SPRINGFIELD — If you have a crude sense of humor, the first round of the 27th Price Cutter Charity Championship was trial by fire.
Temperatures took their toll on the 156 participants at Highland Springs Country Club and garnered the dead of August in the Ozarks some interesting comparisons.
"It's up there. I would give it the hottest probably all year," Ryan Brehm said. "Maybe the Dominican Republic, it's close."
Brehm, who sits in a three-way tie for fourth on Thursday evening, experienced the same sweaty grips and fatigue that every player dealt with in southeast Springfield.
One guy who knows something about a hot streak is 27-year-old Stephan Jaeger, who finds new life in Springfield this week. The German-born graduate of Tennessee-Chattanooga is a new member of the Web.com Tour's Top 25 earning list, putting him within striking distance of a PGA Tour Card. He got there with a historic performance two weeks ago.
"It's been pretty cool," he said. "That's all I can say about that. It was like a dream."
Jim Furyk stole headlines by shooting the first round of 58 at a PGA Tour Event at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.
Well, Jaeger did it first.
He began a magical weekend at the Ellie Mae Classic in Hayward, Calif. by shooting 12 birdies and reaching the 58-stroke milestone 10 days before Furyk. That made him the first to accomplish the feat in any PGA-sanctioned event.
"It was a life-changer for me. You look back at it and it was one of the greatest weeks of my life. I'm never going to forget that."
Jaeger parlayed that into a 72-hole record score of 250 as he won his first Web.com Tour event by 30 strokes. He did not make the cut last week at the Digital Ally Open in Kansas, but the whirlwind of the last two weeks has only amplified his desire to reach the sport's top level.
All. Time. Low. pic.twitter.com/DlD82KEqqR
— Web.com Tour (@WebDotComTour) August 1, 2016
He also took a playful jab at his comerade in the record books.
"(Furyk) could've given me a little more for fame, but I won the tournament and that's all that matters. The PGA courses are normally a little harder than ours, but 58 is 58. I don't care where you shoot it. I'm happy for him."
Jaeger finished two under par through the first round at Highland Springs. He found trouble on the eighth hole with a double bogey on a Par 5, but improved through the back nine to pull himself eigh strokes off the lead.
"Obviously the hype and media craziness is going to go down once the months and years go by, but hopefully we can do it again soon and get a 'W' in the next couple weeks."
He will tee off at 1:20 p.m. on Friday in the second round.
41-year-old Brad Elder holds a three-stroke lead on the field at 10 under par, while Bhavik Patel and Martin Flores sit tied for second at seven under.
