WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - As he tracked down an errant drive during his futile chase of the Greenbrier Classic cut line Friday, Christian Brand's sense of humor didn't disappear.
He hit his tee shot on the No. 1 hole, his 10th of the day, wide to the left and into the gallery. As he approached, he found a decent lie in the rough and an opening to the green.
"All you good West Virginians helping me out," Brand said. "Home-field advantage."
A patron told him, "We trampled it down for you!" To which Brand replied: "[The lie is] better than the fairway!"
Alas, Brand missed an 18-foot birdie putt and remained at 2 over par for the tournament. That summed up his day, as he shot an even-par 70 and finished at that 2-over number, missing the cut by three shots.
The Capital High and Marshall University graduate struggled to get close to the hole, averaging 39 feet in proximity to the hole on approach shots. And for the second day in a row, his putter was no help - he didn't hit a putt of more than 10 feet until his final hole, making birdie on the par-4 ninth.
"I played better than 2 over," he said. "Kind of embarrassed about how bad it was on the greens."
It was doubly frustrating that he struggled on the redesigned greens at the Old White TPC, which drew much praise from players for their true surfaces.
Brand has played more rounds on the pre-flood Old White than anybody else in the field, as a product of playing it twice at the annual State Amateur. Like other golfers who had played it before, Brand was amazed at the course's reconstruction.
"The changes are phenomenal," he said. "This should be a positive outlook for the tournament for years to come. Everything is such is an upgrade and the field should continually get better once the word gets out about how well the week is going, how good the changes are."
Brand will return to play on the Web.com Tour, traveling next to Salt Lake City. He played the Greenbrier Classic as West Virginia Amateur champion in 2011, but playing as a touring pro was different.
"The difference was my comfort level. I really wasn't nervous," he said. "I knew I had the game to compete, and I think I showed that. When I was an amateur, it was more about, 'Let's enjoy this week.' Whether I finished fourth or 104th, I was going to leave with zero dollars in my bank account."
Alan Cooke, the 2016 West Virginia Amateur champion, missed the cut at 12 over after a 73. He beat Monday qualifier Ryan Zylstra by a stroke.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock.