Players Amateur: 4 share lead atop busy leaderboard
Matthew Nesmith
BLUFFTON, S.C. (July 10, 2014) -- Familiar names share the lead after Round 1 at the 2014 Players Amateur.
Among them -- four in total -- is local favorite and rising University of South Carolina golfer Matthew NeSmith, who joined Andrew Orischak, Tae Koh and Geoff Drakeford at the top of the leaderboard after the quartet shot 4-under 68s at Berkeley Hall Club.
The loaded leaderboard at the prestigious amateur event is jam-packed at the top with five players sitting one shot back and four more just two back.
All told, there are 16 players within three shots and 10 more just four shots back of the lead shared by four.
It all adds up to what's sure to be a wild 72 holes at the Players Amateur, which wraps up Sunday.
Tied for fifth place and just one shot back is an impressive list of contenders, including defending champion Hunter Stewart of Vanderbilt, rising Stanford star Maverick McNealy, Georgia's Nicholas Reach and 2013 Monroe Invitational champ Nick Palladino.
Past U.S. Open competitor and current Texas star Gavin Hall joins recent North & South Amateur champion Michael Cromie in the four-player tie for 10th -- just two shots back.
And just three back is a group that includes Canadian Garrett Rank, the runner up at the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
The prestigious event was created by Duke Delcher and Tom McKnight and event spares no expense to attract a high quality field. The winner gets an exemption into the PGA Tour RBC Heritage Classic on Hilton Head, as well as the Master of the Amateurs tournament in Melbourne, Australia.
For a full look at the Round 1 leaderboard, follow the link below.
ABOUT THE
Players Amateur
While competing in the 1999 US Amateur
Championship at Pebble Beach, former US
Walker Cup
Team members, Duke Delcher and Tom
McKnight
discussed the formation of a premier 72-hole
stroke
play amateur golf tournament. The inaugural
Players
Amateur was held the next summer. Former
British
Open Champion, Ben Curtis, was the winner of
the
2000 event. In 2004, the Heritage Classic
Foundation
began running the event. The Heritage Classic
Foundation was formed in 1987 as a 501 (c) (3),
not-
for-profit organization, it serves as the
operational
and financial oversight group for the PGA Tour
RBC
Heritage Classic. The Foundation distributes all
charitable funds generated from the tournaments
to
charity. The winner of The Players Amateur gets
an
exemption into the PGA Tour RBC Heritage
Classic, as
well as the Master of the Amateurs tournament
in
Melbourne, Australia.
View Complete Tournament Information