Fort Smith Classic report
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/225421/
Morris’ bag does double duty as purse
FORT SMITH — Rich Morris might be the only player at the Fort Smith Classic with lip gloss in his golf bag.
Morris, a former Arkansas Razorback and current Fayetteville resident, had a good reason for carrying cosmetics, though. His wife, Rene, just recently gave up caddying for him. This week at least, that duty has fallen to Morris’ coach, Robert Jackins.
Rene Morris discovered that some of the personal items she’d left in her husband’s golf bag were still there after Thursday’s first round.
“Robert kept my Blow Pops and my lip gloss and everything else I need, so it was kind of nice to still have it there,” Rene Morris said with a laugh on Saturday. “This is my first tournament in six years to watch. I’ve been caddying for him for that long.”
The Morrises decided at the end of last season that she would seek fulltime employment and he would find another caddie.
“We just wanted to try it a different way,” said Rene Morris, who works for a medical supply company in Fayetteville. “Then the baby thing came up after that, so that was just a nice little surprise.”
Rene Morris is expecting the couple’s first child in August, but that hasn’t appeared to slow her down much as she’s made her way around the Hardscrabble Country Club course with friends and family members this week.
She said the more difficult task has been dealing with the fact she’s not as close to her husband while he’s playing.
The added distance, however, hasn’t lessened the emotions Rene Morris feels during a round.
“There’s not much I can really do behind the ropes,” she said. “But I still feel a lot of the same feelings. I still get nervous and excited, then don’t want to get too excited because you never know what can happen with this game.”
Bogey-free zone Third-round leader Matt Weibring entered Saturday as the only player not to have recorded a bogey during the first two days of play. That bogey-free string came to an end after 40 holes — on the 440-yard, par-4 fifth — when Weibring missed a 4-foot par putt. “You’re going to make some bogeys,” Weibring said. “I don’t think there has been anyone to go 72 holes to not make a bogey. I got that out of the way on No. 5.” The good news for Weibring is that he was able to shake off the three-putt bogey quickly. “It’s a bogey, you know ? Everyone has made a bogey,” Weibring said. “I went back and made birdie on the next hole.” Weibring also bogeyed the par-3 17 th, but bounced back with a round-ending par on No. 18 to take a one-shot lead into the clubhouse. A college teammate of Conway’s Bryce Molder at Georgia Tech, Weibring said he once played 46 holes without a bogey at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
A little antsy Colt Knost clearly was frustrated after following a 4-under front nine with a 4-over back nine that included a bogey on No. 18.
What really appeared to get under Knost’s skin were the ants surrounding his ball on the fringe of the 18 th green. More accurately, Knost was upset with the ruling of when he sought relief after the ball landed in what Knost said were anthills. Knost said the official refused to give him relief because the ants weren’t fire ants. “Regular ants aren’t [a hazard ], apparently,” Knost said. “Then he wiped all the ants away and said, ‘Now there aren’t any more ants.’”
Arkansas guys Former Arkansas Razorback Rich Morris drew the most interest of those players with Arkansas connections Saturday, hanging near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day before slipping into a tie for fourth place. Three other Arkansans also competed. Former Razorback Craig Lile is tied for 15 th, Conway’s Bryce Molder is tied for 41 st and Fayetteville’s Nick Beach, another former Hog, is tied for 58 th. At a glance WHAT Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic WHEN Final round begins at 8: 21 a. m. today WHERE Hardscrabble Country Club, Fort Smith TICKETS $ 10 and available at the gate LEADING Matt Weibring leads at 13 under par with 2006 champion Darron Stiles one stroke back. Kris Blanks is in third at 9 under, and former Arkansas Razorback Rich Morris is in a five-way tie for fourth, five strokes back. LOCALS Along with Morris, former Razorbacks Craig Lile (6 under ) and Nick Beach (1 over ) and Conway’s Bryce Molder (2 under ) are playing in the final round. Hole of the day
No. 14 PAR 4 LENGTH 428 yards AVERAGE SCORE 4. 180 RANK 4 STORY OF THE HOLE This hard dogleg left demands accuracy off the tee. Woods prevent pars, and poor approach shots can find the water surrounding the side of the green. There were only 11 birdies Saturday. Leader Matt Weibring birdied Saturday, while Rich Morris, one stroke behind on the tee, bogeyed to drop three shots back. By the numbers 1 Player, Ben Bates, who will play today’s final round by himself (the remaining 60 players will play in twosomes ) 65 Low round shot Saturday, shot by Daniel Summerhays 9 Players, out of 61, who shot even par Saturday 12 Eagles recorded so far on the par-5 11 th, the most of any hole on the course Overheard “Good lunch, maybe ?” — Rich Morris, when asked how he would recover from a
bogeydouble bogey finish Today’s tee times 8: 21 a. m. Ben Bates 8: 30 a. m. Jim Rutledge, Tim O’Neal 8: 39 a. m. Lee M. Williamson, Nick Beach 8: 48 a. m. Jason Dufner, B. J. Staten 8: 57 a. m. Josh McCumber, Chris Parra 9: 06 a. m. Tom Carter, Bret Guetz 9: 15 a. m. Jake Roos, Willie Wood 9: 24 a. m. Randy Leen, Garrett Osborn 9: 33 a. m. Kelly Grunewald, Brian Stuard 9: 42 a. m. Jay Delsing, Esteban Toledo 9: 51 a. m. Ty Tryon, Bryce Molder 10 a. m. Justin Hicks, Nick Malinowski 10: 09 a. m. Patrick Damron, Josh Broadaway 10: 18 a. m. Scott Gardiner, Joseph Lanza 10: 27 a. m. Michael Boyd, Keith Nolan 10: 36 a. m. Anders Hultman, Mark Brooks 10: 45 a. m. Chris Kamin, Scott Piercy 10: 54 a. m. Tommy Gainey, Bob Sowards 11: 03 a. m. Casey Wittenberg, Chris Thompson 11: 12 a. m. Steve Schneiter, Henrik Bjornstad 11: 21 a. m. Cody Freeman, Skip Kendall 11: 30 a. m. Won Joon Lee, Jon Turcott 11: 40 a. m. Ricky Barnes, Jason Schultz 11: 50 a. m. Chris Smith, Craig Lile Noon Colt Knost, Tee McCabe 12: 10 p. m. Cameron Percy, Jonathan Fricke 12: 20 p. m. Tommy Tolles, Jimmy Walker 12: 30 p. m. David Morland IV, Rich Morris 12: 40 p. m. David Lutterus, Kris Cox 12: 50 p. m. Kris Blanks, Daniel Summerhays 1 p. m. Matt Weibring, Darron Stiles