Stiles, Morris share midway lead
FORT SMITH, AR – For Darron Stiles, the combination of a good year and a comfortable golf course might make a nearly unbeatable combination. Stiles fired a 7-under-par 63 in the second round of the Fort Smith Classic and moved to a familiar place – the top of the leaderboard. Stiles, a winner here in 2006, stands at 10-under 130 and tied with former Arkansas Razorback Rich Morris, who also posted a 63.The pair are one shot ahead of Matt Weibring (67) and two in front of Kris Cox (64), Tee McCabe (64), David Morland IV (65), Justin Hicks (66) and Won Joon Lee (65). Colt Knost (65), Chris Thompson (65) and first-round co-leader Tommy Gainey (69) are three shots back of the leaders.
“The shots that you need to hit fit what I like to do,” said Stiles, who also happens to be blogging for the tournament’s website this week. “It’s a good ball-striking golf course because you’ve got to move the ball both ways.”
Stiles got off to a quick start, making four birdies in his first five holes. None of his birdie putts was longer than eight feet. He added a fifth to close the back nine, chipping in at No. 18 to get to 8-under. A pair of birdies midway through the front nine got him into double digits and he closed the round with a nice par-save on the next-to-last hole.
“I pretty much got everything out of today’s round that I was supposed to,” said Stiles, who is No. 6 on the current money list. “If I hit it inside of 15 feet, I made it.”
While Stiles is setting his sights on a return trip to the PGA TOUR, Morris is just hoping to end his vagabond days and find a regular place to play. The 31-year old Fayetteville resident has been working his way around the country trying to Monday qualify his way into Nationwide Tour events. He failed in his first two attempts in Louisiana and California but then successfully made the fields in Richmond, VA, two weeks ago and Valdosta, GA, last week.
“I have no status on this Tour,” said Morris, who has played the mini-tour circuit of late. “Q-school has not been kind to me the last six years. My focus is on this Tour. I know that with Monday qualifying, you’re going to miss more than you make.”
Morris, recovering from a torn meniscus that required knee surgery in late January, missed the cut in Virginia and tied for 57th last week. In front of family and friends, he has put together his best rounds in some time.
“Last week we got some things worked out with the driver and the putter’s working,” said Morris, who is commuting the 60 miles from his home this week. “It was just a matter of time. It was getting closer and getting closer. Obviously, I’d like to have a five-shot lead but I’m excited about where I’m at.”
He owns a share of the lead after missing only two fairways and three greens during his second-round rise to the top. “Golf can be a lot of fun but it can be a bear at times,” he said. “I know that you’re riding the wave and I know there are some bad times up ahead. Today was one of those rounds you want to remember for a long time. I wanted to keep going. Days like this you want to go play another 18.”
Weibring, the only player in the field yet to make a bogey, hopes his good play continues on the weekend.
“I hit it really good again today, maybe better than yesterday,” said the Texan, who hit 14 greens in regulation but had 29 putts. “I was in between a lot of clubs and so I couldn’t really go right at the pins the way I would have liked. I wound up with a lot of 15 to 20-footers. I didn’t make a lot of them but if I have more days like this, I’ll be just fine.”
Second Round Notes – Lift, clean and place conditions were in effect for the second consecutive day…A total of 61 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 2-under-par 138…Third-round play will be in threesomes off the 1st and 10th tees. Saturday’s expected finish time of 3 p.m. CT means tee times will run from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m…Ten of the top-25 money winners teed it up this week and six of the 10 advanced to the weekend. Those in the best position are No. 6 Darron Stiles (T1) and No. 13 Tee McCabe (T3). Those missing the cut were No. 4 Bryan DeCorso, No. 8 Scott Dunlap, No. 19 J.J. Killeen and No. 20 Joe Daley…Best rounds of the day: 62 – Jonathan Fricke; 63 – Cody Freeman, Darron Stiles, Rich Morris; 64 – Tee McCabe, Tommy Tolles…Friday’s second-round scoring average was 69.374…There were 24 different players that ran off consecutive birdie streaks of three in a row or better. Jonathan Fricke and Esteban Toledo each did it twice, while Chris Thompson had four in a row and Cody Freeman had six in a row…Cody Freeman’s 6-under 29 tied the back nine tournament record, first set Shaun Micheel in 1999.
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