DeCorso takes SGC lead

By Bryan Fazio

May 03, 2008 03:27 am

— VALDOSTA — Bryan DeCorso recently changed his entire golf swing. Judging by his performance over the past two days, the change has been a good one.
DeCorso shot 3-under par 69 Friday at the South Georgia Classic Presented by First State Bank, to take over the lead once held by Garth Mulroy, thanks to a new approach brought on by a new coach.
DeCorso recently went with Greg Towne as his instructor. Towne changed his entire swing, along with the course of his game.
“I had been hitting it bad, so I went to see a new coach, and he has changed my game 180 degrees,” DeCorso said. “He works with me Monday through Wednesday, and even caddied for me last week. It seems like he is changing everything.”
Towne teaches the approach learned from Carl Ribedo, and is about a drastic of change as DeCorso could have imagined making.
“The more I learn about this method, it is hard to believe I could even hit the ball the other way,” DeCorso said. “I am learning how to hit the golf ball a completely different way. I had developed so many bad habits. Now I’m hitting more fairways and greens, and my scoring average speaks for itself.”
A day after shooting 68, DeCorso was happy with his performance Friday, despite shooting one stroke higher. The 36-year old from Ocoee, Fla. rebounded from two bogeys with five birdies in conditions of increased winds.
The quality round started early, as he birdied the first two holes and hit par on the third.
“I was hoping that getting off to an early start would be an advantage, but it was so windy,” DeCorso said. “The tough pin positions and the windy conditions made it really tricky. It seemed to play at least two shots harder today.”
DeCorso sunk putts of 15-18 feet on the first two holes to start his round off well. On hole 3, he sunk another 18-footer to keep his momentum going, and that helped propel him to another round in the 60s.
DeCorso’s next birdie came on hole No. 7, knocking in a five-foot putt after a 94-yard pitch off of a wedge.
“It was dead into the wind,” DeCorso said. “You try to flight it under the wind, and it’s not a close shot, so that’s one of those feel shots.”
Two more birdies were in DeCorso’s future. The par-5, No. 11 brought a two-putt birdie straight into the wind, and No. 14 was a 14-foot putt.
Despite the critical putts, DeCorso said it isn’t due to a hot putter, just the fact that his line has been better.
“I made some really nice putts today,” DeCorso said. “I hit a couple of them in there close, but missed the putt. I’ve been working hard on my posture, which helps the pace and line of my putts.”
With rounds of 68 and 69 under his belt, DeCorso is halfway to his goal of shooting in the 60s in every round.
“I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself to make the cuts,” DeCorso said. “I’m trying to stay away from that path. Four rounds in the 60s is my goal this week.”
DeCorso moved onto the leaderboard after tying for second Thursday behind Garth Mulroy, who slid into a tie for 10th after a round of 2-over. Mulroy currently has a two-day total of 3-under.
Marco Dawson and David Miller improved their positions, moving into a tie for second at 5-under, while Scott Parel, Jeff Brehaut, Ben Bates, Vance Veazey, Bryce Molder and David Mathis posted a two-day total of 4-under.
With the cut line set at 1-over, there will not be a defending champion. John Kimbell, the 2007 South Georgia Classic champion, shot a 1-over Friday to finish with a score of 149.
“I didn’t play well,” Kimbell said. “I didn’t hit the ball solid enough for that golf course. You have to hit it solid out there to do any good.”
Kimbell has won three tournaments at Kinderlou Forest, but his return trip Thursday and Friday left him with a feeling of disappointment.
“I’m disappointed,” Kimbell said. “I really thought I was going to play well, and I expected to. I guess it was one of those weeks where there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it.”
Kimbell finished Friday with three bogeys, a day after shooting five.
“I just missed a couple of greens that I should have got up and down on,” Kimbell said. “I only made two birdies for the week. If you’re going to make bogeys out there, you have to make a few birdies to go with them, and I just couldn’t do it.”
With Kimbell out of the tournament, a new champion will be named Saturday, but first the field of 68 remaining golfers will tee off today, starting at 8:30 a.m.

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