Golf Update: Jeff
Curl and Hick take early lead at 2010 Soboba Classic
Curl and Hick rose to an early lead in the first round of the 2010 Soboba Classic on Thursday. The event's first round kicked off at the Soboba Springs Country Club in California. It is the second edition of the event under Nationwide
Tour and carries a purse of US$ 1 million.
Jeff Curl is a profession golfer, thereby one can expect that he must have faced countless dangers on the field but Thursday’s grieve was of a different type. It wasn't a tree, a rough or even a bunker, rather it was a huge toy
that was hovering on the seventh tee. This toy was an inflatable 20-foot by 20-foot jumpy house and it was lying right on the tee box. Curl called for help from the organizers and got the threat removed.
The toy actually belonged to the kids’ corner which was part of the entertainment going on in the Soboba Springs. As the wind blew at 50 miles per hour, the toy got lifted from its origin and flew all the way to the first tee and
then to the seventh.
This was the first hurdle faced by Curl in the day. Later, owing to the strong winds and the lightning, the match got delayed for two hours and twenty minutes. When play resumed, Curl shot a 6-under-par 65 to take a lead with Justin
Hicks. He posted three more birdies on the back nine to complete his scorecard that already had five successive birdies in the opening holes.
According to Curl, "I was hitting it really close and made five birdies in a row. The longest putt was maybe four feet. I hit it really good today." Soboba Classic is Curl’s ninth event on the Nationwide Tour. With an exception
of Fran Quin, all the top-60 Tour players and 95 of the top 100 have entered the tournament.
Curl wasn't alone on the leader board as he was joined by Hick on the same score. Hick had no issues with the giant inflatable toy but he certainly got disturbed by the prevailing weather conditions. The winner of BMW Charity Pro-Am
said,” I was thinking to myself, I've never come across winds like that before”
Still, Hick demonstrated a good hold on the ball as he hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens. The only fluke he made, was a bogey on the 17th hole. Hick was followed by six more golfers who were only one shot behind
at 4-under.
Meanwhile, two of the 72 players were unable to complete their round due to bad weather conditions. These included Brendan Steele, who hails from Hemet and was 2 under while John Chin from Temecula also was at even par when the
horn blew. Steele had three more holes to go but he managed to pull in two birdies in the last three holes.
Steele stated, "It feels better when you do something good at the end as nobody ever wants to deal with having to sit around for two and a half hours and wait for your chance to hit the course." Steele currently stands at 37th
spot on Nationwide money list and if he finishes strong then chances are that he will jump into the Top 25. This will also earn him a card in the 2011 PGA Tour.
The players who were unable to complete their round will do it at 7:30 a.m. on Friday after which the second round of the tournament will start at 8:25 a.m.
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