16-year-old Michael clings to State Am lead
May 29—WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — Jack Michael did just enough to stay a step — or stroke — ahead of the field in the second round of the 104th West Virginia Amateur golf championship.
The 16-year-old Huntington native tapped in for par at the 18th hole to finish his day 3-over-par 70, good enough to keep a one-stroke lead over a three-way tie for second place after the second day of play.
"It's a really good feeling even though I didn't have my absolute best today. I played OK, but not my best," Michael said. "In my opinion (the course) is harder than what everybody said. The greens are tricky, especially since they are punched right now, but I played it better than I thought I was going to."
It was the first time Michael had played the Old White Course, he said, but it might not have looked like it to some spectators.
After playing even par on the front nine, Michael had favorable birdie putts on holes 10, 15 and 18 but settled for two-putt pars on each of those three after narrow misses on the initial putts.
Save for a bad tee shot on the 16th, the Cabell Midland sophomore's first go-around on Old White wasn't anything to shrug his shoulders at, especially given that he left the second round with the outright lead at 1-over par.
Competition shifts back to The Meadows course at the Greenbrier for Tuesday's third round — the same course that Michaels finished 2-under par 70 during Sunday's round.
"It was playing easier than what I heard some people saying, so I feel really good heading in The Meadows tomorrow," Michaels said. "Hopefully I can fire out a really good round and cushion myself on Old White for the last day."
Not far behind him on the leaderboard is Hurricane native Jonathan Clark, who finished at an even-par 70 Monday. A double-bogey on the 18th hole ended up being the reason he wasn't ahead of the field at the end of the day.
"I played great," Clark said. "Bogey on [hole] 1 because of a bad shot, but from then on I thought I hit the ball strategically, played in where it was supposed to be even with the rain and made my pars."
Clark birdied holes 3, 14 and 17 in his second round, and even with a sour ending, he was happy with his overall score in light of the conditions in which he played.
"It hurts bad to end like that," Clark said of the double bogey on 18. "But if you would've told me I was shooting 70 out there today, I would've taken that right from the beginning and walked into the clubhouse."
For those like Clark who had morning tee times, an umbrella was as important as golf clubs as they played through constant rain for the entirety of the 18-hole round after doing the same thing on the first day of competition.
"We literally had the umbrellas up carrying them every hole from 9 or 10 the rest of the way in, and that's tough," Clark said. "It doesn't look like it's going to stay that way either, but hey, that's the luck of the draw."
His prediction was correct. By the time the late groups teed off, especially those that came between 1 and 2 p.m., the sunshine poked through and made for better playing conditions, even though the course stayed wet.
The two others tied for second place are Cam Jarvis (Barboursville), who moved from even par to 2-over after the second round, and Cory Hoshor (Scott Depot), who was one of just three individuals to shoot under par for the day, turning in a 69.
Marshall University golfer Ryan Bilby (-1) and Kermit native Davey Jude (-1) were the others. Jude is tied for fifth place with four-time Amateur champion Sam O'Dell after the second round.
Four groups did not finish their rounds by press time due to a weather delay. The projected cut for Round 3 is 14-over par. Jared Taylor, a Bluefield native, carded a birdie, eagle and par on the final three holes to move into a tie for 49th and position himself above that cut line.
