Bashour advances to WVa Open final round
Ryan Bashour faltered a bit at the end of his second round Thursday afternoon, but the Brownsville graduate managed to close with a par and advance into the final round of the West Virginia Open.
Bashour finished with an even-par 71, one of the better rounds of the day, for a two-round total of 3-over 145. He’s tied for 24th entering today’s third and final round.
Uniontown’s Steve Superick is tied for 34th place with a two-day total of 5-over 147 after shooting 4-over 75 in the second round. Superick had four bogeys and 14 pars in the second round.
John Kingora was sitting right at the projected cut of 151 for the low 60 scores when he made the turn, but carded a couple double bogeys on the back nine to finish at 9-over 80. He had a two-round total of 16-over 158.
Aaron Gizzi missed the final cut at 150 by a couple strokes, finishing with a two-day total of 10-over 152 (76-76).
David Bradshaw, of Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., maintained the top spot on the leaderboard after finishing with a 5-under 66 for a two-day total of 13-under 129. He holds a six-shot lead over Bridgeport’s Mason Williams.
Bashour started on No. 10 at The Resort at Glade Springs (Cobb course) and promptly sliced a stroke of his score with a birdie-3.
He followed with eight straight pars to go out in 1-under 35.
The run of pars continued after he made the turn with four more to remain at 1-under for the round and 2-over for the tournament. Bashour carded his second birdie of the round on No. 5 (his 14th hole), a 526-yard par-5.
He parred his 15th hole to sit 1-over for the tournament with three holes remaining.
“I got it to 2-under through 15 holes,” said Bashour.
However, Bashour was unable to hold onto the momentum, scoring back-to-back bogeys on his 16th and 17th holes to finish his back nine at 1-over 36.
“I airmailed the green (on his 17th hole),” Bashour said of his second bogey on the back nine.
Bashour has played well on the par-5s through two rounds at 3-under. He’s played the par-3s in 1-over and the par-4 holes in 5-over, although he played the holes in even-par in the second round.
“I missed one fairway in two days,” said Bashour, noting he’s hit 27-of-28 fairways. “The ball flies a little longer here, almost a full club. I’m guessing which club (to hit).”
Bashour felt his score didn’t reflect the way he played in the first round.
“I didn’t make as many putts (Monday) as I would’ve liked. (The 74) was bad. I hit it really good and I didn’t get the score,” said Bashour. “I was in good position (on the fairway) the majority of the time. I made bad club selections and didn’t make the putts.”
Bashour is well off the lead entering the final round, but wants to end the tournament strong.
“I want to keep the same swing thoughts from tee to green and minimize the unforced errors,” said Bashour. “I need to make better club selection and make some more putts. I left a couple good birdies out there.
“There’s no pressure, no expectations. I want to go out and post a (low) number.”