Playing in his first California State Amateur, Hall opened the tournament with a 73 on the Legends Course, then shot the low round of the day by three shots, going bogey free with six birdies.
“I hit 17 greens today,” said Hall after his round. “I hit the ball nicely which was polar opposite of yesterday, made some putts. Everything just fell my way today.”
Hall now takes the #1 seed into match play on Wednesday. Finishing one shot back of Hall and with the #2 seed was Brad Reeves (Woodbridge, CA), who plays at the University of Arizona. Reeves was one of four players with the low round on day one a 3-under 69, and he followed it up with a 71 on the Legends Course.
Tied for third at 3-under 141 were UCLA rising junior Hidetoshi Yoshihara (Irvine, CA) and University of Washington rising sophomore Noah Woolsey (Pleasanton, CA).
Other players advancing to the match play stage include Ryan Sloane (Campbell, CA), who has won four straight California State Fair Masters titles in a row, and last year’s NCGA Mid-Amateur champion Bobby Bucey (Concord, CA). Sloane was 2 under for the qualifier and Bucey 1 under.
Eddy Lai (San Jose, CA), last year’s stroke play medalist who made it to the round of 16, shot 1 over to advance. Daniel Connolly, last year’s NCGA Stroke Play champion and the 2016 San Francisco City champ, was at the same score.
Thomas Hutchison (San Jose, CA) and Tyler Guo (Irvine, CA), who shared the lead after 69s in round one, struggled in the second round, both shooting 76 and flirting with the cut line. Both, however, made it with a shot to spare.
The other round one leader, Colt McNealy (Portola Valley, CA) was not so lucky, shooting 80 and falling outside the top 32.
The cutoff for the top 32 came at 2-over 146, and 35 players shot that score or better, necessitating an 8-for-5 playoff to complete the match play bracket.
Dan Sullivan (Pasadena, CA), last year's SCGA Mid-Amateur champion and a U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinalist two years running, was one of the five players making it through the playoff.
Among those eliminated in the playoff was the 1994 champion Steve Woods (Campbell, CA), which guarantees that the champion this week will be a first-timer. Woods was the only former champion in the field.
In the North/South Challenge, in which teams of six players from the NCGA and SCGA battle for the Roger Lapham Trophy, the NCGA claimed the trophy with a narrow three-shot win over the SCGA, 731-734. Both teams took 367 shots in the best-five-scores-out-of-six-players format on the second day of qualifying after the NCGA had taken a 364-367 lead after day one.
The tournament continues with the first round of match play on Wednesday.