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Saturday, June 20, 2009

Barnes Enters Record Territory

Ricky Barnes, with brother Andy Barnes serving as caddie, takes a full view of the green at hand during his exceptional second round. (John Mummert/USGA)

Former U.S. Amateur champion posts 36-hole total of 132

By Dave Shedloski

Farmingdale, N.Y. – Former U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes waded into scoring territory Saturday at the U.S. Open where no one has ever tread.

What’s surprising is not just that it was executed by a player who had never finished better than 59th in the National Open, but that it came from a PGA Tour rookie who heretofore had been unable to score that low at any juncture of his previous 12 PGA Tour events this year.

Barnes, 28, who won the 2002 Amateur title, leads the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park thanks to two stellar rounds on what has been a benign Black Course. He followed up an opening 67 by completing a bogey-free 5-under-par 65 Saturday morning to forge a one-stroke lead over former USA Walker Cup member Lucas Glover.

Barnes’ 8-under 132 total breaks the 36-hole scoring record Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk set at the 2003 Open at Olympia Fields Country Club. Glover came close to tying that mark Saturday, thanks to a bogey-free 64 that was one off the 18-hole Open record.

“It's pretty cool. At the beginning of the week you didn't think that score was out there,” said Barnes, who resides in Phoenix, after covering the final nine holes of his second round Saturday in three under par. “Obviously with some tees moved up and the soft greens helped it out. My ball‑striking was the probably the most impressive part of the first 36 holes.

“[But] if you would have told me I would have been eight under and [had] only a one-shot lead, I would have said, ‘You're kidding me,’ but I'll take it. It was solid play. And I'm happy with in the position I'm at.”

By hitting 31 of 36 greens – which allowed him to call his two-day effort “stress free” – Barnes posted his first two sub-70 scores in 12 Open rounds. He had missed the cut in three of his previous four appearances, and his previous best score was an even-par 70 at Olympia Fields in 2003, where he made his lone cut.

His second round was truly a thing of beauty as he not only hit 15 greens, but also found the soft, silky fairways of the Black Course 11 of 14 times.

It’s quite a turnaround for a player who has struggled for much of his first full year on the PGA Tour. Barnes has missed six of 12 cuts, and his best finish has been a tie for 47th last week at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., where he also opened with a pair of sub-70 scores the only other time this season. His scoring average entering the week was 71.91, which ranks 165th on the Tour. What’s more, until Saturday, he had never gotten lower than 5 under at any time this year; he reached that mark at 46 holes at TPC Southwind in Memphis last week before sliding back.

His Open start is the second best of his 37 career PGA Tour events. In six previous majors, Barnes’ only other sub-70 score was a 3-under 69 at the 2003 Masters as an amateur.

“Could I have predicted I would shoot 132? No. Did I know I had it in me? Yeah,” said Barnes, vying to become the 12th man to win the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open that would join him with the likes of Bob Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods. “I'm starting to play well. I’m working hard on my game on and off the golf course.”

Through 36 holes, that effort has shown up on the leaderboard.

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on USGA championship Web sites.