Good results convince Uresti to focus on Nationwide Tour  PGATOUR.com Correspondent GLENVIEW, Ill. -- The results from Friday's second round of the LaSalle Bank Open were as predictable as sunrise in the East. Barely a breath of breeze greeted dawn at The Glen Club, the $750,000 tournament's venue just north of Chicago, a meteorological fact that flew in the face of this metropolis' well-known moniker of "The Windy City.'' There was little variance throughout the day.  Omar Uresti scorched the LaSalle Bank Open with a blemish-free 63 Friday. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
Fairways, already generous, were made even wider by a pesky band of showers that delayed play for 80 minutes Thursday afternoon. The moisture overload also made the Tom Fazio-designed greens softer than a down comforter. Put it all together. The end result was perfect conditions that transformed the 7,263-yard track -- the second toughest on tour in 2006 -- from tiger into tabby thereby creating the perfect storm of sub par rounds. Players attacked flags without fear of reprisal. Covey upon covey of birdies was flushed to the delight of the spectators. How easy was it? The cut in 2007 was 3 under par, nine shots lower than it was in 2006 when cold and wind wreaked havoc on the scoreboard. Rounds of 65, 66 and 67 were the rule rather than the exception. But no one did it better than veteran Omar Uresti, who has become the Nationwide Tour's version of an ATM over the course of the last six events. While Uresti's blemish-free 63 Friday was his season's best, it simply was a continuation of his scorching play -- he made seven birdies and an eagle -- since he won the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship on April Fool's Day. No fool Uresti, he took that victory to heart, making the decision to forgo plans to divide his time between the Nationwide Tour and the PGA TOUR, where he finished 134th on the money list and had conditional status. He saw it as the best path back to The Big Show in 2008. "I decided to get it done out here,'' he said. And he is, with a flourish. Uresti, who is fourth on the Nationwide Tour money list with $173,863, will enter Saturday's third round with a one-shot lead over Chez Reavie at 11-under-par 133. He is two solid rounds away from locking up that goal and moving on to thoughts of bigger and better things, like becoming No. 1 on the money list or earning a performance promotion to the PGA TOUR by winning three times. There's a reason Uresti, 39, is thinking with such clarity. Twenty-one of his last 22 rounds have been at par or better. And he has been no worse than 24th in his last six events. "This has been fun,'' he said. "I'm a lot more relaxed this year than I have been in the past.'' Then came Friday's exclamation point. Asked to provide a summary of his play, Uresti wasted no fewer words than he did shots. "I hit all of my fairways (14 of 14),'' he said. "I hit at least 14 greens (it was 15) and I had 24 putts. That's the way you get it done.'' There you have it, 63 strokes in 25 words. Uresti's play is the culmination of two years of hard work on the range with instructor Butch Leibler, who has convinced his pupil he must be more centered on his backswing. Quiet hips have led to solid ball striking. Plus Uresti has worked for the last year with putting guru Stan Utley, who adjusted his grip and stressed Uresti should do a better job of releasing the putter after impact. "I had a tendency to chicken-wing it and therefore I would hold onto the putter too long,'' he said. Uresti came into 2007 brimming with confidence. He began the Nationwide Tour with a tie for 12th at the Movistar Panama Championship and then finished in a tie for 19th at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR. But something in his swing got out of kilter during the weekend on the Monterrey Peninsula. Uresti believes it happened because he was forced to wear rain gear throughout the tournament. "Then I went into a little slump,'' he said. Missed cuts followed at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by Dynamic Industries on the Nationwide and the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun on the PGA Tour. "I didn't know what was going on,'' he said. But Uresti discovered something on the practice range the day before Livermore. "Something just clicked,'' he said. Half-way through the first round he adjusted his right hand on the putter and suddenly all was well in his golf world. It's two months later and obviously little has changed. Nevertheless Uresti fretted Friday morning when he wasn't striking the ball with his customary authority as he warmed up on the range. And he said didn't feel like he hit that driver that well during the round, this when he was perfect in fairways hit. That's what happens when you're going well. And who would dare argue that Uresti isn't especially when a score in the 60s is as predictable for him as sunrise in the East. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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