Saturday, May 18, 2002
Flesch 1 stroke off Colonial lead
Thorpe, Jacobs atop senior event
Enquirer news services
FORT WORTH, Texas — Northern Kentuckian Steve Flesch has positioned himself for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Flesch shot a bogey-free 67 Friday for a 5-under-par 135 after 36 holes to share second with Bob Tway and trail co-leaders Nick Price and Esteban Toledo by one stroke at the Colonial.
“It was a good scrambling day out there,” said Flesch, a former tour rookie of the year. “I made some good saves. My putter saved me a lot. The most satisfying part about it for me is that I've been struggling putting a lot lately, and I made some good par saves out there.”
Flesch missed the green at No. 4, a 246-yard par-3 that was playing into the wind, but chipped to 8 feet. He then got up-and-down out of the sand on the 470-yard fifth with a 4-foot par.
Flesch and Tway, who like Price teed off in the first section of players after the 3 1/2-hour rain delay, were a shot back at 5-under 135. Tway shot a 68.
Tway, who hasn't won since the 1995 MCI Classic, got to 7 under after birdies on four of his first 10 holes. But he hit his drive through the fairway at No. 3, at 476 yards the longest par-4 on the course, and hit a tree before finishing with a double bogey.
“I hit what I thought was a great drive,” Tway said. “I hit a great shot but misjudged the wind and got in trouble. The wind was opposite what we are used to, and a lot of holes played differently. I'm pleased where I am.”
Price, 42, long one of the PGA Tour's best ball-strikers, putted his way to the top. Price shot a 5-under-par 65 in difficult conditions in the rain-delayed second round and was at 6-under 134.
Price needed just 26 putts to complete the round. He had only one bogey, when he hit his tee shot at the 188-yard 16th into the right bunker and then two-putted from 7 feet. He got that stroke back — and the outright lead — when he made a 15-foot putt on the 427-yard 18th. Price had three birdies from holes Nos. 11-14, putting a 30-footer off the fringe at the 11th, knocking a 9-iron to 3 feet on the 433-yard 12th and hitting a pitching wedge to 6 feet on the 457-yard 14th.
Price hasn't won since the 1998 Fed-Ex St. Jude Classic, the last of his 15 wins in the 1990s that tied Woods for the most in the decade. He has 16 PGA Tour wins and 24 international victories.
Price, who prefers to spend more time at home in Florida with his wife and three children, is in just his 10th tournament of the year. He has made the cut every time, finished in the top 10 five times and been par or better in 12 of his last 14 rounds.
While the No. 1 player in the world in the first half of the 1990s, Price won three majors and a Players Championships. He won two PGA Tour money titles and was twice the player of the year. Price won the Colonial in 1994, the same year he won the British Open.
SENIOR TOUR: Jim Thorpe and John Jacobs, playoff rivals in the first senior major of the year, shot season-best 7-under 65s to share the lead in the Instinet Classic in Princeton, N.J. Three weeks ago in Arizona, Thorpe beat Jacobs on the first extra hole in The Tradition.
LPGA TOUR: Janice Moodie shot a 6-under 66, best round of the tournament, and took a two-stroke lead over Laura Davies in the Asahi Ryokuken International.
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Flesch 1 stroke off Colonial lead
