Air Cap notes: Sebastian Cappelen remains successful in Wichita

Sebastian Cappelen’s ultimate goal is to avoid making Wichita an annual stop on his golf schedule.

But the 2014 Air Capital Classic champion continues to do well when he plays at Crestview Country Club.

Cappelen, the third-year Web.com Tour professional from Denmark, posted scores of 65 and 69 Friday to get to 6-under par and made the cut for Saturday’s third round. Eight of his 10 competitive rounds on Crestview’s North course have been in the 60s.

“Of course, it’s special to come back here,” said Cappelen, who joined PGA Tour veteran Ben Crane as the only Monday qualifiers to win the Air Capital Classic in his pro debut two years ago. “You have good memories and you know you can hit the shots that you need to on this golf course.”

But a bogey on the last of his 25 holes Friday served as a reminder he will need to sharpen his game to win Sunday.

“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well,” said Cappelen, who is 37th on the tour money list after starting the season with limited status. “I maybe haven’t had the consistency in the scoring irons from the 7-iron on down that I’ve wanted.”

Cappelen, who made his Web.com splash less than a month after completing a standout career at Arkansas, just missed out on his PGA Tour card in 2014, finishing 26th in earnings. The top 25 are promoted.

Cappelen tied for ninth at Crestview last summer, his best finish in 19 tour events in 2015.

While it appears Cappelen’s good play in Wichita is becoming old hat, he said his method of achieving it is different.

“I’m the exact opposite,” Cappelen said. “With that I mean back then I was curving the ball from right to left and now I’m curving the ball from left to right. I’ve had that in mind this week.

“Some of the holes, there’s a different visual that I need to see. But I still know where to take the chances out here and I feel like I’ve been good at that so far this week. That’s important.”

Not Watkins’ week – Former Kansas State golfer Aaron Watkins has often found refuge at Crestview no matter how a season is going.

It wasn’t to be this week, as the Web.com veteran missed his seventh consecutive cut after rounds of 72 and 70.

The 33-year-old Watkins failed to advance past 36 holes at the Air Capital Classic for the third time in nine appearances. He finished sixth in 2011 and has five top-25 finishes in Wichita.

“For a while, I was still hitting it well and not putting it good,” said Watkins, who has plummeted from 46th to 98th on the tour money list since the Mexico Championship in April. “Not putting it good has kind of gone over to the rest of my game.”

Watkins made seven birdies in the two rounds, but also made seven bogeys and a double bogey.

Etc. – In addition to Cappelen, 2012 champion Casey Wittenberg also made the cut. The Oklahoma State product carded a second-round 65 to move to 5 under. Mathew Goggin, who won at Crestview in 2011, did not advance to the weekend. … Richy Werenski, No. 2 on the Web.com money list, missed an opportunity to gain on leader Wesley Bryan this week. He shot 1-under 139. Bryan is playing in the PGA Tour’s Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club.

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Air Cap notes: Sebastian Cappelen remains successful in Wichita."