Mother Nature changed the wind direction while the sun made an appearance through the haze at the second round of the 1998 GTE Byron Nelson Classic. The gusty winds came out of the west instead of the prevailing south, and the players were left confused and unsure of their approach shots. "It was kind of gusty at times and if it caught you at the wrong time, it could create some havoc for you," said Hal Sutton.
"It was changing its direction sometimes, kind of gusting and moving around a little bit," said Harrison Frazar.
Sutton emerged as the second round leader after carding a 65 at the Cottonwood Valley Course. Sharp iron play set up five birdies between 6 and 15 feet. With his equipment contracts up at the start of the season, Sutton has been experimenting with different sets of balls and irons before recently settling on the Strata ball and Hogan irons. "The last five weeks I have played real well," said Sutton, who visited with former Masters champion Jackie Burke on Tuesday. Burke told Sutton that he needed to play the game instead of work so hard at it. "Burke reminded me "golf is an art. You need to play it instead of work at it so hard."
Disagreeing with several modern teachers, Sutton believes "golf is a game of feel." "I think the video cameras hurt this game more than anything else because it's made a whole lot of people think they know something about the game when they really don't. The camera can't tell you what that person is feeling at that time," said Sutton.
Dallas native Harrison Frazar remained in the hunt, trailing Sutton by one stroke after recording a 68 on the TPC Course before a growing gallery of hometown fans. "Today's round was not quite as sharp as yesterday's. I hit a few good shots when I needed to, made a couple of good putts, just not quite as crisp as yesterday," said Frazar.
Robert Damron, who fired a 65 at the Cottonwood Valley Course, is in a three-way tie at 7-under. After driving into the trees, Damron hit a sand wedge straight up over the trees to within a foot of the pin to set up one of his five birdies. "I'm hitting my irons better this week as opposed to the rest of the year, and that's really been the key," said Damron. Coming off of a two-week break, Damron believes he has been putting a little too much pressure on himself this season. He is also adjusting to losing 15 pounds since the start of the year. "Actually my ball striking has been worse this year but I guess in the long-run its going to be better, just like Duval, when he lost all that weight."
Crowd favorite Fred Couples shot a 67 at the Cottonwood Valley Course to finish at 7-under. "It was a good round. I hit the ball pretty well off the tee, mediocre on the second shots and I putted all right. It would have been nice to get one or two more (birdies)," said Couples. On the thirteenth hole, Couples holed a shot from right bunker in front of the green for one of his three birdies.
Anticipating lower scores, Couples believes someone will shoot 63 or 64 to win. "If I shoot 67, 66 over the weekend, I don't think that's going to be good enough to win," said Couples. "I need to try to make more birdies even if I make a few bogeys."
Bob Friend was even for the day at the Cottonwood Valley Course to join the others at 7-under. "I just didn't have many birdie opportunities today," said Friend. "I was very patient all day long," added Friend, who found the Cottonwood Valley greens to be "a little funky." With little experience at contending on the weekend, Friend looks to remain "process oriented - staying in the present tense and being focused - picking a target and falling in love with that target."
Tom Watson and Phil Mickelson head a group of six tied at 6-under. Watson shot an even par round at the TPC Course while Mickelson was 2-under for the day. They are joined by Bob Estes, Jeff Sluman, Tom Tryba and John Cook.
"I am not overly excited or disappointed about finishing at two-under today," said Mickelson, "The greens are hard and fast which make it very difficult to make birdies."
"Today's round was more of a struggle than yesterday," said Watson. "I struggled with my driver and some of my iron play." Watson birdied two of the last three holes, including sinking a seventy-foot putt on the 17th that "I was just trying to get close."
Payne Stewart, Jay Don Blake, Scott Gump, and Russ Cochran are five off the pace. Tiger Woods slipped to 4-under after recording a 71 at the TPC Course. Woods started out by driving through the first green while the group ahead was still putting. "I need to shoot in the mid to low 60s tomorrow to get back
in it," the defending champion said.
Woods is joined by six other players, including Mark O'Meara, Jim Furyk, who recorded 18 pars, and Bob Tway, who had two eagles.
1997 British Open Champion Justin Leonard holed a bunker shot on 17 on his way to finishing at 3-under.
Among those missing the one-under cut were Nick Price, Tom Lehman, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark Brooks, Bruce Lietzke, Scott Verplank and for the 36th straight time, Chip Beck.
Barry Cheesman was the winner of the first round of the GTE Long Distance
Competition. Cheesman's drive of 269 on the 16th hole (TPC) on Thursday was
good enough to win the $2500 prize which is donated by GTE to
the player's favorite charity.
Paul Stankowski took second with a drive of 264 and
Tim Herron was third with a 263.
Second-round scores
Sedond round scores Friday from the $2.5 million GTE Byron
Nelson Classic. t=6,924-yard, par 35-35--70 TPC at the
Four Seasons Resort and c=6,846-yard, par 34-36-70
Cottonwood Valley Golf Course.
