Alistair Presnell takes half-way lead at the United Leasing Championship
The Australian Alistair Presnell added another 68 at the Champions Tour’s United Leasing Championship, at the Victoria National Golf Club, to take the half-way lead on Friday, June 29, 2012.
Presnell started off on the back nine of the course with a birdie on very first hole (10th) that he played. Through 10 holes (No. 1), he remained at one-under par because of two birdies and bogeys each on a five-hole stretch, starting from the 13th hole.
Thereafter, he picked some pace and sank four birdies against a lone bogey to take a one-stroke margin over Sweden’s David Lingmerth, Lee Janzen and Brian Stuard, both from the United States.
He now claims an 8-under 136 score after two red-hot days of record-breaking temperatures in Newburgh, Indiana.
"The heat played a factor today. It was unbelievably hot," said Presnell, who played in the afternoon when the temperature reached its peak. "We just haven't experienced this kind of heat yet this year but I've played on the Asian Tour and that's ten times
hotter than this".
The highlight of his performance on the opening day includes his game off the tee. He managed to hit 25 of 28 fairways over 36 holes that he has played so far.
"I think you've got to be smart about how you play. You can't keep attacking tee shots," the former air conditioning mechanic from Melbourne said. "I haven't hit too many drivers out there. You've really just got to get the ball in play off the tee”.
Along with his driving, he was amazing with his putter and saved the pars several times during the first two rounds.
However, he was not as impressive with his irons on Friday, as he was in the opening round. He missed six greens-in-regulations compared to two on day one.
In the meantime, Chris Riley carded a bogey-free six-under par 66 to make a 43-place jump on the leaderboard and tie for the fifth position. Previously, he was tied for the 48th spot.
Derek Fathauer and Martin Piller were the other two players who joined him on the leaderboard, following four-under par and one-under par scores, respectively.
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