BERTHOUD — On the hottest day of the year and with some gusty winds mixed in, Friday’s second round at The Ascendant featured an array of players looking to make the cut and continue their runs at the tournament’s championship.
Rookies and veterans alike ascended up the leaderboard at TPC Colorado, looking to keep their score high enough to make the cut, which was projected to be 4-under par.
Fresh out of Vanderbilt University, first-year Korn Ferry Tour player Cole Sherwood was one of them. After carding a 67 on Thursday, he fired a 68 on Friday. He was the tournament leader at one point, but bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes dropped him a few places. He goes into the final round at 9 under.
Still, it has been a wild few weeks for the rookie. The Ascendant is only his third Korn Ferry event. He also played in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic last week.
He didn’t make the cut there but believes the experience playing on the top Tour has helped his game this week at TPC Colorado.
“It was really cool being out there,” Sherwood said. “It was an incredible experience. I learned a lot just from how those guys go about their business. I feel like turning pro, I was being really aggressive. I was firing at every pin, and I was just never in control of my round.
“I’m not doing anything different this week than previous weeks. I’m hitting the same as last week, putting it the same, driving it the same, but I am just managing my game a lot better from what I’ve learned the last couple of weeks, especially last week.”
While Sherwood is only a rookie, Korn Ferry veteran Thomas Walsh is also near the top of the leaderboard.
Walsh has played four years on the Korn Ferry Tour, including the past three in a row. He tied for 10th at The Ascendant last year.
He shot a 64 on Thursday and was tied for second place. The early wave of golfers Friday had to deal with some wind and Walsh was one of those. Even though he shot a 71, he came off the course with the tournament’s lead at that time and will be in contention for the title this weekend as well as he sits at 9 under.
After starting on the 10th hole, he had an up-and-down round. A bogey on No. 18 put him at 1-over for the day. But he responded with birdies on the first three holes after his turn to get back under par.
“I feel good,” Walsh said. “It was tough out there. My last seven holes, it blew 35, 30 miles an hour for a few. It was crazy for a bit, but all-in-all I played well. I just let a few slip on the back side there.
“On 18, I missed the fairway by five yards, and I had legitimately no chance to hit the green. That’s just a one-shot hole. If you miss the fairway, it’s a bogey. Then we caught (holes) 1, 2, 3 downwind, so it was pretty simple. I made a good putt on 1 and then a good putt on 2 and hit it close on 3, so it was nice to get downwind.”
The best round of the morning golfers came from Christo Lamprecht. Another Korn Ferry rookie, Lamprecht was looking to make his first cut of the season after missing his previous three.
After a 2-under-par 70 on Thursday, he knew he needed a big day to secure his spot in the tournament’s last two rounds.
Lamprecht eagled two of his first five holes and made the turn at 5 under, eventually ended his round with an 8-under 64. He was tied for the lead at 10 under after the first wave of golfers finished.
He shared his admiration of the TPC Colorado course, and on Friday the course showed him love back. He also believes his game is trending upward. His second round confirmed that.
“I pretty much told everyone this is probably the first golf course that I really like, and that kind of suits me,” Lamprecht said. “It’s long, altitude and you’ve got to hit some big drives, so that helps me a lot. Having a good amateur career, playing in a lot of pro events, it’s exactly what I expected. It’s nice to know that I was ready for it, mentally and everything.
“The golf has just not been great the last three weeks. It’s nice to know my game is trending in the right direction.”
The leaders are expected to tee off by 1:30 p.m. on Saturday as the players continue to jostle for position to set up Sunday’s final round.