He’s a 34-year-old rookie on the Web.com Tour, has slept in a thatched hut, consumed roasted bugs and driven a golf cart off a cliff.
Anything else? Well, despite entering the week at No. 144 on the money list, Mark Baldwin on Friday morning took the lead in the PGA Web.com Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper.
Baldwin carded a 64 and is now at 15-under-par 129 at Highland Springs Country Club, making for an interesting weekend. (Saturday’s round will begin at 8 a.m. as the tournament hopes to beat an ominous afternoon weather forecast.)
Baldwin now has 14 birdies, including eight in the second round. On Thursday, he eagled No. 8, a 544-yard par 5 where it’s difficult to see the green which, already hugged by a water hazard, sits beyond a downward slope. That was among 36 eagles by all golfers in the opening round.
This for a New Hampshire native who last fall secured guaranteed Web.com Tour starts for the first time in his 13-year pro career. He has played on the PGA Tour’s tour in China, Latinoamerica and the MacKenzie Tour in Canada as well as in addition to four other tours. He stayed in a thatched hut and ate roasted bugs on the Asia tour.
“Honestly, I hit a series of shots out there that got me into the right places,” Baldwin said Friday, “so my putter could do the talking. It said all the right things. I got on a nice little roll right there on the front and made five putts consecutively from 15 feet or longer and one was like a 40-footer. All were dead center.”
………………………………………….
RECORD-SETTING DAY AT PCCC
The cut was made after play Friday, and it is incredible. It’s 7-under 137, tying the Web.com Tour record for low 36-hole cut previously set at the 1991 Dakota Dunes Open, the 2004 Henrico County Open and the 2006 Chattanooga Classic. CHECK OUT THE FULL LEADERBOARD
His performance leapfrogged over Thursday’s leader, Martin Trainer, who was one shot back following Friday’s morning round. That’s the same with Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, who is a lock to be on the PGA Tour next season as he entered the PCCC at No. 11 on the money list.
Rodriguez pocketed eight birdies in a 10-hole stretch Friday, hours before the field was cut. He actually bogeyed Nos. 4 and 5 and then birdied the next eight holes.
That came on a day when Trainer eagled No. 1, his first hole of the day, and how important it was. He ended up bogeying Nos. 4, 9, 10, and 18.
Meanwhile, Kyle Jones, Jay McLuen, Fernando Mechereffe were also in the hunt.
………………………………………………………
WEAR YELLOW ON SATURDAY
& SUPPORT DSGO!
For the second year in a row, the Down Syndrome Group of the Ozarks is set up in a yellow tent near the No. 9 fairway, and we’re celebrating “Down Syndrome Awareness Day” on Saturday, so please wear yellow in support!
The DSGO champions kids, teens and adults with Down syndrome by providing medical, educational and social support. Presentations are made at schools and to civic organizations, with immediate outreach for parents with babies born with Down syndrome. Employment of those with Down syndrome also is a top priority.
Thanks to your support last year, DSGO is using a portion of its PCCC dollars to bring a Down Syndrome Education Specialist certification program to the Ozarks. Funds were also used this past year to hold medical presentations to a group of pediatricians and NICU nurses at Mercy Hospital. This for an organization that began as a small group in 2006 and has now has a board of directors, executive director and reaches 350-plus folks annually in the Ozarks.
………………………………………………………………
WIN THIS FORD F-150
OR $10,000
The $25 TLC Properties Charity Sweepstakes tickets remain available. The grand prizes are a Ford F-150 STX and $10,000 and will be drawn after play Sunday on the 18th green. The tickets are also good for a four-day grounds pass.
………………………………………………………………….
GO BLUE FOR AUTISM
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Be sure to wear blue on the final day of the tournament, which for the fourth consecutive year is the ‘Go Blue for Autism’ Championship Sunday.
What a great showcase it has been for The Arc of the Ozarks, which again will decorate the course in blue and have a blue tent set up near the 18th fairway – with blue treats to be given away. Kick back in furniture provided by the At Home Store.
Since joining the PCCC 14 years ago, The Arc of the Ozarks has turned its PCCC donations toward covering costs of 100 kids in its No Limits Summer Camp. The kiddos have been able to travel to Table Rock Lake, the Dickerson Park Zoo as well as dance and music therapy sessions. Some 62 percent of campers have been diagnosed with autism.
……………………………………………………
HONOR GUARDS TO MARCH
U.S. & MISSOURI FLAGS
TO NO. 1 TEE BOX
Saturday: Missouri State Highway Patrol
Sunday: Junior ROTC — Ozark High School
Check out the video of Springfield Police’s Honor Guard on Friday
………………………………………..
TICKETS
$10 — Daily grounds pass
$150 — Jackson Brothers of the South Ozarks Club badge: Good for every day and entrance to catered food & drink tent!