Sapp, Northcutt lead at Cane Creek

[corner-ad id=2]Former champion, former Auburn player hold a two-shot lead after opening round

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Kyle Sapp has always liked coming to the Fort McClellan Credit Union Pro-Invitational at Cane Creek Golf Course. That’s why it pained him so much to have missed last year for a reason he can’t even remember now.

It didn’t take long for the 2012 champion with the unanchored long putter and unorthodox stroke to fall back into his comfort zone here. He shot 1-under-par 71 on firm, fast greens Friday that was good enough to share the first-round lead with former Auburn All-American Glenn Northcutt.

The two Emerald Coast Tour veterans hold a two-shot lead over 20-year-old Atlanta pro Andy Shim and 22-year-old Mason Seaborn of Birmingham. The amateurs begin their play in the invitational portion of the event Saturday.

Sapp, 30, eagled the par-5 fifth and birdied three of his final five holes – on what he calls his favorite stretch of the golf course — to shoot up the leaderboard.

“I love it out here; I’m excited about being back,” he said. “This course fits me so well – a lot of doglegs and I like working it both ways. Absolutely I missed it (last year).

“I could have shot 66 today in a heartbeat. I made three or four just bonehead mistakes and I missed three putts inside four and a half feet today. That’s a disappointing day for me because that’s my biggest strength by far, putting. That was the story of my day – missed opportunities – but I was proud I made three birdies in the last five holes.”

Northcutt got his round started with back-to-back birdies on 4 and 5. He turned in 1-under and played the back in even par with two more birdies.

But, like Sapp, he lamented leaving a few shots out there. He played the par-3s in 3-over — birding only No. 3 — and had a hybrid for his approach into the par-5 18th and didn’t make birdie.

“Every shot is so important,” he said. “You don’t realize it until you’re one shot of getting into an event, but you don’t want to leave a bunch out there.

“Michael Jordan once said guys will destroy themselves after a basketball game (thinking of things they didn’t do); just take 10-15 minutes after a game to think what you can do to get better for the next one. I did some good things today. I’ll just try to be a little bit better for tomorrow.”

Shim is a former U.S. Junior Amateur champion, winning the title in New Hampshire in 2012 by rallying from five down after 18 holes, the largest comeback in the tournament’s then 65-year history. He moved to Duluth, Ga., from South Korea in 2009 and turned pro two years ago after completing his homeschooling, passing up the chance to attend either Florida or Liberty.

“I just didn’t want to waste time,” he said of his decision. “I wanted to play more golf, focus on one thing. I had an opportunity to turn pro, so I decided to do it.

“I guess a lot of people would say going to college first would be better because they get more golf experience and don’t spend money as much as I do. It would have been tough for me to go to college and keep playing golf. I just didn’t want to waste time and just turned pro.”

Seaborn chose the college route. The 22-year-old Fairhope native was a two-time Sun Belt Conference all-conference player who turned pro after graduating UL-Monroe earlier this spring. His round Friday included an eagle and a birdie at 18 to pull into a tie with Shim.

The four leaders will play in the final pro group Saturday at 9:10 a.m.

The tournament has a strong contingent of players with local ties. Defending champion Garrett Burgess shot 78, Anniston CC pro Jake Spott and Jacksonville State assistant coach Neal Grusczynski shot 75, Jaylon Ellison shot 77, former Cane Creek assistant Daniel Alldredge shot 81 and Ethyn Roberts shot 88.

Burgess didn’t sign up for the tournament until Monday and the only reasons he did was because it was close to home and he was defending champion. He said he hadn’t touched a club more than a dozen times over the last year.

He did have two birdies in the round — on No. 4 and from off the green on No. 16 — but he also started with back-to-back bogeys.

“There’s really nothing to say; the score says it all,” Burgess said. “Had I not hit the ball half-decent it would’ve been in the 80s.”

Roberts, meanwhile, was playing in his first mini-tour event as a pro. He got off to a good start, making birdie on his first hole, and was even-par through 4 after an adventurous bogey, but then had five doubles or worse the rest of the way.

