Curtis Thompson grabs Dixie Amateur Golf Tournament lead

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.—Curtis Thompson of Coral Springs , Fla. , posted a second straight 3-under 69 on Tuesday to take a one-shot lead over four other players into Wednesday’s third round of the Dixie Amateur.

Pursuing Thompson, a freshman at Louisiana State University who turned 19 on Dec. 12, are Derek Ernst (67-72) of Clovis , Calif. , Motin Yeung (68-71) of Orlando , Fla. , Tom Lovelady (68-71) of Birmingham , Ala. , and Wesley Graham (69-70) of Port Orange , Fla.

First-round leader Sebastian Pinzon of Bogota , Colombia , who shot a 9-under 63 Monday, posted a disappointing 81, dropping into a tie for 37th place.

Eighty players survived the 36-hole cut, which came at 4-over 147. The first two rounds were played under warm, sunny and breezy conditions at Heron Bay Golf Club (par 72, 7,122 yards) and the East Course at Woodlands Country Club (par 71, 6,827 yards). The final two rounds will take place at Heron Bay .

Thompson is the brother of Lexi Thompson, 16, who last week became the youngest winner on the women’s European Tour. In August, she claimed the same distinction on the LPGA tour.

More than two dozen of the top 500 amateurs in the world, according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking, were in the 240-man field competing in the 81st edition of the historic tournament. Of the leaders, Thompson is ranked 263rd in the world while Ernst is 11th and Yeung is 202nd . Competitors from 19 countries and 32 U.S. states were registered for the championship, which is one of the amateurgolf.com "Majors of Amateur Golf".