Sims in third place heading into final round of Napa Open at Silverado
Zack Sims missed the fairway on his drive on his last hole during Round 2 of the Napa Open on Thursday. He was well to the left, 178 yards to the par-5 №9 green, with a line of trees directly in front of him.
Needing a birdie to keep himself on the leaderboard and in contention in the Golden State Tour event, Sims pulled off one of the best shots of the day, hitting a 5-iron from the rough to near the back of the green. From there, he two-putted for birdie, capping a round of 4-under-par 68 on the South Course and finishing the day in third place.
“The birdie was a good way to finish the day,” said Sims, who started his round on №10 at 10:18 a.m. “I had to play kind of under and then over that next set of trees. The main thing was just kind of get it going right, just because that water hazard left and I knew I couldn’t miss far right. I just kind of sliced it and ended up on the green. It’s like a 5-iron punch slice, a little into the wind.
“I definitely didn’t want to sleep on a three-putt par.”
Sims, who works and plays out of Silverado, heads to Friday’s third and final round of the Napa Open, a $46,750 mini-tour event that is hosted by Andy Miller, just two shots off the lead.
Austin Bautista of Clearwater, Florida and Riley Elmes of Lake Oswego, Oregon share the 36-hole lead at 9-under 135. Bautista, the winner of the Purefect Shootout at Chardonnay on Tuesday at Chardonnay Golf Club & Vineyards in American Canyon, shot a 3-under 69. Elmes carded a 65, a round that featured eight birdies.
Sims went low for the second day in a row. After opening with a 69 on Tuesday on the North Course, he is at 7-under 137.
“All I really want to do is just stay in it, try and get in that last group on the final day, get a good dinner, get a good night’s sleep and come out and just try to keep doing what I’m doing,” said Sims, a Napa High School graduate, who was honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America with his selection to the Division II PING All-West Regional team in 2018 for Holy Names University of Oakland.
The 36-hole cut was made at 7-over, with 44 players advancing to Friday’s final round on the North Course, the home of the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open.
Corey Pereira of Cameron Park (72–66–138) is in fourth.
Sahith Theegala of Chino Hills (72–67–139) is fifth.
Rhett Rasmussen of Draper, Utah (72–68–140) is sixth.
Kaz Hoffman of San Rafael (72–70–142) is seventh.
Three players are tied for eighth: Cody Hall of Wildomar, CA (73–70–143), Alex Lee of Sacramento (71–72–143), and Jonathan De Los Reyes of Modesto (76–67–143).
Aaron Beverly of Fairfield, a member of the golf department staff at Silverado and a former star at Sacramento State, is tied for 15th. He is at 1-over 145 with rounds of 79 and 66.
Miller, Silverado’s Design Director who was a four-time NCAA All-American and is a member of the BYU Hall of Fame, is tied for 28th after rounds of 77 and 71 for a 4-over 148 total.
Devon Raymond, who is a member of the Silverado golf department staff, did not advance after rounds of 81 and 75 for a 156 total.
Friday’s final round begins at 8:30 a.m., with players starting from the №1 tee.
Sims and Pereira will play in the 11:20 a.m. grouping.
Bautista and Elmes will play in the final pairing, starting at 11:28 a.m.
Sims also had birdies on Nos. 4, 6, 9, 12 and 13. He made par-saving putts on Nos. 2 and 8.
The North Course is a par-72, 6,793-yard layout that presents a challenge with narrow fairways, greens that are firm and fast with slope, and deep rough.
Sims said his mind-set is to treat it as if it’s just like another day.
“I’ve played out here a lot,” he said. “It’s just going about my business. I grind regardless of if I’m in last or first, so that’s not an issue.
“It’s narrow off the tee. Fairways are crucial. That’s big to hit fairways, because with the rough, you never really know if you’re going to have a bad lie or whatever it may be.
“You’ve got to take advantage of the holes that you can and kind of grind out the hard ones.”
Bautista, who is from Sydney, Australia, had birdies on Nos. 5, 6, 10 and 13. He made a 45-foot putt, a downhill putt that rolled left to right, for birdie on the par-4, 380-yard sixth hole. He reached the green with an 8-iron on his approach shot.
“It just was rolling end over end. I knew it was a good line. You know when you make stuff like that it feels good,” said Bautista.
It was the first time that Bautista, a former №1 ranked amateur player in Australia, had played the South Course.
“I had heard the South Course was a little bit trickier,” he said. “Some of the greens were just really slow up the hill and then unbelievably quick down the hill. Going back to the North Course is good because I know now what that looks like. I’m going to go out there and stick to my game plan and make it happen.”
According to its website, www.bluegolf.com/pro/programs/gstour/about.html, the Golden State Tour, founded in 1982, “is the longest running professional ‘Mini Tour’ in the country.
“The Golden State Golf Tour has consistently provided professional golfers with a competitive, year round tournament schedule in California and other areas of the West Coast. Thousands of talented professionals have competed on the Golden State Golf Tour over the years with thousands more to come.”
