Shintaro Ban (L) and Justin Tereshko,
the 36-hole leaders of the Monroe Invitational

PITTSBORO , NY (June 8, 2017) – West Coast college golfer Shintaro Ban had little trouble with the East Coast classic design at Monroe Country Club Thursday, firing a second round 63, the low round of the tournament, to share the lead after 36 holes of the 2017 Monroe Invitational.

A senior at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Ban, who finished at four-under-par 134, is tied at the midway point of the prestigious amateur with Jamestown, North Carolina mid-Amateur Justin Tereshko. He blistered the highly-rated par 69 tournament course with a tournament-low back nine 29 in sunny second round conditions en route to his 64-134 total.

First round leader Tyler Stafaci was a shot back at 135 after a second round 69. BYU golfer Rhett Rasmussen and Canadian mid-amateur Garrett Rank were tied for fourth at 135 after both shooting 69 in the second round.

A California native, Ban said he was very pleased with his tie for the lead in much different conditions than he was used to seeing growing up and in college.

“It was great today, the course was really nice after all the winter they had here, but the greens were rolling really fast. I liked it a lot.

“Playing golf in the desert where everything is usually brown, it’s great to see everything green. It’s a lot different grasses than I’m used to. We’ve got two more days so anything can happen, but I’m pleased so far.”

He began the day six shots out of the lead established by Stafaci and had six straights pars to open his round, but four straight birdies on holes 7-10 turned his game around and lifted him to the top of the leaderboard.

After three years at UNLV, he has already established himself as one of the top golfers on the West Coast and captured the California Amateur last summer. He capped his second round with a curling birdie putt on the par 4 18th hole to put him in good shape for the final two days.

Tereshko was five shots behind Stafaci when the day started and was still far down the leaderboard with an opening 35 on the front nine at Monroe CC. But after a par on the par 4 10th hole, he proceeded to birdie seven of the last eight holes, finishing his round with scores of 3-3-3-3.

He is the head men’s golf coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina and seeking one of the biggest wins of his college career, having advanced once to match play at the U.S. Amateur and being a two-time Division III All-American while playing college golf.

The lowest local finisher Thursday belonged to Adam Condello of Fairport, New York at 67-139 he was tied with University of Texas golfer Gavin Hall from Pittsford, 69-139. Monroe CC member Tim Spitz was T24 at 68-140.