Hoping to make his second chance at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship a charm Jarryd Dillas staged an all out assault at Port Royal Golf Course today, registering a two-under-par 69.
Dillas used his course familiarity, as well as the soft conditions brought about by recent rains, to his advantage to place himself in solid position to challenge Friday’s projected cut-line for a place to play over the weekend.
After an early hiccup on the par-4 12th hole — his third after starting on the back nine — Dillas recovered well to post four consecutive pars, followed by birdies at the 17th, 1st and 2nd
A bogey at the par-4 fourth gave a stroke back, but birdies at the seventh and eighth before a three-putt bogey at the finishing ninth gave Dillas a satisfying two-under total of 69 for the day.
“It was a really good day,” said Dillas post round. “I drove the ball incredibly well. I think I birdied all of the par-fives. I believe I played the par-threes at one under and hit every single one of those greens.
“Going in I said that if I could make threes on the threes and fours on the fives it would give me a good platform.
“Two, sort of sloppy, three putts on 12 and then nine and a pretty sloppy bogey on four and it could have been better, but I can’t be too mad about that, it was a great day, I had a great time playing with Harry (Hall) and Tano (Goya), two very nice guys.”
As a whole the threesome combined for a cumulative total of nine-under, with Dillas able to draw from the success of the others, as he more than held his own.
“The whole group was going well, which kind of helps, as you’re seeing good shots,” said Dillas. “Like I said, I drove it really well and had one of the best driving rounds I’ve had, which gave me a good platform and I’m lookig forward to tomorrow. I’ll have to keep hitting it well and I need to do a little work on my putting, but all in all, it was a lot of fun, with fantastic support.”
Enduring equally mixed portions of gains and losses on the day of his introduction to PGA level competition was Nick Jones, who juxtaposed four birdies against a similar amount of bogeys for an even-par score.
Nerves got the better of the teaching pro early on, as he bogeyed two of the first six holes, but he clawed the lost strokes back with birdies at seven and ten, before trading a further pair of bogeys for two birdies.
“The fans, I had a nice, full tee box, with friends shouting my name, so I was a bit nervous standing at the first,” said Jones, who had Bermuda men’s football coach Kyle Lightbourne as his caddy. “But they helped me through it. I had a really tough time on one and was nervous on the second shot, which I pushed in the bunker and got a buried lie and was lucky to get bogey.
“I just kept going and kept fighting and grinding and played really well after that.
“It’s a brand new experience for me playing at this level, in these conditions. I had a great time, it just takes more practice and getting used to playing under these conditions and you would see that the longer I played, the better I got.”
Fellow Bermudians Michael Sims and Kim Swan were among the later tee times, with TNN expecting to bring reports on their performances later after they finish.
Stay tuned to TNN for further updates.
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