Wetterich has lead at Utah Classic

SANDY — Brett Wetterich has always been known as a long hitter.

Playing the PGA Tour in 2002, he ranked No. 8 in driving distance and this year he is No. 2 on the Nationwide Tour with a 315.8-yard average. In this week's Envirocare Utah Classic, Wetterich has been hitting the ball in places that many longtime watchers at Willow Creek Country Club have never seen before.

Wetterich's long hitting paid off Saturday when he fired a 7-under par 65 to grab a two-shot lead heading into today's final round of the $450,000 event.

The 31-year-old from Florida stands at 15-under par 201, two shots ahead of Chris Sessler and three ahead of Scott Peterson

Second-round leader Jody Bellflower never found any consistency Saturday and his 73 dropped him into a tie for fourth at 205 with David McKenzie and Tyler Williamson.

The two Utah professionals, Garrett Clegg and Steve Schneiter, both fell off the pace Saturday and stand at 207 and 209 heading into today's round, while former BYU golfer and PGA Tour winner Rick Fehr stands at 212.

With the weather getting warmer and the course drying out, the Willow Creek greens weren't holding as well Saturday. However, Wetterich was hitting shorter irons into each hole, which gave him an advantage.

"If I'm hitting a 9-iron as opposed to someone hitting a 7-iron, it's a big difference," said Wetterich.

It made a really big difference on the par-5s, of which there are five at Willow Creek. Wetterich made eagles on two of them and just missed on a third.

He eagled the 551-yard first hole, needing just a 7-iron for his second shot and sinking a 10-foot putt. His eagle putt at the 586-yard No. 10 hole just slid past and at the 588-yard No. 17 hole, he needed just a 6-iron to the green, where he made a 12-foot eagle.

Wetterich is happy to have a two-shot lead with one round to play.

When he won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open last year, he also had a two-stroke lead going into the final round and ended up winning by three.

"I'll just play the same way tomorrow," he said.

Wetterich ranks No. 40 on the Nationwide money list this year with just less than $100,000 in earnings, but if he wins the $81,000 first prize, he'll jump into the all-important top 15 on the money list, a group that gets exempted onto the PGA Tour the following year.