Beau Hossler

"[Last year's win] has been a good confidence booster for me," said Hossler. "This is the premier tournament in Southern California and it's nice to see my name on that trophy with some other good players."

Hossler has been playing great golf thus far this summer, recently qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Championship and finishing as the runner-up at the California Amateur Championship last month. He had just one bogey in his first 29 holes on Friday, and finished his second round of the day with three birdies in his final five holes.

"I feel good," said Hossler. "I've got a few things to work on but I played great. I got a lot out of my rounds. I had a little slip up there in the middle with back-to-back bogeys, but came back with some important birdies in the end."

Hossler's two-round total of 8-under-par puts him two strokes ahead of Gunn Yang of San Diego State University, 2004 Champion Tim Hogarth and recent Loyola Marymount University graduate Tyler Torano, who all finished with two-round scores of 6-under-par. Hogarth, who in addition to his one SCGA Amateur Championship title has also won five SCGA Mid-Amateur Championships, is the only non-collegiate golfer in the top five. A college golfer has won the last five SCGA Amateur Championships.

The round of the day came off the clubs of San Diego's own Yang, who followed up his first-round 72 with an afternoon round of 6-under-par 66, a round that included eight birdies. Rounding out the top five with 36-hole scores of 3-under-par are Manav Shah of UCLA and Kevin Lee of La Palma.

Forty-eight golfers made the cut, which was scheduled to include the top 42 plus ties, as the cut line fell at 9-over-par. Included in those advancing on to weekend action was 12-year-old Edwin Kuang of Murrieta, who qualified for the Championship just last week at Brookside GC in Pasadena by way of the first-ever SCGA Youth on Course qualifier. Kuang, an active user of the Youth on Course Golf Pass, had never played 36 holes in one day before Friday.

"I'm tired!" he said after with a big smile.

Kuang shot rounds of 72 and 75 to sit T16 heading into Saturday's 18 holes. Round 3 tee times begin at 8 a.m., and live hole-by-hole scoring will be available at scga.org.