Dan Sullivan takes six-stroke SCGA Mid-Amateur Lead
36-hole leader Dan Sullivan
(SCGA Photo)
PALM DESERT, CA (May 1, 2017) - The weather wasn't the only thing on fire Monday at the 34th SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship. Dan Sullivan, who last summer advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, blazed Ironwood CC for 36 holes to hold a 6-stroke lead heading into the tournament's final round Tuesday. Sullivan fired rounds of 67 and 66 to sit at 11-under par for the day, which featured temperatures consistently in the high 90s.
The strong play from Sullivan was a constant all day. He began Round 1 by carding three straight birdies, and would later put together a stretch on his back nine in which he would birdie four of six holes. His second round would start similarly, with an eagle on the par-5, 480-yard second hole en route to a front nine 31.
Looking up at Sullivan on the leaderboard is Trae Cassell of Indio, who put together solid rounds of 68 and 71 for a total of 5-under. A quartet of competitors sit T3 at 4-under par, including Mark Manwaring of Long Beach, who shot the low round of the day in the afternoon, carding six birdies and one eagle in the bogey-free round that catapulted him from T46 on the leaderboard to T3. Kevin Fitzgerald, Bowen Osborn and Kyle Rector also sit at 4-under.
For Sullivan, winning the SCGA Mid-Amateur would cross a huge item off of his golf bucket list. With a number of team SCGA titles on his resume, and an SCGA Public Links victory in the books, Sullivan recently named the SCGA Mid-Amateur as a Championship that would be extra special to win.
Round three begins Tuesday at 7:30, with groups going off both 1 and 10 tees. The leaders tee off at 8:33 a.m.
ABOUT THE
SCGA Mid-Amateur
The SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship is open to
members ages 25 and older with a Handicap Index
of 5.4 and below. Competitors undergo 18 holes of
qualifying play in order to reach the final field of 84
players. In the Championship, players compete over
54 holes of stroke play with the top 42 players and
ties advancing after 36 holes to the final round.
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