Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2019/07/27/jones-shakes-off-2018-asserts-idlewild/
Photo: Tomi Mäkipää
Kevin Jones got rid of the bad taste etched in his memory from last year’s final round at the Idlewild Open by coming out hot in 2019.
A course-record 12-under par 56 has Jones in first place with a three stroke lead. Two bogeys couldn’t hold back Jones from stacking scores under par, as he paced the field in both birdie percentage and overall eagles with three. As well as he was playing off the tee — second in Circle 1 in regulation — Jones’s putter barely touched the ground, going 100% from C1X and hitting 2-of-3 attempts from C2, like the 60-footer for eagle to open the round.
In solo second is James Conrad at 9-under par 59. His obvious highlight was acing the 258-foot hole 9, and his skills have lived up to our expectations, as he’s successfully carving up the fairways and is top three in the field in fairway hits and finding C1 and C2 in regulation.
The three-way tie for third at 8-under par 60 has some interesting footnotes. Calvin Heimburg was generally consistent all day, but Emerson Keith and Zach Arlinghaus are worth breaking down. Arlinghaus recently finished his sophomore year in high school and won the Junior <18 World Championship earlier this month. He was one of only four players to finish round one bogey-free. As for Keith, he was doing a bit of everything. Look at this scorecard.
Besides the big ace on hole 3, take a glance at his putting. Keith was 6-for-8 from C1X and 5-for-7 from C2. That’s not even counting the 86-footer on hole 10! And three of those big throw-ins were to save par. Keith was toeing a fine line of great to mediocre play all day. Luckily he came out on the right side of it.