Untinen's five-over 77 leads local contingent at Staal Foundation Open

OLIVER PAIPOONGE -- Being put on the clock midway through their round did not help calm the nerves of three local golfers, and led to struggles and high scores on Day 1 of the 2016 Staal Foundation Open.

Local pro Jeff Hunter said being told they were behind on their final nine and at risk of a one-shot penalty if they didn’t pick up the pace threw the threesome out of their natural rhythm and led to more mistakes on a course not set up to be all that forgiving.

Hunter, who played alongside Robbie Untinen and Evan DeGrazia, said it was a distraction the rest of the way.

“You start rushing, you’re walking faster. You have a pitch shot and you don’t go up and check the green. You have to play faster,” said Hunter, who was even par through his first nine holes, but shot a six-over 42 on his second nine to finish the day at 78.

“You forget to throw the grass up to check the wind, you just pull the club and hit the shot. Maybe it’s (usually) two practice shots but you don’t even do one because there’s an official right there timing you. It’s unfortunate we were put in that situation.”

DeGrazia also finished with a 78 and blamed a “lot of poor swings” and being put on the clock.

“That just throws you out of your rhythm. I made birdies on the second and third holes, which is our 11th and 12th holes, which kind of put me back in place. But then I was told I had a bad time because we were already behind an it kind of snowballed from there,” said DegGrazia, making his third start at the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada’s Thunder Bay stop.

“It’s hard to recover once you’re behind like that.”

DeGrazia’s card included four birdies, seven bogeys and one dreaded other, a triple-bogey seven on No. 4.

Hunter said it’s just a fact of golf. The threesome is a step behind the touring pros that make up the majority of the field and those extra shots add up.

Untinen carded the best round of the day by a local, shooting a five-over 77.

A poor start killed any chance of a decent round, bogeying his first hole and tripling his second.

“From there on in it was just grind it out and try to make a decent number. I was five over, which really isn’t bad, so we’re OK,” said Untinen, also making his third appearance at the tournament.

Evan Littlefield was making his first start at the event, and shot an uncharacteristic nine-over 81, a round that did not include any birdies.

Littlefield said he battled the weather and his nerves.

“It was like we had four seasons in one day today. It was sunny and it was windy and it was rainy. But it changes from hole to hole. What I found most difficult today was the greens. They were very quick. There was a lot more break when they’re that quick, but it’s really fun to play on them,” he said.

Figuring out how to navigate the putting service is the best chance he has to post a score on Friday.

“Even though I buried myself under an avalanche of shots, I felt like I could have gotten a decent round if the putter had been working for me.”

Former Canadian Tour pro Walter Keating Jr., playing in the afternoon, shot a six-over 78.