The competitive course record, posted 364 days ago by eventual champion Weston Payne at the tournament’s inaugural event, was in dire jeopardy.
Dobson punished the par-5s, birdieing the remaining four on the course following the introductory eagle. And just like Payne’s round almost exactly one year ago, Dobson’s near-perfect day featured no bogeys. But the Stanford commit admits he left a few extra red numbers out there.
“The longest putt I made all day was four feet, so I was just sticking it,” Dobson said. “I had three putts from eight feet lip out.”
So it was fitting, then, that his record-sealing putt on 18, after navigating a tricky greenside bunker, lipped in on the left edge to confirm the 10-under 62.
Dobson’s playing partner and fellow high school class of 2022 graduate Cameron Keith chipped in for eagle at 18 to jump into solo second place at 5-under. Keith, a commit to Dartmouth University who plays for De La Salle High School in Concord, birdied his first three holes of the day but fell quickly back to even through seven.
The closing eagle means he’ll play again with Dobson in Sunday’s final round, leapfrogging over a half dozen players tied for third at 4-under.
One of those six is mid-amateur leader Nate Jetter who birdied six of his last seven to post 68. He leads Rob McLaren and Matthew Lehman by four.
In the Senior Division, Michael Staskus also went bogey-free but didn’t circle nearly as many numbers on his scorecard. The 2021 Christmas Classic Senior winner birdied one and 18 to bookend his opening round nicely. Tony Ralph is alone in second at 2-under 70 followed by a trio of 71s – Richard Maxwell, Greg Langford, and Daniel O’Connor.
Michael Wishart leads the Super Seniors by one at 75 over Tom Pera.