Cayden Pope (Rox Riles Photo)

Pope, a sophomore at Auburn, and Haygood, a junior at UCF, have both shot rounds of 4-under 68 in the opening two rounds to get to 8-under overall and lead by two shots over the field.

Shubham Jaglan is in solo third place at 6-under after two rounds of 3-under 69. John Daly II and Noah Kumar are T4 at 5-under to round out the top five.

Pope finished T9 at the 2024 Kentucky Amateur and recently finished T29 at the 2024 South Beach International Amateur. Haygood finished T6 at the 2024 Florida State Amateur and recently finished T20 at the 2024 Orlando International Amateur.

In the Championship Division, 14 golfers are within five shots of the leaders, and 25 golfers are under par overall.

In the Mid-Am Division, Troy Vannucci leads by two shots at 1-under. He is the only golfer in the division under par. He shot a second-round 3-over 75.

Vannucci led by four shots after an opening round of 4-under 68. He recorded five birdies and one bogey, including birdies on holes No. 16 and 18, to close his round strong. The 2022 Golf Association of Philadelphia Mid-Amateur winner finished T2 at the 2023 New Year's Invitational and T6 at the 2024 New Jersey State Amateur.

Justin Grant is in solo second place at 1-over, and Matthew Galloway is in solo third place at 2-over. David Lang and LJ Tsunis are T4 at 4-over to round out the top five. 

In the Senior Division, Richard Barkley, Jay Lindner, and Adam Creighton are all tied at the top of the leaderboard at 1-over heading into the final round. The trio leads the rest of the field by seven shots. 

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LECOM Suncoast Classic offers an opportunity to 2025 New Year invite winner
The historic New Years Invitational is getting a makeover

St. Petersburg Country Club recently underwent a major renovation to prepare for the 99th and 100th year of the tournament, and the LECOM Suncoast Classic, a tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour, has awarded a highly sought-after exemption to the winner of the 2025 iteration of the event.

The New Year's Invitational, played at St. Petersburg Country Club in Florida, has been held every year since 1927. It is the oldest continuously running invitational tournament in the Southeast and one of the oldest in the country. Originally, it was one of a number of tournaments held in the winter months at clubs around the area. The other events, in fact, several of the other clubs, have long departed.

From its inception until 1956, the tournament was a match-play event. The first winner was Clearwater resident A.T. Cooper. The 1928 winner, Johnny Revolta, was a combination course ranger and locker room attendant at Lakewood Country Club at the time he won.

Later, Revolta became a very successful professional, winning the PGA Championship in 1935 and establishing quite a reputation as a short-game instructor. In 1938, he celebrated his return to St. Petersburg and Lakewood with a win at the St. Pete Open, a regular stop on the fledgling PGA tour.

Bob Goalby was the first winner after the change to stroke play. He went on to a lengthy PGA career, which included a 1968 Masters green jacket. Between 1972 and 1991, Buddy Alexander, son of our longtime pro Skip Alexander, won six titles, the most wins for any player since the World War II era.

During the past two decades, the championship has been dominated by collegiate players, including winner Ryuji Imada in 1996, Jeff Klauk in 2000 (with a tournament record 21-under par 267), J.B. Holmes in 2003, Brandt Snedeker in 2004, and Jeff Overton in 2005.