Barlow works his local magic

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 10:47 a.m.

It didn't take Craig Barlow long to realize there may be something to this home-course advantage stuff.

Barlow, a native of Henderson and a Basic High School graduate, made an eagle on his first hole Wednesday at the Las Vegas Country Club, then birdied the next two holes en route to an 11-under-par 61 and the first-round lead in the $2.5 million Las Vegas Invitational.

"I eagled my first hole ... so that's a dream start in itself," Barlow said.

"I played a great round of golf. Obviously, I have maybe a little more adrenaline than most players out here -- this is hometown week for me. It means a lot for me to do well and in the same sense, it adds a little pressure on me."

But Barlow didn't let the pressure get to him -- indeed, he seemed to thrive on it Wednesday as the round only got better for the 27-year-old who is in his second year on the PGA Tour.

After making birdie at the par-5 18th -- his ninth hole -- and making the turn at 5-under 31, Barlow kicked his game into high gear on the par-4 second hole.

Barlow hooked his tee shot into a fairway bunker, behind a tree, on the 405-yard hole. His confidence bolstered by his spectacular front nine, Barlow decided to try to hook a 9-iron around the tree and go for the green.

Not only did Barlow pull off the shot, he tucked the ball about 4 feet from the pin, then drained the putt for a seemingly improbable birdie.

"The key shot was on number (two)," Barlow said. "The pin was back left and I had 155 yards to the pin and there was a tree in my way. Being that I felt like things were going well for me today, I tried to hook my shot around the tree and I hit it to about four feet.

"I took a little bit of a gamble and I hit a pretty big hook out of a bunker to (try to) get it close and I did hit it close."

Barlow went on to birdie five of his final seven holes to match the Country Club course record, set by Dickey Thompson and Jim Gallagher Jr., in the 1991 LVI.

Barlow had a chance to shoot 60 when he hit his second shot into the par-5 ninth hole to 15 feet, but left his eagle putt about six inches short.

"I wanted nothing to do with the long putt coming back so I told my caddie, 'I want to die this putt in the hole,' " Barlow said. "I was feeling nerves, for sure. Who doesn't want to finish a great round (with an eagle)? The nerves maybe got a little of the best of me, but I wasn't going to leave any kind of tester.

"Obviously, I'm a little upset that I had a chance to shoot 60 but, you know what, I can't be upset about anything today. I've never shot 60 before. I've shot 61, but it was on a par-70, so this is my low round."

It also was good enough for a two-shot lead over eight players going into today's second round. But Barlow wasn't planning on spending the $450,000 first prize after only 18 of 90 holes.

"Hey, 90 holes out here is a lot," Barlow said.

"This is the course that you can shoot well on and I did, so that's nice, but I've still got a lot of golf left. I'm happy with the way I'm playing and I want to stay as patient as I can, but I still have to stay aggressive."

Barlow said his confidence was high even before his sizzling start Wednesday, the result of his third-place tie two weeks ago in the Buick Challenge in Georgia.

This week is a critical one for Barlow, who is 130th on the money list with $285,217 and needs to earn roughly $50,000 in the final two tournaments of the season to finish in the top 125 in earnings and retain his PGA Tour card next year.