre 66's seen in recent memory, especially with all that transpired in the final holes.
Uresti knows that it will probably take around 25-under to win this week, and that there is no room for let-up on a course like Highland Springs. With soft greens, there is no excuse not to fire at flags, especially considering most holes are not long enough to demand long-iron approaches.
"You're able to hit shots, if you're in the rough, where the ball's still going to stop on the green," Uresti said. "You can just throw it right at the flag. I hit a couple of low shots into the holes, and they stuck within 2 or 3 feet of their pitch marks. Most of the time, something like that, it's going 15 or 20 feet past."
If you play safe, you are only asking the field to pass you by.
"You know coming into this event that the cut's always 4, 5, 6-under par," Uresti said. "Then you know you're going to have to shoot 25-under to have a chance at winning. The rough is up in spots, so if you miss the fairways you're going to be struggling a little bit, but there's not enough of it unfortunately. With the greens soft, it helps everybody, being able to throw it right at the pin and stop it."
You can't win the tournament on the first day, but you can certainly lose it. With his opening 6-under 66, Uresti certainly didn't lose it.
Considering the way he felt walking back over the bridge on the 8th hole Thursday, he couldn't have asked for much more.
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-When longtime friend and fellow pro Fran Quinn arrived in Springfield on Tuesday night, he came bearing a gift for KJ - a yardage book cover, made by his 12-year old daughter. The yardage book was crafted out of duct tape, entirely orange in homage to KJ's Clemson roots. KJ loved it - not only as a gift, but for its efficiency.
"Lighter than my old one," KJ said.
The Johnsons and Quinns vacation together on occasion as well, allowing the daughters to become friends (KJ has a 12-year old as well, along with a 9-year old).
KJ was raving about the yardage book cover near the clubhouse, showing numerous people and telling them about who made it.
"Not a basket of cookies," KJ said, clearly appreciating the thoughtfulness. "A yardage book cover."
KJ's regular caddy, Smiley, is caddying for Quinn this week. Smiley's family is from Springfield, and so he had the whole crew over for a full Italian dinner before the tournament began.
-KJ and Quinn grew up playing junior golf in the Boston area, and have remained friends throughout their careers. Both earned their Tour cards for 2010, and were excited about the prospects.
"We thought, 'boy, this is going to be great'," KJ said.
But Quinn got injured early in 2010, wiping out the majority of his season. Having used up the remaining starts on his PGA Tour medical earlier this season, he finds himself back out on the Web.com circuit - where he doesn't even have full status, and is playing off status as a champion in 2009 and 2010.
Going from full big-tour status to partial Triple-A status in a matter of weeks. The cruelty of golf, at its most pronounced.
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