Iles shoots 65 to lead by one in West Virginia
West Va. – New Zealand’s Brad Iles posted a 7-under-par 65 late Thursday afternoon and grabbed the first-round lead at the Nationwide Tour Players Cup in Bridgeport, W.Va. Iles holds a one-stroke margin over Canadian Brad Fritsch and a two-shot edge over Ron Whittaker, Steve Wheatcroft and Brian Stuard.
A total of 64 players in the field of 144 bettered par at the Pete Dye Golf Club, which yielded a scoring average of 72.361.
Iles, a 25-year old from Papamoa, New Zealand, is rounding into form and beginning to live up to expectations but he’s doing it through a visualization process that most golfers wouldn’t try. Iles, who has a pair of top-10 finishes this year, including a playoff loss to Kevin Johnson at the Knoxville Open two weeks ago, doesn’t visualize certain shots on the golf course, but instead tries to see himself as a different person.
“My coach, my manager, several players all told me I had the shots and I had the talent but I wasn’t aggressive enough,” he said. “I didn’t have enough mongrel in me.”
Iles held the lead in several Tournaments in Australia early in 2008 but squandered 36- and 54-hole leads, eventually finishing “around 20th” instead of colleting trophies and big paychecks.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with the lead,” he said. “I was afraid of holding the lead.”
With the help of psychologist David Galbraith back home, the Kiwi has transformed himself into a much more confident player, one who hunts for birdies instead of hoping for pars.
“I visualize myself as someone else,” he admits. “I was a lot more ‘zonish’ and controlled. I was going through the motions instead of trying to be aggressive. I still take the same risks as before.”
The results are starting to materialize in 2009. Iles came from the middle of the pack with a final-round 63 to force the playoff with Johnson, who would collect his second victory of the year with a birdie on the second extra hole.
Iles slowly moved up the leaderboard late in the day thanks to eight birdies, that were even spaced out on each nine.
One example of the new version of Iles came at the reachable, par-5, 17th, his eighth hole of the day. A 25-foot eagle chip blew past the hole and left him a 15-foot comeback putt for birdie, which he canned.
“I guess I forgot about making birdie and tried to make eagle,” he said. “I’m working on giving myself 18 chances at birdies. Even if I miss a green, I work on chipping it in instead of getting up there where I can make a par.”
Fritsch’s time at the top of the leaderboard was brief, lasting only about 30 minutes before Iles, playing in the next-to-last group, took over. Fritsch’s round was highlighted by six birdies in an eight-hole stretch but the real credit went to his play off the tee. The 31-year old Raleigh, N.C., transplant hit 13 of 14 fairways (93%), well above a season average that checks in just below 65%.
“If you drive it well here, you’ll have a lot of chances. This course plays from the fairway, in,” he said. “If you can get over the intimidation of what the tee shots look like, you can play this course. The fairways are actually a little wider than ones we normally play.”
Perhaps, but in typical Pete Dye fashion, danger looms everywhere.
“There’s trouble on both sides of the fairways here,” he said. “If you miss it on this course it’ll cost you two (strokes). If you miss it, it’s going to be a penalty area. On other tree-lined courses, you can find your ball and it might only cost one.”
First-Round Notes:
* Two-time winner Kevin Johnson, No. 2 on the money list and the leading money winner in this week’s field, posted a 3-over 75. Johnson had two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey on his opening nine and shot a 6-over 42. He rallied with three birdies on the inward nine for a 33.
* Jason Enloe, a playoff winner of last week’s Fort Smith Classic and a playoff winner over Boo Weekley at this event in 2006, fired a 2-under 70 and is tied for 25thplace.
* Neal Lancaster (79) withdrew after the first round.
* Players, caddies and officials are wearing black ribbons this week in memory of Beth Smith, wife of Chris Smith, and Shirley Kendall, mother of Skip Kendall. Both women were victims of car accidents and passed away last weekend. Smith was killed in a car accident Sunday near the family home in northern Indiana and the couple’s two children were also seriously hurt. Players also have the option of replacing their name on their caddie bibs with Chris Smith’s name to show further support for his family as they deal with the tragedy. All totaled, 126 in the field donned Smith’s nametag on Thursday.
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