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Two share lead at Fischer

JANESVILLE — Blame it on the wind.

And the rain.

Second-round scores were on the rise Saturday at the 42nd annual Ray Fischer State Medal Play Championship at Riverside Golf Course.

With 36 holes complete, Andy De Keuster of Franksville and Brendt Bendtsen III of Racine have a one-stroke lead over 2006 champion Matt Behm of Janesville, Travis Meyer of River Falls and Dustin Schwab of Waunakee.

Bendtsen surged to a share of the lead thanks to a 67 on Saturday. He was one of the few afternoon players to lower his score in round two.

“I knew it was going to take two good rounds to make the cut,” Bendtsen said.

But after a 69 in the first round, the Racine Park High School graduate said he needed to step up his play in order to catch the leaders.

Bendtsen chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole but called the rest of his round ‘nothing spectacular.’

“I was driving well,” he said. “And I had a couple of good putts.”

De Keuster finished with a 71 on Saturday after setting the pace with a 65 on Friday.

“Fortunately, I had some good shots on the back nine,” said the Northwestern University junior. “I missed more putts today; I had a lot of them hanging on the edge. Yesterday, I had a couple of birdies and could follow them up with pars, and that’s something I have to work on for tomorrow. I had too many bogeys today.”

Too many bogeys was the trend with wind gusts in the afternoon hitting as high as 20-30 miles-per-hour following wind gusts in the afternoon hitting as high as 20-30 mph following a 60-minute rain delay that broke up play around 2 p.m.

With two rounds left to play today, the field dropped to 77, with the cut line falling at 150.

Behm, a Janesville native and one of the top ranked amateur players in the state, had a 70 in the second round for 135 total on his home course.

After recording a bogey on the second hole, Behm barely missed an eagle on the fourth. He finished even on the front nine, and then followed it up with a two-under on the back.

“I wanted to try to get to 10-under, but I ended up at seven,” Behm said. “I figure there’s going to be a log jam at five-under, so I wanted to get above the pack.”

The lowest score on Saturday went to Kelly Kretz, who finished with a 65 in the morning after shooting 74 in the first round. His nine shots was also the largest drop in scores between the first and second rounds.

Kretz’ three-under total moved him from 64th to a tie for third with Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo of Burlington and Todd Schaap of Kenosha.

Romo finished the second round with a two-under 70. Romo’s father, Ramiro, missed the cut at 151.

De Keuster, Meyer and Bendtsen will tee off at 8:36 this morning. Behm, Schwab and Kretz are scheduled for an 8:28 tee time, while Romo, Bob Gregorski and Todd Schaap tee off at 8:20. The tee times for the final 18 holes are scheduled for five hours after the morning tee time, which would have the leaders teeing off at 1:36.