George Cunningham enjoys four shot lead at North and South

PINEHURST, NC (6-30-2015) – George Cunningham of Tucson, AZ continued his steady golf on his way to the lead in the 115th North and South Amateur Championship on Tuesday at historic Pinehurst No. 2. After a run of four birdies on five holes left him even for yesterday’s round and in second place, Cunningham carded four more birdies today to finish with a 1-under 69 and a four-shot lead over second place finisher Clark Engle of Springfield, Ohio. Cunningham, a rising sophomore from the University of Arizona, had a day that was similar to his first round. Yesterday he had a dreaded bogey run that lasted through Nos. 15, 16 and 17. Today he repeated that streak with bogeys on Nos. 11, 12 and 13 before finishing the last five holes with pars. He is the only one after two rounds who stands below par at 1-under. Engle seemed to have the hottest round of the day, finishing with a 5-under 65 after he eagled the first. He had two bogeys during the round, but the five birdies he posted helped him leap half the field to reach second place. Yesterday’s leader, Chad Merzbacher, had a difficult day that included two double bogeys on the front side on Nos. 2 and 7 that led to a 9-over 79, a ten stroke difference from round one. He is currently 8-over and tied for 15th place. There will be one more round to stroke play with the top 16 scores continuing to the match play rounds.