BRIAN D. SANDERFORD • TIMES RECORD
Fayetteville's Rich Morris hits out of the greenside bunker on No. 6 during Saturday's third round of the Fort Smith Classic. Morris is tied for fourth at 8-under.
FS CLASSIC: Sowards Not Par-Ticularly Pleased
By Bobby Swofford and Grant TolleyFORT SMITH - It is always nice to post par in a golf tournament, but when you make 14 in a row to start a round, it gets a little old.
Bob Sowards entered the third round at 2-under par and needed to make a run to move up the leaderboard, but nothing seemed to go his way.
"Counting fringes, I hit 17 greens today," Sowards said after his 3-under 67. "I played really well, but it was frustrating not making birdie until my 14th hole. It might have been the easiest 67 I have ever shot."
Starting on the back nine, Sowards posted 14 straight pars until he walked to No. 6, which has played as the easiest hole this week. With a birdie on the 533-yard par-5 hole, Sowards got the ball rolling. He then made birdies on No. 8 and No. 9 to finish a 3-under round and moved into a tie for 20th.
"You just have to battle through it," Sowards said. "I felt like I was hitting good putts and I hit good shots but I couldn't make anything other than par. I was just over reading some putts but once I made that first one, it got a little easier and I didn't feel as much pressure."
Scheduling
The final duo of Matt Wiebring and Darron Stiles will tee off today at 1 p.m. The plan is for the tournament to finish by 5 p.m.
On Saturday, the golfers played in threesomes and started on both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. After a 47-minute lightning delay beginning at 9:15 a.m., the final group still finished before a thunderstorm hit on Saturday afternoon.
However, the scheduling wasn't done due to a poor weather forecast. A large wedding reception was scheduled for Hardscrabble Country Club on Saturday night.
Moving Day
Saturday is the round in which players can make or break their tournament. Skip Kendall didn't do either.
The 5-foot-8 veteran fired a 1-under 69 in the third round, but he was the first to admit that he probably didn't do enough to move up the board.
"Not much happened out there," Kendall said. "I made a couple birdies, made a couple bogeys. I didn't do enough to move up and this is moving day and I didn't exactly move much."
In a round where he made three birdies and two bogeys, Kendall moved into a tie with Sowards and others for 20th.
"It's not a bad day and I'm not complaining about a 69, but 65 would have looked a lot better," Kendall said. "A lower score certainly would have been better but it was a little breezier today but I played with Kris Blanks who shot 66 so there was some low scores out there."
Kendall will not be confused with any of the bigger players on tour but the lack of length at Hardscrabble suits his game just fine.
"Look at me," Kendall said with a laugh. "For me, I like course where you have to work the ball and where length is not the leading factor. It all depends on who is playing well and that is how this game is supposed to be played."
Kendall will tee off at 11:21 a.m. along with Cody Freeman from Grove, Okla.
Stiles Closes On Record
If 2006 winner Darron Stiles can win the Fort Smith Classic today, he would become the first two-time winner and would record his fifth career Nationwide Tour title.
The record for career victories in the Nationwide Tour is six held by Sean Murphy, Matt Gogel and Jason Gore. Chris Smith, Pat Bates and 2005 Fort Smith Classic champ Chris Couch each have five career Nationwide Tour victories.
Blood Lines
Third-round leader Matt Weibring has a solid pedigree for golf. His father, D.A. Weibring, won five PGA Tour events and five Champions Tour events and is a noted golf course designer.
BRIAN D. SANDERFORD • TIMES RECORD Fayetteville's Rich Morris hits out of the greenside bunker on No. 6 during Saturday's third round of the Fort Smith Classic. Morris is tied for fourth at 8-under. |