Davis Taking It Low In Mazatlan
by Marty Henwood
May 5, 2005

Mazatlan, Mexico - Brien Davis seems intent on keeping his family's championship tradition alive following Friday's second round of the Canadian Tour's Corona Mazatlan Classic.

Less than a day after an opening round 67, the 24 year old Las Vegas, NV. resident followed that up with a 6 under 66 at El Cid Golf and Country Club. Davis is two shots in front of Brad Fritsch of Manotick, Ontario and Texan Jaime Gomez.

Sixty eight players were inside the two over cutline and will play for the $125,000 US purse on the weekend.

Davis comes from some impressive bloodlines: his uncle is seven time PGA Tour champion and 2004 U.S. Open winner Peter Jacobsen, while his father, Michael also played on the PGA Tour from 1970 to 1977.

Early Friday, he showed the touch runs in the family.

After nearly chipping in for birdie on the opening hole, Davis would settle for a par before reeling off six straight birdies, two shy of Jason Bohn's all time Canadian Tour record. A bogey on number eight snapped the streak, but Davis bounced back wth another birdie to turn at 6-under.

When the dust had settled a couple of hours later, Davis had ten birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on his score card. His big number came on the par 5 17th, when Davis made what he called a lazy swing and launched his shot out of bounds.

This weekend, the tour sophmore will try to put the closing touches on his first championship.

"I was just trying to get myself in position going into the weekend," Davis admitted. "A lot of things can happen. Unfortuneately, some good shots turned into bad breaks and I amde the bogeys."

Fritsch, the Most Improved Canadian in 2004, posted a 67 and over the final 36 holes will be looking to complete back-to-back wins for Canadian born players, something that hasn't been done in three seasons.

Two weeks ago, Stuart Anderson of Edmonton won his first Canadian Tour title at the Foster Farms California Classic.

The last Canadians to win consecutive events were Rob McMillan and Derek Gillespie, who swept the two-event swing through Myrtle Beach, SC in the Spring of 2002.

Starting his round five shots back of overnight leader Michael Harrix, Fritsch, who played in the final pairing in California and wound up in third spot birdied two of his first three holes out of the gate and made the turn at 4-under for the day, thanks in part to converting a 15 foot par putt on the par 4 ninth. He birdied three of his final nine holes en route to a bogey free round.

"Even Thursday, I hit it well, but just didn't get anything out of the round," said Fritsch. "I just made a lot more putts today. On a course like this with tricky greens, you will miss some you should make, but will then make a 20 footer. The key to this week is not to miss any greens. There isn't a whole lot of difference between eight and fifteen feet out here."

A college teammate od Adam Scott and Ryan Moore at the Unifersity of Nevada, Las Vegas, Davis appears to be hitting stride in his second season. Ranked the 20th amateur in the U.S. by Golfweek Magazne when he turned professional in 2004, Davis played in seven events last year, missing the cut in his first four starts before earning a check in each of his final three. Coming off a ninth place showing in California, Davis is poised to improve on that result this week and perhaps add his own piece of hardware to the family trophy case.

"Peter is fun to compete with and I look up to him a lot, but it's my Dad who's influenced my game the most," said Davis. "My game is really coming together. I don't think it was luck that I fell upon."

George Bradford came in with 67 Friday and is three back of Davis. Graig Taylor of Hunter River, PEI is at -7 along with Harris, Scott Gibson and Robert Hamilton. Antonio Serna is the top Mexican-born player, tied for tenth with Derek Gillespie and David Mathis at 5 under.

Fritsch, the Ottawa amateur champion in 2000, is showing the same form he did last year when he finished 19th on the money list with a career-high second place finish at the Bay Mills Open Players Championship. In for starts this year, Fritsch has been in the top six twice and would like nothing better than to make it two in a row for Canadians this week.

"I'm just trying to stay out of my own way and stick to my game paln. You are going to have one bad hole here and there. You've just got to forget about it and move on. Just to be heading into the weekend being where I am is great for the confidence. Confidence will take you a long way in the game."