“The nerves weren’t as bad as I thought they would’ve been, because I came into it pretty confident,” he said. “I started off good, then got every bad break out there. Nerves got me in my short game later in the round.

“You’ve got to be dead-on with your short game out here. If you want to make it as a professional, if you’re short game is not spot-on you’re not going to make it very long. I hit it just as far as these guys out here, the lengths there, but my short game came and left today.”

Fort McClellan Credit Union Pro-Invitational
First-round pro division

Glenn Northcutt, Dothan 35-36—71
Kyle Sapp, Gardendale 36-35—71
Andy Shim, Atlanta 37-36—73
Mason Seaborn, Birmingham 37-36—73
Jake Spott, Anniston 38-37—75
Neal Grusczynski, Milwaukee, Wis. 35-40—75
Zach Portemont, Andalusia 38-38—76
a-Stephen Garner, Albany, Ga. 38-39—77
Jaylon Ellison, Atlanta 37-40—77
Garrett Burgess, Oxford 40-38—78
Thomas Joiner, Tallahassee, Fla. 39-39—78
Daniel Alldredge, Point Clear 40-41—81
Tommie Bush, Pensacola, Fla. 38-44—82
Jordan Anderton, Maylene 39-43—82
Geno Celano, Destin, Fla. 42-41—83
Ethyn Roberts, Weaver 42-46—88
a-amateur

LEADERS SCORECARDS

PLAYER 443 453 454 36 443 453 445 36 72
Northcutt 453 344 453 35 444 444 345 36 71
Sapp 444 334 464 36 543 443 354 35 71
Shim 443 553 454 37 444 443 445 36 73
Seaborn 443 533 474 37 434 454 444 36 73

Saturday pairings
8:30 a.m. — Ethyn Roberts, Geno Celano, Tommie Bush
8:40 — Jordan Anderton, Daniel Alldredge, Thomas Joiner
8:50 — Jaylon Ellison, Garrett Burgess, a-Stephen Garner
9:00 — Zach Portemont, Neal Grusczynski, Jake Spott
9:10 — Mason Seaborn, Andy Shim, Kyle Sapp, Glenn Northcutt
9:30 — Dakota Yawn, Layton Bussey, Jacob Lecroy
9:40 — Jeremy McGatha, Andrew Brooks, Matt Rogers, Gary Wigington
9:50 — T.J. McGatha, Landon Straub, Kenneth Patterson, Kelly Rogers
10:00 — Mike Fincher, Brad Hardin, Dennis Moyer, Bo Savage
10:10 — Rocco D’Gomez, John McKenzie, Jarrad Driggers, Craig Rivard
10:20 — Paul Szuch, Harrison Szuch, Cory Parker, Jeff Jungers
10:30 — Clay Calkins, Chip Howell, Skip Talbert, Jason Johnson
10:40 — Steve Davis, Ted Heim, David Sanders, R. Bennett.
10:50 — Vinny Floyd, Sean Hayes, Al Johnson, Mark Cotton
11:00 — Clark Cunningham, Jimmy Jackson, Tyler Teneyck, T. Ragland
11:10 — Ty Cole, Kevin Daugherty, Eric Cannington, Chad Reavis
11:20 — Adrian Geeting, Jake Goggans, Chase Hollingsworth, K. Larkin
11:30 — Nick Pollard, Tim Steward, Shane Chappell, Austin Minter
11:40 — Ott Chandler, Lance Evans, Janson Wilborn, Chandler Wilborn
11:50 — Caleb McKinney, Cole McNeal, Dalton Chandler, Jackson Johnson
Noon — Daniel Black, Luke Armstrong, R. Guy, Caleb Bowen
12:10 p.m. — Benji Turley, Billy Thompson, Keith Raisanen, Scott Martin
12:20 — Dan Griffin, Dan McClellan, Scott Eaton, Kenny Wright

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