Mid-Atlantic Am: Scheffres leads

Joe Scheffres of Woodmont Country Club and Bethesda, MD dismantled the vaunted East Course at the Baltimore Country Club with a 31-32 seven-under par 63 in the second round of the 106th Middle Atlantic Amateur. Combined with his first round 71, Scheffres stood at six-under par 134, four shots clear of first-round co-leader Ryan McCarthy, and five shots ahead of the trio of Brett Williams (70-69), Matt Bassler (71-68) and Andrew Rice (67-72), all at 139. Travor Randolph recorded a superb 67 to jump over more than 20 players and land in sixth place at even par 140. Scheffres raced out of the gate with five birdies on the first seven holes and suffered his only bogey on the daunting uphill par 3 ninth. He added birdies on holes 10, 13, 14 and 15 before closing with a wild and crazy par after a muffed drive on the 18th. In addition to the subpar rounds by Scheffres, Williams, Bassler and Randolph, Matthew Finger had a 34-34-68 along with 74 for 142 while David Dengler recovered from an opening 78 to post a four-under par 66 with nines of 33 and 33 for a 36-hole total of 144.