SANDY — Although it was still light enough to plainly see where the hole was, Todd Demsey wasn't taking any chances as he stood on the 18th green Friday evening.
Demsey, who won the Utah Open on the same Willow Creek Country Club course five years earlier, decided he'd rather go home and get a good night's rest before negotiating the final 30 feet between his ball and the hole at No. 18.
If Demsey gets down in two putts this morning, he'll get to play two more rounds and make a paycheck this weekend. If he three-putts, he's on his way home. For Demsey it was an easy decision to putt in the morning light rather than take a chance in the fading twilight.
"It was too dark," he said. "The way things were going today, it's better to regroup and come back in the morning."
Demsey was one of six golfers unable to finish Friday thanks to a weather delay earlier in the afternoon. For the fifth straight year, the Utah Classic was delayed due to weather as a few thundercells passed through the area. The 70-minute stoppage was enough to delay the start of today's third round.
The top of the leaderboard wasn't affected by the darkness as Roland Thatcher finished in the early afternoon with a 66 to stand at 11-under 133 heading into the weekend.
A stroke behind are two golfers, Scott Gump, who shot the best round of the tournament — a 9-under 63 — and Jeff Freeman, one of the first-day co-leaders, who added a 69 to his opening 65. Another stroke back at 135 are Bobby Gage and Mark Hensby, while four golfers, 2000 Utah Classic champ Andrew Morse, Jimmy Walker, Lee Porter and Jason Schultz stand at 136.
The cut came at 142 and that's where the two top local golfers ended up. Farmington's Boyd Summerhays shot a 2-under 70, while Salt Lake's Henry White added a 72 to survive for two more days.
Another local, Logan's Brett Wayment, was one of the six golfers who will come out this morning. He birdied 16 to get to 1 under on the day and if he can birdie one of the last two holes, he'll keep playing this weekend.
Even though he shot a stroke better Friday than the day before, it didn't feel that way to Thatcher.
The 25-year-old Texan leapfrogged past a host of golfers because he had a morning tee time Friday and the scores have been much better for those who start in the morning, thanks mostly to softer greens.
"The 5-under I shot yesterday was better than the 6-under I shot today," said Thatcher. "It was equivalent to two to three shots harder in the afternoon. I had to scramble a little more today."
Thatcher played the par-5s in 6 under par with two eagles: at No. 1 with a 40-foot putt and No. 17 with a 15-footer.
Gump, a veteran of the PGA Tour, who once finished second at The Players Championship, made nine birdies and no bogeys and said his putts fell for a change Friday.
Freeman called his 69 "kind of a ho-hum round," but he's thrilled to be where he is at the halfway point.
"Ten-under is a good two-round total," he said. "I'll just see if I can hit it a little better every day. I'm sure it's going to take 20 under to win."
CLASSIC NOTES: The six players will finish their rounds beginning at 7:45 a.m. today and the players who make the cut will begin at 9 a.m. . . Provo's Mike Reid, who won the Utah Open on this course in 1983 and 1985 and is tuning up for the Champions Tour next year, missed the cut with rounds of 73 and 75 . . . Victor Schwamkrug is known as the longest hitter on any tour (337-yard average) and he proved it on the 18th hole. His drive on the 364-yard hole, hit the middle of the green on the fly and bounded into a tent behind the green. After some tables and chairs were moved around, he chipped out to within six feet, where he made his birdie. Alas, he finished at 143, one shot off the cut-line . . . Last year's Utah Classic champion Arron Oberholser played in the Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, but missed the cut with rounds of 72 and 74 . . . Vaughn Taylor, No.
4 on the Nationwide Tour money list, withdrew before the second round after shooting a first-round 79. Also withdrawing was Kevin Johnson, who shot a first-round 78 and Chris Moody, who shot a opening-round 77 . . . Scott Miller, the former BYU golfer and second son of Johnny Miller, finished at 157 after shooting a 78 Friday.
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