Scott Stallings starts strong at Charles Schwab Challenge after emotional U.S. Open qualification

FORT WORTH — Scott Stallings has seen some birdie putts fall this momentous week in Texas.

He saw eight of them Thursday in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, where he shot 3-under 67 at Colonial Country Club. He saw six more in the second.

His 6-under 64 left him at 9 under par Friday as the afternoon wave got underway. He held the lead by one at lunchtime.

“I felt good on the greens,” Stallings said. “Felt good with my stroke.”

It felt better than Thursday, to be sure. Stallings signed a first-round scorecard that recorded only five pars. But the circles exceeded the squares.

“Made a lot of birdies,” Stallings said late Thursday afternoon. “Made a lot of bogeys.” (Five, to be exact.)

“Part of it, man,” he said.

His execution Friday improved considerably. He made no bogeys. He completed his round on the iconic par-4 ninth hole by holing a 37-foot putt.

“My caddie has done an unbelievable job of reading greens all week,” Stallings said. “I rely on him a lot. He said, ‘Man, it’s going to break late.’

“It went right in the middle.”

Days before, Stallings watched putts fall when they mattered personally as well as professionally. He shot 8 under in a U.S. Open qualifier Monday at Lakewood and Royal Oaks country clubs in Dallas. His solo 11th-place finish got him into the championship at The Country Club. He tweeted a photograph of his official notification from the USGA and added: “This one means a little bit more.”

“That day was something I had circled,” Stallings said Thursday.

The U.S. Open represents a homecoming for the three-time winner on the PGA Tour. He was born in Worcestor, Massachusetts, less than an hour from Brookline. He left a while ago and now lives in Tennessee. But he has family there, he said, and he looks forward to playing in front of them in June.

“That was probably my biggest goal of the year, to play the U.S. Open,” Stallings said. “That’s somewhere that’s near and dear to my heart.”

Now that he’s in, the Schwab represents his next opportunity. Stallings has seen little success at Colonial since his first start in 2011. He’s missed six cuts in nine appearances. His best finish came in 2013, when he shared fourth.

“Man, it's keeping the ball in front of you,” Stallings said of playing Colonial. “You get out of position, not trying to do too much with it, understanding the value of par when you're out of position, but also understanding the correct sides to miss. Just depending on pin locations, and the short side is not always the worst place.”

Not when the putter is hot, as his has been since Monday.