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Price, Haas tied for GHC lead; three 2-strokes back

John M Setzler Jr.

Nick Price tees off at the first hole during Saturday's second round of the Greater Hickory Classic. After a birdie on 18, Price finished in a tie for the lead at 11 under par with Jay Haas..

By John Dell

MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

Published: September 20, 2009

CONOVER - If this is the last Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn fans are going to get a parting gift – an old fashioned shootout in today's final round.

Nick Price and Jay Haas share the lead at 11 under, but there are plenty of players chasing them.
"Looking at the scores, Jay or I need to shoot 5 or 6 under to keep the other guys out of the picture," said Price, who shot a 5 under 67 on a cloudy day with no wind and a soft course.

Sitting in third, two shots behind Price and Haas, are 2006 champion Andy Bean (68), Russ Cochran (68) and Gil Morgan (70). There are nine players at 8 under, among them are Fred Funk (67), Bob Tway (67), Hal Sutton (69), Jeff Sluman (69) and David Frost (68), who is playing in his first Champions Tour tournament after recently turning 50.

Haas, who says he wasn't as crisp with his irons or his putter, shot a 1 under 71. It was a far cry from his 10-under 62 in Friday's first round.

"I think at the start of the week I would have taken being in the last group with a chance to win," said Haas, who has won 12 times on tour but hasn't won since last year. "I'm a little disappointed in the round today. I didn't get as many chances as I did on Friday."

For Price, a World Golf Hall of Fame member, it's hard to believe he has only one Champions Tour win in 47 tournaments, and that came in April in Tampa.

He wasn't surprised that he hadn't won more "because I've played like such crap."

In the last year or so he got his game together and it's starting to pay off.

"I knew exactly how these guys would play out here," Price said. "With a lot of these guys out here all of their kids are out of the house and grown up, but I've still got kids who are 18, 16 and 13 and I'm still trying to be a father and play golf as well."

Price turned around his game thanks to looking at his old swing on tape from his days when he was winning regularly on the PGA Tour.

"I looked at some my old footage and I basically lost a lot of width in my swing and it had to do with my right elbow," Price said. "I wasn't getting any power…. Things have taken off, and my driving distance has increased by 20 to 22 yards."

With the course playing wet from all the rain players have taken dead aim at the pins, and the scoring has been low. There were 46 players who broke par saturday out of the field of 78.

Price is looking forward to the shootout with Haas.

"It's always fun when you are playing well and get into a final round," Price said. "There's nothing better than going toe-to-toe and you are both playing great. We try to entertain the folks and we'll have a shootout."

Funk is one of the many players at 8 under, but if not for a two-stroke penalty on Friday, he could be a lot closer to the lead.

Funk was called for a two-stroke penalty on Friday for accidentally using an opposing player's club. On 13 Funk's caddy, Tom Randall, who is a part-time caddie and the tour's chaplain, grabbed an 8-iron out of Mike Goodes' bag and Funk used it on a short chip. Goodes and Funk have the same TaylorMade bags and use the same brand of clubs.

"He just told me to get beyond it and don't worry about it," Randall said about Funk's attitude right after the penalty. "But you never want to let a friend down and that's how I feel…. I didn't sleep well (Friday night) at all."

Randall said he went to the wrong cart because Goodes' cart had just pulled up to the green.

Since the two-stroke penalty Funk is 9 under, and very much in the hunt.

Funk, who is leading the Charles Schwab Cup points' race and third on the money list, hasn't dwelled on the two-stoke penalty.

"You just have to get past it," Funk said. "It still eats at me a little bit, but you just have to move on.

It's an understandable mistake because you have the same cart, same bag and same clubs, so it's a pretty easy mistake. It happened and you just have to keep on trucking."

Saturday Funk hit all 13 fairways and 14 of 17 greens in regulation as he put himself in position to win his second tournament of the year.

"When you get these conditions, it's a putting contest," Funk said about another day of firing at the pins. "Everybody is throwing darts."

John Dell is a staff writer for the Winston-Salem Journal. Reach him at jdell@wsjournal.com.