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Moving day did not disappoint. As predicted, the golf course at Rivertowne Country Club played much tougher at 6300 yards, lightning-fast greens, and heavy wind gusts throughout the day. If you can recall from The Day 1 Recap, we were interested to follow a few storylines for day 2. Could high handicap players hold on at a more demanding course? How would Tier 1 players respond to a disappointing opening round? Can Bryce continue to make Cuco “sad as f***”? Let’s dive in!
As mentioned before, the golf course at Rivertowne played at a more moderate 6300 yards and had more penalty areas in play that presented a challenge for even the best players in the tournament. This was heavily reflected in the scores posted yesterday as we saw only 3 scores posted in the upper 80s and 2 score in the triple digits!
Brent Black, the tournament leader after 2 days of golf, attributed the low scoring to preparation and focus on his goals as opposed to the difficulty of the course. Black fired off an 87 and proved that he was up to the challenge, even if the rest of the field was not. We caught up with him briefly this morning before the final round and asked about what he needed to do to secure the victory for his first TRC Championship. “The game plan doesn’t change,” said Black. “One shot at a time. Every shot is the most important shot of the tournament.” We also asked Black about his thoughts on the nickname, Black Bear, given his ties to the University of Cincinnati (Bearcats). Brent simply gave a smirk and said, “Hey, if that’s what they’re calling me, I have no problem with it. I’m a man of the people.”
Another thing we really wanted to keep an eye out for was the second group that teed off yesterday, featuring 3 of 4 Tier 1 players. Based on the expert predictions Joey Kinderman and Cuco Santana were expected to make up a lot of ground going into championship Sunday and boy did they deliver, Santana fired off an 86 to win the day and Kinderman, last year’s champion, battled to turn in a 40 on the back nine to finish with an 89. “It was just a grind out there,” Kinderman told us. “I knew that our group was having a rough front nine, especially when Wes had that bad ninth hole. So, I just needed to hold on and take what the course was giving me on the back nine and it worked out.”
Santana, who was unanimously voted as most improved only a year ago, is now regarded as the Reunion Club’s number 1 player. Santana was selected by our writers to win the tournament championship this weekend. After his low round on the day (86) we caught up with him and asked about the pressures of winning after being selected as the favorite. “There’s always pressure,” he told us. “I’ve put a lot of work in going into this tournament and everyone knows that.” After the first round, some comments were directed at Santana by Bryce Taylor, who was on the leaderboard at the time. We asked Santana what his thoughts were on those comments. “It looks like he accomplished his goal 2 days in a row by making himself sad as f***.” Santa enters into the third and final round of the tournament in 2nd place and 6 strokes off the lead.
The stage is set for Championship Sunday with tee times at 11:00am for the bottom group, 11:30 for the middle group, and our feature group will go off at 11:50 am eastern. Will the Black Bear hold on for that coveted first Championship? Does Kinderman find the Sunday magic to defend his title? Will Santana be able to battle from the pits of the bottom group to take home his first TRC Championship Trophy? Or is there someone else looking to spoil the party? All of these questions will be answered this evening. The sun is shining bright, and the fellas are ready for round 3! Let’s get it started!!!
Day 2 Leaderboard
1. Brent Black (15)- 167
2. Cuco Santana (13)- 173
3. Joey Kinderman (13)- 174
4. Kevin Doelling (17)- 177
5. Wesley Wilson (16)- 178
6. Bryce Taylor (21)- 179
7. Travis Keeler (13)- 181
8. Junior Reid (22)- 181
9. Blake Taylor (14)- 189
10. Markkus Davis (22)- 191
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