June 29, 2012
By Matt Winkeljohn
Sting Daily
If Friday was trying on the links, today will be worse. The humidity is supposed to climb, and temperatures will approach records so Ollie Schniederjens will bring an extra towel to work. He might want to try a new putter, too, if he wants his score to drop.
The rising Georgia Tech golfer is working on his craft at the Dogwood Invitational, and although Friday wasn’t his best day you would have had to pay close attention to notice.
He shot a 73, and is tied for 10th place in the Dogwood at the Druid Hills Golf Club, just a mile or so east of Virginia-Highland and a smidgen south of Emory.
“I hit it good enough to shoot like a 68 if I putted, or a 67. I just couldn’t get any thing going on the greens,” Schniederjens said after nestling in with a 54-hole total of six-under par 210. “I short-sided myself a couple times. It was all about what happened on the greens.”
On a day when Tech graduate James White halved his competition in the Palmer Cup to help keep the U.S. In command vs. the Europeans over in Scotland, current Yellow Jackets went a different sort of halfsies at Druid Hills.
Schniederjens, Anders Albertson and Richy Werenski made the cut and will play Saturday’s final round, and Seth Reeves, Bo Andrews and Minghao Wang wrapped up their stays.
Carlton Forrester, a 2000 Tech graduate, is in seventh place at 207 after shooting a 68 Friday. He’s nine-under at 207, five shots off the lead of one Bruce Woodall.
Temperatures at Druid Hills hit 100 or 101, and they’re supposed to surpass that by a degree or two today. So, “I’ll bring an extra towel to dry off my grips and my hands, lots of sunscreen and water,” Schniederjens said.
Albertson, who shot a 70 to land in a tie for 20th at 214, is bunking in the same host home near the course with Schniederjens and two of Ollie’s high school teammates; lone of them plays now at Akron, the other at South Alabama. They have a ping-pong table there, and some sort of video game. That makes them feel at home.
It was foreign on that golf course, though.
“I think it made me drink a Gatorade or a thing of water every hole. They have coolers on every tee box,” Albertson said. “I ate a lot more than usual, and drank a lot more than usual. It really was a dry heat; it wasn’t muggy.”
That’ll change today, when Werenski will try like his college teammates to improve his standing in one of the finest amateur tournaments Georgia offers.
He shot a fine 67 Friday, and is tied for 13th at five-under 211.
There wasn’t a lot of conversation after Friday’s round, and everybody seemed to be moving slow – other than the members frolicking about in and around the pool.
Schniederjens doesn’t usually put a couple hours between the end of an afternoon round and his range work, but that was the plan. “When it’s 105 degrees,” he said. “I do that.”
Admission is free to the Dogwood. Druid Hills Golf Club is located at Ponce de Leon Avenue and Clifton Road, East of downtown Atlanta.
