Historic Brownsville Open: Golfers' rounds start to count Friday

After four days of practice and preparation, things are finally ready to tee off.

The Historic Brownsville Open gets under way Friday morning at Rancho Viejo Golf & Country Club. Kitty Hwang fronts the first group, which will begin at 8 a.m. on the first hole.

The last group set to tee off, group 48, is fronted by Whitney Myers and won’t start until 2:30 p.m. at the 10th hole.

The purse is $110,000.

"I just try and play my game, which is fairways and greens," Angela Buzminski said. "Be patient, because it’s always windy here. You’re going to make bogeys, that’s just the way it is."

Buzminski, who has been on the Duramed FUTURES Tour since 1995, won the tournament last year with a score of 3 over par.

Nontaya Srisawang finished second.

This year, three events in, the money leaderboard is headed by Cindy LaCrosse, Gerina Mendoza and Kristie Smith. But since it’s so early, it’s tough to consider those three women to favorites to win the event.

"It’s the fourth tournament of 17," Dewi Claire Schreefel said. "It doesn’t really matter right now. With how the money is divided every tournament, big changes happen every week. It all depends where you were in the 15th week, the 16th week, the 17th week."

This is Screefel’s second full year on tour. She took home the ING New England Golf Classic last year and has made the cut two out of three times this season.

"Considering how it was last year, pars are going to win here," Schreefel said. "The greens are not going to be great, you just have to be patient."

With the expected windy conditions, already damp ground and general nature of the El Diablo Course, playing consistent par golf is going to be key.

"The course plays totally different this year," Buzminski said. "The fact that you guys have had a ton of rain, it’s a lot greener … You don’t get a whole lot of roll, compared to last year."

The course features small greens and some narrow fairways. Aggressiveness could easily come back and hurt golfers.

"Here, you can take advantage of the par 5s," Schreefel said. "You’re going to want to try to get close and get your birdies there."

That could help Sarah-Jane Smith, who despite getting into town Wednesday and not getting to the course until Thursday, is still fairly confident.

Smith, in her fifth year on tour, has two career victories.

"You get used to adjusting to different things," Smith said. "My ball-striking is one of better attributes, so hopefully the smaller the greens, the better for me."

No matter how a player prepared for the tournament, everyone will start with a clean scorecard come this morning or this afternoon.

Everything they did leading up to it is now in the past.

"You just try and prepare as best you can," Schreefel said. "Get on the course, (see) the conditions, try it hit your shots. Mostly, you just try to get your confidence up to the level that you need." 

Todd Orodenker writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.