Cockerill optimistic after tough day

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This article was published 11/06/2022 (1424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — This wasn’t the kind of “moving day” Aaron Cockerill was hoping for.

The 30-year-old Stony Mountain product took a tumble down the leaderboard at the Canadian Open on Saturday after firing a three-over 73. He began his third round in a tie for 21st, just five strokes off the lead. He ended it tied for 53rd and a dozen shots back of front-runners Rory Mcllroy and Tony Finau.

Overall, Cockerill is one-over par for the tournament after shooting 70 on Thursday and a stellar 68 on Friday. Despite the minor setback, he opted to take a glass half-full approach.

“It’s the first time ever playing a PGA Tour tournament, so a good experience. It’s been a positive week more than negative,” Cockerill, who received a sponsor’s exemption into the national championship, told the Free Press shortly after signing his scorecard at St. George’s Golf & Country Club.

“There’s 72 holes, so we’ve still got 18 more to go. Hopefully can go low on Sunday.”

Cockerill, who normally competes in Europe on the DP World Tour, felt Saturday’s final score wasn’t indicative of his play. He bogeyed the 4th and 7th holes after his drives barely found the right rough, which is an absolute nightmare for golfers this week. Essentially, you’re wasting a shot just chipping out of the deep stuff if you don’t catch the fairway.

He rebounded nicely with birdies on the 9th and 15th holes, both par fives, to get back to even on his round and two-under for the tournament. At that point, he was playing a safe, smart round.

Unfortunately, that good work was quickly undone. His tee shot on the par-three 16th was slightly long and left, ending in the rough, and his chip came up nearly 20-feet short leading to a two-putt bogey. Then, on the 17th, he smoked a terrific drive more than 330 yards down the left fairway, but his approach to the green went left and landed in a deep bunker.

“The wind was all over the place on the second shot and I just kind of pulled it a little bit,” said Cockerill. “But it wasn’t in that bad of a spot (in the sand).”

Instead of landing his chip on the fringe and rolling it towards the cup, it got snagged in the rough and stopped just short.

“It was a horrible lie. It was right stuck in the long stuff, against the grain,” said Cockerill, who opted to try to putt it from there. “If I had hit a chip it would have been a nightmare,” he said. But the attempt came up well short, and he needed two more to finish the hole with a costly double bogey.

“I shouldn’t have made double there, but it is what it is,” he said. “Kind of a tough finish. Just two kind of bad holes with weird wind switches at the end.”

Cockerill had plenty of great looks for birdies earlier in his round but could only make the two, both on holes where he reached the par-fives in two shots and two-putted. There were numerous other attempts on the green that either came up short, or burned the left and right edges.

“I think they were a bit slower today and I just struggled with the speed,” he said. “I just didn’t have the good feel on the greens, and it slowly wore on me. I was getting frustrated out there, because I was playing better than that.”

The crowds at St. George’s swelled in size on Saturday, especially in the group immediately in front of Cockerill in which PGA winner Justin Thomas was playing. He also began the day at two-under, but finished it at nine-under after a stellar 63. Cockerill could hear the numerous roars all day.

“That’s an impressive round,” he said. “There were a lot of people on the course all day, in front of us the fairways were always lined. It was a great atmosphere.”

There were 21 Canadians in the 156-player field this week, but just six of them made the cut. Nick Taylor (five-under), Corey Conners (four-under), Adam Svensson (three-under), Adam Hadwin (two-under) and Mackenzie Hughes (one-under) are the others, along with Cockerill. No homegrown player has won this tournament since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

Cockerill will now look to end his first taste of PGA Tour action with a good showing on Sunday.

One of his playing partners should be a familiar name to Manitoba golf fans. Kramer Hickok won the 2017 Players Cup held at Pine Ridge, using that big finish on the Mackenzie Tour to grab his card in 2018 for what was then known as the Web.com Tour (and is now the Korn Ferry). A big year there led to the Texas native securing his full card on the PGA Tour in 2019, where he’s remained ever since.

“I’ve recognized quie a few guys out here who were on the Canadian Tour when I played it (2015-18),” said Cockerill, who then grabbed his card on the European Tour in 2019 “It just speaks to the quality of it.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg