Wheatcroft aggressive despite a huge margin Anyone wondering whether Steve Wheatcroft would play defensively with a Nationwide Tour record seven-stroke lead through the first two rounds of the Prince George’s County Open got the answer on his opening shot.
On a hole where most players keep their drivers in their bags, Wheatcroft pulled out his TaylorMade R11 and ripped his tee shot 360 yards down the middle on the 416-yard hole, setting up the first of his eight birdies. It was another day of dominance for the 33-year-old from Indiana, Pa., at the University of Maryland Golf Course.
By firing a 6-under-par 65, Wheatcroft remained in control at 22-under 191, eight shots clear of Nicholas Thompson, who gained just one stroke despite shooting a 64, his best round since August.
“That’s a tough one to swallow,” Thompson, 28, said as he checked his smart phone to see how his sister, LPGA prodigy Lexi Thompson, fared in the Shoprite Classic.
“But what I can I do now?” Thompson asked. “[I] can’t shoot any lower, just finished.”
Wheatcroft, who missed the cut the last two years at the Prince George’s County Open and failed to stick on the PGA Tour in 2007 and 2010, is one solid round away from his first win since capturing the 2003 Pennsylvania Open.
“Same mindset tomorrow,” Wheatcroft said. “The way I feel right now is aim it at the pin and hit there.”
After firing a course-record 60 on Friday, Wheatcroft had another day of aggressive ball striking. On the first hole, he caught a downslope and had only 55 yards left to the green.
“I was a little ragged early,” Wheatcroft said. “I came out and hit a drive 50 yards past where we’ve hit it all week. So I was obviously a little amped up.”
At No. 7, Wheatcroft hit a brilliant 5-iron from the rough and 215 yards out. His shot landed on the front of the green, buzzed the cup, and settled 10 feet past. Wheatcroft missed the putt, but tapped in for his first of three straight birdies.
On the tee at No. 8, a 346-yard par 4, and holding a seven-stroke lead, Wheatcroft smoked a driver hole high, just off the green, on his way to his third of five chip-and-putt birdies.
“I looked at [my caddie] and said, ‘Let’s get the green light. Now’s the time to run. Let’s birdie them all,” Wheatcroft said. “I feel like every hole’s a birdie hole.”
At No. 9, Wheatcroft rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt. He needed 25 putts on Saturday, six more than his magical round on Friday. Wheatcroft has yet to three-putt on the slow but true greens of UMGC. He is the tournament’s runaway leader in putts per round (23.7).
“I’m still hitting some loose shots here and there with the irons but the putter has been great,” Wheatcroft said. “I like these weeks where I’m seeing the lines and hitting the lines beautifully.”
When his round threatened to go awry, with a pushed iron shot at No. 10, which led to a bogey, Wheatcroft recovered with a spectacular 7-iron from 170 yards at No. 11, setting up a 5-foot birdie putt, which he converted.
When he tees off on Sunday, Wheatcroft will open with an eight-stroke lead, the most ever after three rounds on the Nationwide Tour.
“I’m going to come out tomorrow and do the exact same thing,” Wheatcroft said. “I’m fairly aggressive to begin with. I won’t do anything stupid. I won’t chase pins with crazy shots, but if I feel good on a shot, we’re going right at it.”
