Australian Open: Curtis Luck heads into weekend three back

ROSE BAY, Australia (November 18, 2016) -- After a 1- under 71 in the second round of the Australian Open amateur Curtis Luck is 6-under and within three shots of the lead heading into the weekend. When play resumes on Saturday Luck will be chase lead man James Nitties who shot a second round 7-under 65 to reach 9-under and the top of the leaderboard at Royal Sydney Golf Club.

Luck, currently tied for fourth, came out firing on Friday with birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th holes to quickly move to 8-under. However, a string of bogeys followed that dropped the 2016 U.S. and Asia-Pacific Amateur winner back to 4-under.

Looking to rebound and move within striking distance for the weekend Luck dug deep and surged late with 16th and 18th hole birdies.

Luck is joined in fourth place by the likes of Adam Scott, Rod Pampling and Todd Sinnott.

Four other amateurs made the cut and will play the weekend at the Australian Open. The second low amateur through 36-holes is Min Woo Lee who is just one shot behind Luck at 5-under and tied for ninth.

Woo Lee was even-par after the first round and then came out and shot a 5-under 67 on Friday. Starting on the 10th hole Woo Lee birdied four times, bogeyed once and recorded an eagle on the par-5 7th.

The other three amateurs moving on are Harrison Endycott (-2, T35), Zach Murray (-2, T35) and Travis Smyth (-2, T35).

Amateurs to Miss the Cut

Austin Bautista (+1, T77)
Brett Coletta (+1, T77)
Daniel Hillier (+2, T89)
Connor Syme (+2, T89)
Zhengkai Bai (+3, T95)
Yuxin Lin (+5, T114)
Zihong Zhang (+6, T119)
Kazuki Higa (+9, T136)