(par=70)
Hal Sutton 66-65--131c 9-under
Harrison Frazar 64-68--132t 8-under
Fred Couples 66-67--133c 7-under
Robert Damron 68-65--133c
Bob Friend 63-70--133c
Bob Estes 66-68--134c 6-under
Jeff Sluman 67-67--134c
Ted Tryba 66-68--134t
Phil Mickelson 66-68--134t
Tom Watson 64-70--134t
John Cook 66-68--134c
Scott Gump 65-70--135t 5-under
Russ Cochran 68-67--135t
Jay Don Blake 67-68--135t
Payne Stewart 68-67--135c
Jim Carter 68-68--136t 4-under
Jim Furyk 66-70--136c
Tiger Woods 65-71--136t
Mark O'Meara 67-69--136c
Donnie Hammond 66-70--136t
Gabriel Hjertstedt 70-66--136c
Bob Tway 70-66--136c
Doug Martin 69-68--137c 3-under
Len Mattiace 71-66--137c
Willie Wood 69-68--137c
Frank Lickliter 65-72--137t
Glen Hnatiuk 68-69--137c
Blaine McCallister 65-72--137t
Steve Flesch 71-66--137c
Chris Perry 67-70--137t
Rocco Mediate 67-70--137c
Corey Pavin 70-67--137t
Justin Leonard 68-69--137t
Craig Barlow 69-68--137c
Lee Rinker 69-68--137c
Omar Uresti 69-68--137t
Larry Mize 69-69--138t 2-under
Phil Blackmar 69-69--138c
Paul Goydos 72-66--138c
Glen Day 68-70--138c
Don Pooley 67-71--138c
Phil Tataurangi 70-68--138c
Chris DiMarco 67-71--138t
Dan Forsman 67-71--138t
Peter Jacobsen 70-68--138t
Tim Herron 69-69--138c
Ernie Els 69-69--138t
Craig Stadler 71-67--138t
Scott McCarron 66-72--138t
John Daly 67-71--138t
Richard Coughlan 70-68--138t
Jim McGovern 71-67--138c
Jeff Gallagher 69-69--138c
Ronnie Black 73-66--139t 1-under
Brad Fabel 70-69--139t
Fulton Allem 69-70--139t
Tommy Armour III 67-72--139t
Kirk Triplett 69-70--139c
Steve Stricker 67-72--139t
Trevor Dodds 68-71--139c
Kenny Perry 67-72--139t
Tom Kite 69-70--139t
Mike Hulbert 71-68--139c
Tom Pernice Jr. 73-66--139c
Ben Bates 65-74--139c
Guy Hill 70-69--139t
Esteban Toledo 72-67--139c
Vance Veazey 69-70--139c
Mike Heinen 70-69--139c
Nolan Henke 75-64--139c
David Frost 68-71--139c
David Ogrin 67-72--139c
Steve Jones 69-70--139t
Ben Crenshaw 70-69--139c
Jeff Maggert 69-70--139c
Tom Byrum 68-71--139t
Mike Springer 71-68--139c
Clark Dennis 67-72--139c
R.W. Eaks 66-73--139c
Failed to Qualify
P.H. Horgan III 70-70--140t Even
Billy Mayfair 72-68--140t
Mark Brooks 71-69--140c
Brian Henninger 70-70--140t
Keith Nolan 68-72--140c
Scott Verplank 71-69--140c
Nick Price 70-70--140t
Tom Lehman 69-71--140c
Lennie Clements 71-69--140t
Neal Lancaster 70-71--141t 1-over
Steve Lowery 70-71--141c
Mark Calcavecchia 71-70--141t
Loren Roberts 73-68--141t
Dudley Hart 70-71--141c
Clarence Rose 69-72--141t
Stuart Appleby 72-69--141c
Steve Jurgensen 69-72--141t
Brett Quigley 70-71--141t
J.L. Lewis 67-74--141t
Hugh Royer 68-73--141t
Franklin Langham 69-72--141t
Barry Cheesman 69-72--141c
Chris Smith 72-69--141t
Sonny Skinner 69-72--141t
Chris Zambri 68-73--141t
Michael Bradley 74-68--142c 2-over
Stewart Cink 70-72--142c
Lee Porter 72-70--142c
Hajime Meshiai 70-72--142t
Grant Waite 69-73--142t
Mark Carnevale 69-73--142t
Paul Stankowski 70-72--142c
Craig Parry 70-72--142t
Doug Barron 66-76--142c
Mark Wiebe 71-72--143t 3-over
Andrew Magee 71-72--143c
Jason Hill 70-73--143t
Dave Barr 68-75--143t
Lanny Wadkins 73-70--143c
Frank Nobilo 72-71--143t
John Morse 72-71--143c
Spike McRoy 71-72--143t
David Edwards 69-75--144c 4-over
Larry Rinker 71-73--144c
Chip Beck 72-72--144t
Guy Boros 73-71--144c
David Toms 69-75--144t
Brent Geiberger 70-74--144t
Mike Brisky 68-76--144c
Olin Browne 73-72--145c 5-over
D.A. Weibring 73-72--145t
John Adams 67-78--145t
Pete Jordan 70-75--145c
Jonathan Kaye 70-75--145c
Tommy Tolles 70-76--146c 6-over
Jay Haas 74-72--146t
Bruce Lietzke 78-68--146c
Billy Ray Brown 70-76--146t
Kelly Gibson 75-71--146t
David J. White 75-71--146c
Duffy Waldorf 71-75--146c
Bobby Wadkins 73-73--146t
Mike Weir 75-71--146c
Joel Edwards 74-73--147c 7-over
Dave Stockton 72-75--147t
Mike Standly 73-74--147t
Kent Jones 71-76--147t
Perry Arthur 75-72--147t
David Sutherland 71-77--148t 8-over
Kawika Cotner 73-75--148t
Kevin Sutherland 72-77--149t 9-over
Troy Reiser 75-74--149c
Brandel Chamblee 77-72--149c
Iain Steel 75-74--149t
Wayne Grady 76-73--149t
Paul Earnest 78-74--152t 12-over
Jim Stalder 84-80--164c 24-over
Don Dowell is the Editor/Publisher of Golf in the SouthWest
(May 15, 1998)©