Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletics
Ben Carr is feeling right at home at the Southeastern Amateur.
Carr, a member at Columbus (Ga.) Country Club and captain of the Georgia State men’s golf team, fired an 8-under-par 62 score Thursday in the second round of the tournament to move into the top spot on the leaderboard through two rounds of the 54-hole tournament at 14-under par.
He will take a four-shot cushion into the final round of the Southeastern Amateur which is being played on his home course.
Carr, the tournament champion in 2019 and third-place finisher last summer, overtook first-round leader
Zack Gordon on the scoreboard as he was just a shot behind the Clemson golfer after Wednesday’s opening round when Gordon grabbed the early lead with a 63 score that included eight birdies and a bogey.
Gordon played another steady round on Thursday, carding a 3-under 67 and remains in second at 10-under with another 18 holes to go.
But now, Gordon, along with everyone else, is chasing Carr who figures to be hard to catch with only one more round remaining, considering his comfort level at the country club where he has a membership and the scores he has posted in his most recent rounds in the Southeastern Amateur.
When he won back in 2019, Carr shot four sub-par rounds on the par-70 course when the tournament was contested over 72 holes. He ran away with the championship, winning by 10 shots with a 19-under score that included a tournament record 9-under 61 score in the third round.
Last year, Carr again shot three scores in the 60s with a low round of 65 on the second 18 and finished two shots back of champion Connor Howe who won the event at 11-under. Carr also finished third in the 2018 tournament when he shot 5-under over four rounds and finished four shots behind fellow Columbus resident Stanton Schorr who claimed the championship with a 9-under total.
In that 2018 tournament, Carr shot back-to-back 71 scores in the first two rounds before posting a 66 in round three and a 67 in the final round. Counting those two sub-70 scores, Carr has now recorded 11 straight scores in the 60s in this tournament on his home course.
In the opening round on Wednesday, he made six birdies on the way to his bogey-free 64 score. Carr started fast in round two with birdies on each of the first four holes before making his first bogey of the tournament on the par-3 fifth hole.
Carr close out his front nine with two pars and then back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to go out in 5-under 31. He finished his back nine Thursday three birdies and six pars for a 31 and the 62 total, which of course which is now tied for the second-best score in tournament history behind his 61 in the third round two years ago.
Through the first two rounds, he has 15 birdies and the one bogey.
Garrett Johnson from Mississippi State is in third place after two rounds at 8-under while
Daniel Azallion, a Virginia Tech player from Hilton Head (S.C.), is solo fourth at 7-under.
Avery Price, a teammate with Carr at Georgia Southern, is tied for fifth along with Vanderbilt player
Jansen Preston at 6-under.
ABOUT THE
The Southeastern Amateur is a top-level amateur
golf tournament with a rich history
dating back to 1922 - when the tournament was
created by Fred Haskins. Each year,
the Southeastern Amateur has the great honor of
hosting many of the nation's top
amateur golfers, from Division I NCAA National
Champions to the nation's top Mid-
Amateurs.
Field is limited to 90 players. The format is 54 holes
of stroke
play with no cut. Open qualifier held the day before
the tournament.
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