Guanajuato, Mexico (SportsNetwork.com) – Peter Malnati and Casey Wittenberg
opened up with matching 7-under 65s in Thursday’s first round and the duo
leads by two shots at the El Bosque Mexico Championship.
Malnati and Wittenberg have two wins each on the Web.com Tour. Malnati’s last
win was a 4-shot victory at the Brasil Champions in mid-March, while
Wittenberg earned both of his wins in 2012.
Kevin Tway, Luke List, Russell Surber, Patton Kizzire, Wes Roach and Oliver
Goss are all tied for third at 5-under 67.
One shot further back are Mathew Goggin, Shane Bertsch, Henrik Norlander,
Stephan Jaeger, Brett Stegmaier, Smylie Kaufman and Sebastian Cappelen. They
all shot 4-under 68s and are tied for ninth at El Bosque Country Club.
Malnati, who played the back nine first, was up and down throughout most of
his first nine, although he got off to a good start with birdies on 10 and 13
to get into red numbers early.
The 27-year-old gave one of those shots back with a bogey on 14, but he
rebounded nicely two holes later with his third gain on No. 16.
Malnati had an interesting bogey at the par-5 18th, one that was certainly an
adventure.
“I hit my drive in the water, dropped, hit my next shot in the water, dropped
again and hit it over the green,” Malnati said. “I knew it was going to be a
difficult up-and-down for seven and then, swish, it flopped right in the hole
for a six.”
Malnati then exploded on his closing nine. He finished up with six
birdies over his final nine holes to vault into a share of the lead.
Wittenberg also got off to a nice start to go along with a strong finish. The
30-year-old rolled in two birdies over his first four holes at two and four.
Following a pair of pars on five and six, Wittenberg got to 3-under with a
gain at the par-3 seventh. That shot was short-lived, however, as he tripped
to his first and only bogey on No. 9.
Making the turn at minus-2, Wittenberg got his dropped shot back with a birdie
on 10. He later ran off a trio of birdies from No. 13 to get to 6-under.
Wittenberg ended strong with a birdie at the par-5 last to join Malnati at the
top of the learderboard at the end of the day.
“In the past when I’ve come down here, I was playing a lot better than I am
now,” Wittenberg admitted. “It’s golf and I’ve done it for 10 years now. I’ve
got to dig myself out of the hole that I put myself in. Hopefully this is
something I can build on going forward.”
NOTES: Wittenberg won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and the Wichita Open in
2012 … Malnati’s other victory came at the 2013 News Sentinel Open … His
win at the Brasil Champions was Malnati’s only top-10 finish in six events
this season. He has also missed two cuts … Wittenberg’s best finish this
season was a tie for 43rd at the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship. He
has missed two cuts in five events … Malnati currently holds the top spot on
the Web.com Tour money list.
