Local golfers improve on Day 2 at Staal Foundation Open

If he wanted any chance to make the 36-hole cut on Friday at the Staal Foundation Open, Robbie Untinen knew he needed to go low.

A hot start had him thinking he might have a chance.

Untinen, who shot a five-over 77 to open the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada tournament at Whitewater Golf Club, birdied his first and third holes, but just couldn’t climb much higher on the leaderboard, double-bogeying the 18th to finish even par 72 on the day.

He won’t survive to play the weekend, but has no complaints about his second entry at the second-year event.

“It was a lot of fun. Right off the get go me and my caddy said let’s make as many birdies as we can and get back in this thing,” said the 27-year-old Untinen, whose course record 64, set in 2012, was broken Friday by Swede Krister Eriksson’s near-perfect 10-under 62.

“We did a pretty good job actually, for the most part. There were a couple of bad bogeys on par threes, but other than that we were firing today. It was pretty good.”

Not making the cut is disappointing, but improving his score by five strokes over 2014 helped soften the blow.

“At least it’s an improvement from last year. If you keep improving, it’s basically the best thing that can happen with this game,” Untinen said.

To a man all four Thunder Bay golfers taking part this week can see some improvement in their year-to-year result.

Jeff Hunter, disappointed at Thursday’s 78, rebounded with an even par 72 to finish at 150, a shot back of Untinen and eight shots better than last year – albeit in better scoring conditions.

Hunter birdied No. 5, but gave the stroke back on the next hole, trading another birdie and bogey on the back nine.

“I hit the ball good today. Yesterday I hit the ball pretty much terrible and today I hit it good,” Hunter said.

“I had a birdie look I think on 15 of 18 holes. If the putter got hot today could have been pretty good, but it didn’t. Seventy-two is what it is.”
An even-par round in a PGA Tour Canada event is nothing to sneeze at, he added.

“It’s definitely better than what I did last year and better than I did yesterday.”

Walter Keating Jr. was also under par at one point on Friday, his one-over 73 result made that much brighter by a birdie-birdie finish. He finished with a 146 total, two over par.

“I hit 15 greens and shot one over par. I just didn’t make any putts for 36 holes,” the former Canadian Tour pro said.

“But I hit the ball well, didn’t lose any balls and kept the ball in front of me. Next year hopefully I can make a few putts. But it was definitely easier this year compared to last year, just knowing what to expect, the feelings, that sort of thing.”

Evan DeGrazia topped all local golfers, shooting a one-under 71 in his second round to finish the tournament at 145, one over par and just four shots off the cut line.