The Las Vegas native teed off on No. 10 and fired two birdies against two bogeys on his front nine to make the turn at even for the day. He made four more birdies on the back nine to take a three-shot lead.
“It’s always good to make six birdies,” Exber smiled. “I had two mistakes, I bogeyed 17 and just missed the green a little bit and flubbed a chip. I three putted 18, that was very disappointing.”
“I played the front nine well, the front nine is a little easier than the back nine. But I haven’t made a bogey on the front yet, knock on wood,” added the 62-year-old.
Peter Detemple, who resides in Lexington Park, Md., but isw initially from Vancouver, moved one spot backard into second after sharing the first-round lead with Exber. Detemple carded another 71 to get to 2 under for the tournament.
Defending champion Gene Elliott is not too far behind after he fired a 3-under 69 to sit alone in third, just one stroke behind Detemple.
A total of 74 players finished a 156 or better to make the 36-hole cut. The third round will begin Thursday at 8 a.m. ADT.
The provincial team championship concluded Wednesday with British Columbia emerging as provincial team champions. The trio of Doug Roxburgh (Vancouver), John Gallacher (Burnaby, B.C.) and Al Jensen (Nanaimo, B.C.) posted a combined second-round score of 2-over-146 to capture the Phil Farley Trophy with a total of 9-over 297.
It was a close finish between British Columbia and Alberta, which was comprised of John Festival (Calgary), Brian Coston (Calgary) and Ken Griffith (Red Deer, Alta.). The Alberta trio, who are defending champions, finished a single-shot back of British Columbia, sharing runner-up honors with Quebec, comprised of Shawn Farrell (St-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que.), François Bissonnette (Mirabel, Que.) and Michel Roy (Québec, Que.). Alberta and Quebec finished with a total of 10-over-298.
“It’s great,” he said, “I just want to go out and play golf while representing B.C. and see how our team did, and now we have the individual side of it, and so we just keep plugging away.”
The Vancouver native leads the Super Senior division by five stokes after carding a 1-under 71 on Wednesday to sit 1 over for the tournament.
“I played fairly steady and missed a couple of short ones, but other than that you have to be pretty happy with it, I’ll take a 71,” Roxbugh laughed.
The 2014 Canadian Men’s Senior champion holds a five-shot lead on Lars Melander from Oakville, Ont. and Lance Lundy from Pemberton, B.C., who share second with a total score of 6-over 150.