Walsh holds narrow lead at Fortinet Cup Championship
Published
KITCHENER, Ontario—Thomas Walsh and Scott Stevens waged an epic battle in the second round of the Fortinet Cup Championship at the Deer Ridge Golf Club. So good was the competition that Walsh and Stevens are scheduled to play together again on Saturday.
Walsh leads PGA TOUR Canada’s final tournament of the season by one shot over his playing partner Stevens. Walsh is 8-under after 36 holes, while Stevens is 7-under, and they both admitted they had fun throughout the round played in sunny, warm conditions on a late-summer afternoon.
Both players nearly had holes-in-one on the par-3 16th. Walsh’s tee shot hit the lip and rimmed out, leaving him a tap-in birdie. All Stevens did was essentially replicate Walsh’s shot, only Stevens’ ball landed inside of Walsh’s—three inches from the cup.
“I have no idea how [the ball] didn’t go in,” Walsh said of his would-be ace. “Then [Stevens] almost topped it on top of me. We had a lot of good fun out there. We were feeding off each other there,” Walsh said. “It was a good day.”
The tournament leaders posted some impressive numbers. Walsh fired a 66 for the second consecutive day, making five birdies and an eagle. The latter came on a long hole out from the fairway on the 15th hole.
“It was a pretty fortunate break there coming off a bogey,” Walsh said of his eagle make that he couldn’t see go in the hole. When he got to the green and didn’t see his ball, he began searching in the rough. He eventually checked in the cup only to see it sitting safely inside. “It was kind of a nice change of momentum, and the golf gods gave me one there. It was pretty fortunate.”
Stevens, meanwhile, had five birdies and captured sole possession of second place with his continued solid play.
“It’s going to be a battle out there,” Stevens said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. We know what each other is doing, so that helps a little bit.”
There’s a lot of golf left, he added, and the focus will be on his game — enjoying the opportunity and learning from it.
At the midway mark, contenders are plentiful with an abundance of incentives waiting Sunday night. The challenging Deer Ridge course, though, isn’t going to give a lot.
“I don’t think you attack this place. In my opinion you just go and do the exact same things,” said Wil Bateman, who is tied for fifth, at 5-under, after fired a 5-under 65, tying him for low-round-of-the-day honors with fellow Canadian Étienne Papineau. “I feel like I’m playing really good. Just like my goal was starting the season, I’m just going to really stay patient all the way to the end. I’m going to try and be even more patient the next two days.”
Papineau and Jorge Villar are tied for third, at 6-under. Joe Highsmith joined Bateman in the mix. Nolan Ray, Tyler Strafaci and Joey Vrzich are tied for seventh at 4-under on the tight leaderboard.
Play continues through Sunday with the Fortinet Cup Championship trophy on the line, along with the Tour crowning the overall Fortinet Cup champion and Player of the Year honors. Membership on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour is also available, as is a spot in the PGA TOUR’s RBC Canadian Open next season.