Davenport, McKinney and Moldovan share lead at Southern Am

Old Waverly did not have much defense against some of the world’s top amateurs in the first round of the 115th Southern Amateur which got underway on Wednesday in West Point, Miss.

Sixty-two players in the field managed to break par in the first round, led by the trio of Connor McKinney, Reid Davenport and Maxwell Moldovan who share the lead after each carded 7-under rounds of 64.

Davenport, a senior at Vanderbilt, and McKinney, who is the reigning Australian Amateur champion, each had five birdies and an eagle on Wednesday enroute to an opening score of 64. Moldovan, who plays collegiately at Ohio State, more than kept pace with nine birdies which took the sting out of a pair of bogeys.

Four golfers -- Austin Fulton, Tommy Stephenson, Karl Vilips and Kieran Vincent – are one back at 4-under and a total of 28 players are within four shots of the lead heading into Thursday’s second round. Vilips, who plays collegiately at Stanford, is a past Southern Amateur champion, having won this tournament in 2017 as a 15-year-old.

The morning wave set the bar high for competition during round one!! Congratulations to our round one co-leaders, Reid Davenport, Connor McKinney, and Maxwell Moldovan who fired an impressive 7-under 64 for the day!👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Lf44BtLllQ

— Southern Golf Association (@sgagolf) July 15, 2021

One hundred and fifty-six top-ranked golfers, representing 33 states and six countries, are competing for the Championship title.

The greatest amateur of them all, Bobby Jones, won this tournament three times. Past champions of the Southern Amateur also include: Harris English, Kyle Stanley, Webb Simpson, Justin Leonard, Len Mattiace, Scott Dunlap, Steve Lowery, Mark Brooks, Bob Tway, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Rogers, Lanny Wadkins, Hubert Green, and Gay Brewer.