Ricky Castillo pulled off one of the best round-to-round comebacks of the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
Castillo improved his first-round score by seven strokes in the second round on Sept. 18. He finished at 9-under-par 71, tied for the best second-round score with Neal Shipley, and sits at 11-under-par 131 for the new PGA Tour event. He's tied for third place with first-round co-leader Max Greyserman, trailing only Shipley (15 under) and Ben Kohles (14 under).
"I just really did everything really well," said the 25-year-old Castillo from Yorba Linda, California. "Drove it really well and out here, I feel like driving it is the biggest thing. If you can drive it well, you can be aggressive and take your chances."
Castillo was cruising through
the first 11 holes of the first round, and reached 5 under after converting a short putt for birdie on the third hole. But, thanks to some wayward drives into the rough and bunker and struggles with his short game, Castillo went bogey-bogey-double bogey on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes.
Castillo believes the results didn't match the quality of his shots in the first round.
"I felt like I really didn't hit it that bad yesterday," he said. "Just a few, like two or three really bad misses and I just felt like I corrected those today."
The course at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, which features five par-3 holes and four par-5 holes, is unfamiliar to many of the players participating. Castillo had to make some adjustments to the new setting.
His corrections paid off in the form of stronger, more accurate drives. He hit the fairway on 14 of 18 tee shots, giving him the opportunity to play more aggressively when approaching the green.
And even when he misfired from the tee, Castillo recovered. He went seven for seven when scrambling in the second round.
"On this course, if you can be in the fairway, you can somewhat be aggressive to a decent amount of holes. It's when you get in the rough and stuff you have to play a little bit safer," Castillo said. "I was in the fairway a lot today and just gave myself a lot of chances.
Castillo even eagled twice on the front nine, including at the sixth hole where he double-bogeyed the day before.
"It was fun. I ended up like shanking it yesterday and made a double (bogey), and today I just hit a perfect 9-iron," Castillo said. "It was rolling right towards the flag and I think I it one-hopped in and just a bunch of cheers going on on the back of the green after it went in. So it was a cool feeling."
Castillo shot a disappointing 7 under in his last outing at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August. A month later, he's loose and confident.
"Sometimes I need to take a step back and be grateful for the position I'm in, because I know there is a lot of people that would die to be in the position I'm in," Castillo said. "I'm just happy out here playing golf. I was not feeling great after (the FedEx St. Jude Championship). Just needed a break. Now coming back here, I feel a lot more refreshed and just ready to go out and play."
Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ricky Castillo climbs leaderboard at new PGA Tour event in North Carolina
