Peters' Nettles stays safe, leads Pennsylvania Open at Oakmont

One thing golfers playing Oakmont Country Club will notice is the old course can be forgiving at times.

It also can be a monster.

Keep the ball in play and out of the sand traps and rough, and you can score well.

Get off track a little bit, that’s when Oakmont makes you pay.

Tommy Nettles, 25, did a good job staying out of trouble during Monday’s round of the 104th Pennsylvania Golf Association Open Championship.

The 2013 Peters Township grad, who is playing professionally on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, had five birdies and a bogey to grab the first-round lead at 4-under-par 67.

He holds a one-shot lead on Carey Bina of King of Prussia. Bina, 24, is familiar with Western Pa. golf and has family in Beaver Falls.

Indiana’s Matt Holuta is third at 2-under.

Three players, including Greensburg native and West Virginia redshirt junior Mark Goetz, are tied for fourth at 1-under.

Nettles said the key for him was hitting the fairways.

“The key is keeping this course in front of you and miss it in spots where you can play golf,” Nettles said. “Fairways are so narrow that if you get into a bunker, you’ll have a tough time.

“I kept it in front of me all day. I hit quite a few fairways and a lot of greens. I putted pretty well. If you add all those things up, it turns into a pretty good score.”

Nettles’ only mistake of the round came at No. 3, where he hit into the famous church pew bunkers and ended up with a bogey.

“My gameplan for Tuesday is pretty much what I did (Monday),” Nettles said. “If you string together a lot of pars, that’s a helluva score. I’m going to keep that up for Tuesday.”

Irwin native Dan Obremski, who shot a 62 at Shannopin a week ago at the West Penn Open, shot a 2-over 73.

He said he didn’t stay patient enough down the stretch.

“I definitely left some shots out there,” Obremski said. “I had a nice start, smooth. My first mistake was on No. 8 after they watered the green.”

Obremski said a three-putt bogey on No. 8 led to a par on No. 9, an easy par 5.

“I’m not out of it. I feel there’s some low scores out there,” Obremski said. “Hopefully it will be me.”

Goetz, who rallied to win the West Penn Open last week, returned to the course where he had a nightmarish finish in the West Penn Amateur in 2019.

Bina, 24, said playing a couple rounds at Oakmont in the West Penn Open in 2018 helped him during the first round.

“This course is so tough and greens are so tricky, you have to avoid mistakes,” Bina said. “I just tried to enjoy to round and stay patient.”

Bina had four bogeys and seven birdies, five on the front nine.

Other district golfers in the hunt include Sewickley’s Chris Tanabe and Peters Township’s Jimmy Ellis, both even, former Oakmont pro Bob Ford at 1-over and Peters Townships’ Connor Schmidt at 2-over.

The second round will take place Tuesday, and the final round Wednesday will be cut to the low 40 and ties.

Pennsylvania Golf Association

Open Championship

Oakmont Country Club, par 71

Monday’s first round results

1. Tommy Nettles 67

2. Carey Bina 68

3. Matt Holuta 69

T4. Mark Goetz 70

T4. William Davenport 70

T6. Jeff Osberg 71

T6. Nathan Sutherland 71

T6. Chris Tanabe 71

T6. Trevor Bensel 71

T6. Cole Wilcox 71

T6. Travis Howe 71

T6. Jimmy Ellis 71

T6. Chris Crawford 71

T14. Bob Ford 72

T14. Garrett Engle 72

T14. Ambrose Abbracciamento 72

T14. Troy Vincent 72

T14. Austin Barbin 72

T14. Peter Bradbeer 72

T20. Connor Schmidt 73

T20. Kevin Koerbel 73

T20. Beau Titsworth 73

T20. Richard Berglund 73

T20. John Aber 73

T20. Kevin Shields 73

T20. Dan Obremski 73