NATIONWIDE TOUR FORT SMITH CLASSIC : Going Nationwide
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
FORT SMITH — Little Rock’s Luke Bakke signed his scorecard, and walked over to his caddie.
“Eat and practice,” he said.
That’s the life these days for Bakke, who shot a 2-over-par 72 on Thursday in the first round of the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic at Hardscrabble Country Club.
The former UALR player said he was satisfied with his opening round despite bogeying four holes on the back nine after making the turn with a 2-under 33.
“I was playing good, hitting it in the fairways... and it felt like I was going to keep playing good,” said Bakke, who has a unique ritual before every shot. He addresses the ball and takes his full backswing, and brings the club down over the ball. He then takes his regular swing. “I pulled my tee shot on 10, then I hit one fairway on the back nine. If you miss the fairways here, you just can’t score.” Bakke isn’t a big hitter off the tee, averaging 249 yards per drive Thursday. It’s even more of a reason he has to hit the ball in the fairway to be successful.
Bakke, 27, was named All-Sun Belt Conference in 2002 and 2003, emerging on the local golf scene in 2002 after winning the Arkansas State Golf Association Stroke Play Championship at the Country Club of Little Rock. He was also the runner-up at the ASGA Match Play in 2002 and 2003.
He finished in the top four in the ASGA player of the year standings from 2002 to 2004 and 2006. Last year he took his game to the Hooters Tour, which is one level below the Nationwide Tour. He made the cut in six of his nine events and finished 72 nd on the money list. This season Bakke has played only two Hooters Tour events, but he has made the cut in both and moved up to 22 nd on the money list at $ 11, 506. He finished tied for third at the Savannah Lakes Classic and held the lead going into the final round. One reason Bakke has not played much is because he has been working with Jack O’Keefe, a former Arkansas Razorback who was a PGA Tour regular in 1997.
“He’s been teaching me a lot of new stuff,” Bakke said of O’Keefe, who is an assistant golf coach at Central Arkansas. “I worked hard with Jack all winter and almost won [two weeks ago ]. I’ve never hit it good before. I’m starting to hit it a lot better.” This week, he’s playing in his first event on the Nationwide Tour. “I know I can play at this level,” Bakke said. “I just have to play my game and be comfortable with what I do. If I do it, I should make some money.” He had it going well early, making birdie on the second hole after hitting his tee shot to about 10 feet. He had a big smile on his face as he walked off the green, but it didn’t last. An errant drive and second shot on the par-5 third hole forced him to lay up short of the green n three. He made bogey after his chip slid past the hole and he couldn’t make the comebacker.
But he saved part on the fourth hole after missing the green on his tee shot, and left a birdie putt about an inch short on the fifth hole. He birdied the sixth when he hit his third shot to about six feet to get to 1-under. After par putts on Nos. 7 and 8, he hit his approach to the ninth green close and made the birdie putt to make the turn at 2-under.
“I putted great. I rolled the putter really good,” Bakke said. “I made a lot of 4- to 5-foot putts on the front nine.” Then it started to go wrong. He pulled his drive on the 10 th hole, leading to bogeys on 10, 12, 14 and 16. Bakke went from being among the leaders to being in danger of not making the cut.
“I was just pulling it with the driver. I’ve been working hard on the golf swing.” said Bakke, who planned more work after his round. “If I hit it straight here I can play.”
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