VALDOSTA —
The leaderboard at the South Georgia Classic is jam packed following the second round of play Friday.
Heading into today’s third round, 20 golfers of the 69 that made the cut, which was even par, are within five strokes of leader Luke List, who followed up his opening round score of 67 to fire a 4-under par 68 in the morning hours to grab the second round lead at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.
Brian Stuard sits in second place at 8-under par, while three players are tied for third at 7-under par. Four players are tied at 6-under, seven are tied at 5-under and five players are tied at 4-under par, guaranteeing that many in the field are still within striking distance heading into the weekend.
Following his round on Friday morning, List said he isn’t worried about other golfers heading into the weekend round, but rather he is focused on his own game.
“I am just trying not to worry about anyone else, I have enough to worry about out there,” List said following his Friday round.
“I am just kind of doing a good job at letting myself play. Sometimes I get out there and try too hard, and I am just trying to play, react from my first instinct and go from there.”
List, 27, was in the first group of players to tee off in Friday’s round, and he used the morning conditions to his advantage, while using a strong game around the green to record his low score. Despite the low score, he only hit 10 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in his second round.
Stuard, who began the day tied for second, remains in second place following a 3-under 69 in Friday’s round.
“It feels good, because I am playing pretty good,” Stuard said. “All things are feeling good in my game. I am ready for the weekend.”
Stuard’s game was aided by his ability to hit the greens. He finished his Friday round by hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, a stat that surprised him.
“I don’t think I played as good as I did yesterday,” Stuard said, “But I guess I hit a lot of greens, apparently. I didn’t realize that. My lag putting was really good, I only had a couple of three, four footers for par, so it was nice to tap them in on those longer putts. I kept it out of trouble, and it felt pretty good.”
Two Monday qualifiers, Georgia Southern
alumnus Ryan Zabroske and 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur Champion Sihwan Kim, are tied for third at 7-under par, along with American Will MacKenzie, who shot a 5-under on Friday.
Kim finished his second round with a 2-under 70, while Zabroske, who is making his first career Nationwide Tour start this weekend, was one of the biggest movers of the day, finishing his round at 5-under par 67.
“It was good because this is my first Nationwide event, ever,” said Zabroske, who birdied hole Nos. 2, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 on the day. “It just feels good to play well, test (my game) against some really good players.”
Round one leader Robert Streb finished his second round at 1-over par, leaving him at 5-under par for the tournament and tied for 10th.
For List, he managed back-to-back birdies on the par-4 fourth, and the par-5 fifth, which followed a missed birdie putt on the second hole and a par on the third. His birdie on No. 4 came off a long 30-foot birdie putt, while he was able to sink a 10-footer for birdie on No. 5.
“It was calm in the morning, cool and the greens were awesome,” List said. “I just hung in there. I was disappointed not to birdie the second hole, but then I hit a couple of good putts on four and five…I hit the ball really well there for a while, I just didn’t roll it as well as yesterday. I got away with a few shots there, like I did yesterday.”
After making his turn, he managed three birdies on the first four holes of the back nine, including two birdies on the par 5’s. List was bogeyless until the 17th, when he missed a 10-foot putt to save par on the par-3.
“(The Par 5’s) still have some length to them, which is good,” said List, who has birdied seven of the eight par 5’s he’s played this week. “They present some opportunities where you can get around the green in two, and get up and down, or hopefully two-putt for birdie, and par 5’s for everybody, I think that is a big key to having a really good round.”
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