Despite bump, Cory Schneider in position for back-to-back S.C. Open titles
Defending champion Cory Schneider threatened to run away from the field at the 65th South Carolina Open, until a bogey/double bogey finish left the North Carolina pro with just a one-shot lead after Monday’s opening round at Dataw Island.
Schneider, director of instruction at The Pointe Golf Club in the Outer Banks, used six birdies in his first 14 holes to reach 5-under par at Dataw Island’s Cotton Dike layout. But he took his second bogey of the day at the par-4 eighth hole, then compounded his troubles with a double bogey at No. 9.
That left Schneider with a 2-under-par 70, still alone in the lead but barely in front of seven other golfers including Beaufort’s Josh Fickes, a Clemson sophomore, and Haig Point assistant pro Matt Bova.
“I was just lookng to get off to solid start, which I was able to do,” Schneider told officials afterward. “I had a rough finish, but in good position for tomorrow.”
Three birdies in a four-hole span left Fickes at 2-under with three holes to play, but a bogey at No. 7 halted his momentum and he finished with two pars. Bova was perhaps the steadiest golfer of the day, with two birdies and just one bogey.
Four more entrants were another shot back at even-par 72, setting up a sprint to the finish in Tuesday’s final round.
ORISCHAK/REDMAN OUT AT 4-BALL
Hilton Head Island’s Andrew Orischak and partner Doc Redman were ousted in Monday’s opening round of match play at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, unable to overcome an early deficit to Braden Baer and Cole Nygren at New York’s famed Winged Foot GC.
Orischak and Redman, of Raleigh, N.C., led for only three holes before Baer/Nygren reeled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch to grab a 2-up advantage.
The Carolina duo twice managed to cut the deficit in half, but Baer/Nygren restored the lead with a birdie at the par-4 15th hole and ended the match with another birdie at No. 17.
This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 8:42 PM with the headline "Despite bump, Cory Schneider in position for back-to-back S.C. Open titles."