When Greater Cedar Rapids Open officials, golfers, fans and volunteers looked up last year, most of the time it unfortunately wasn’t to look up at the scoreboard. They were looking to see if Mother Nature was done dumping rain, lightning, thunder and wind on Hunters Ridge Golf Course.
When the tournament finally ended, after four weather delays that curtailed the event to 36 holes for the first time in its history, Waterloo native Brock Mulder could smile in some sunshine. The Dallas resident closed with a solid 4-under-par round of 68 in front of family and friends and won the $20,000 winner’s check with a 15-under-par 129. Mulder’s course-record 61 in Friday’s opening round catapulted to his first GCRO title and ended several years of frustration playing in the event. He then didn’t play Saturday when a controversial decision to cut the 54-hole event to 36 was made because of the weather. Another two-hour rain delay Sunday validated the tough decision.
But this weekend’s forecast looks great and Mulder is ready for another go at it, even if he’ll have a bull’s-eye on his back as defending champ.
“I’m very excited to be coming back to C.R. to play this year,” said Mulder. “As far as pressure for this week, I have none. I’ll play golf the way I know how and see where I sit at the end of the tourney. It’s all about getting better each and every day and enjoying the process of doing this job.”
Mulder, who has overcome some early-season back problems, didn’t play as well as he would have liked last week at the Waterloo Open, but it was good to be home.
“Waterloo was a disappointment, but it’s always fun for me to play in. My brother comes back from Chicago to caddy for me and we have a blast together,” he said. “Waterloo is a tough tournament for me to play because anything short of winning is a failure in my eyes, but no one else in the field has the pressure I do to perform in front of family, friends, and people who support me. It’s fun no matter what though.”
Thompson back again
Chris Thompson finished in a tie for second last year, four shots behind Mulder, and certainly would have liked another 18 holes. A top contender for the title typically, this year will be more of a test for Thompson.
“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been playing well leading up to the (GCRO) the past two years and have carried that momentum into the actual tournament,” said Thompson, who was tied for the 36-hole lead in 2010.
“This year is a little different. I won an Adams (Golf Pro Tour) event in June, and then finished third the next week, so I was playing pretty well,” he said. “Unfortunately, I aggravated the facet joints and a couple disks in my lower back and haven’t played since.”
Thompson had to withdraw from both the John Deere Classic qualifier as well as the Waterloo Open. He had a steroid shot Tuesday and plans to play.
Thompson, who turned 36 earlier this month, has played in 52 Nationwide/Web.com tour events and made 23 cuts, mostly in 2007 and 2008.
Ormand eyeing some more Web.com experience
Robby Ormand’s year started out pretty good and in May got better when he won the Kandy Waters Classic on the NGA/Hooters Tour. He won $22,000 and two weeks later just missed another win in an Adams Pro Tour event. He shot 64 on the final day of the 72-hole event and lost a playoff. He missed a couple cuts on NGA events and things were not as good all of a sudden.
“This year has been fun. The start of the year brought a lot of solid play. … The missed cuts were no fun, in a year where my play was solid throughout,” said Ormand, from Austin, Texas. “I actually had a little heat exhaustion bout while playing down there and was just weird and goofy feeling for several weeks.”
Ormand visited the doctor and had some blood work done “just to make sure there were no real issues.”
“Thankfully things checked out pretty normal,” he said. “Golf-wise my misses had been very small and my confidence was high and that’s been something I’m working to regain since being out of competition.”
Ormand played in the Waterloo Open and made the cut but finished nine shots back and from here will head to three Web.com qualifiers. He qualified for one Web.com (Nationwide) event earlier this year but failed to make the cut at the South Georgia Classic despite shooting a just 2-over-par.
“The experience I gained playing in Georgia earlier in the year was great,” said Ormand. “While those are neat , my main focus is on getting back on track and seeing weekly improvements to prepare me for Tour school in the fall.”
Waterloo Open winner Blaum finds some “relief”
NGA/Hooters Tour veteran Ryan Blaum came up big last week at the Waterloo Open, collecting the winner’s check of $60,000 after winning a playoff on the third hole. The biggest payoff of his career gave Blaum reason to celebrate and offered something else almost everyone in the GCRO field is playing for this week – more time to compete in professional golf.
“I felt two things,” said Blaum, a three-time All-America selection of varying degrees at Duke. “One, I’m really happy that my hard work is paying off, knowing that I’m on the right track. Two, financial relief, although always momentary.”
He isn’t the first mini-tour player to say that. Just ask last year’s GCRO champ Brock Mulder.
Blaum has overcome a long bout with mononucleosis and then a herniated disc in his neck – which he thinks came from sitting in bed so long – but he showed last week he’s ready to go full bore.
“Now I feel as close to 100 percent as I ever have since being cleared of the virus,” said Blaum, whose rookie pro brother Brent is also playing in the GCRO.
” I had an epidural procedure and a few months of therapy, then started back in April, which might have been a little early, but the itch to get back playing was too great. So far, I’m very pleased with the progress I’ve made. It’s been constant improvement as I’ve kept playing.”
Blaum says winning at Waterloo won’t distract his play here.
“There will not be any incentive issues this week,” said Blaum. The tournament runs through Sunday and there will be a cut made after Saturday’s second round. Admission is free.
Don Wojciechowski resides in the Hunters Ridge Golf Course community and plays the course on a regular basis. He’s a former sports editor for a suburban Chicago daily newspaper and an avid golf fan.