Patriot All-America: Wood grabs round 2 lead

Litchfield Park, Ariz. (Wednesday, December 30, 2015) – Adam Wood, from Duke University, posted a 1- under-70 and is the leader at 3-under thru two rounds at The Patriot All-America Invitational on the Gold Course at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Braden Thornberry, from University of Mississippi, was the biggest mover of the day, whose 4-under 67 jumped him 14 spots to second place.

Wood had an up-and-down round that included six birdies and five bogeys. He moved into a brief tie for first with opening round leader Federico Zucchetti after a birdie on the second. He would drop out of the lead after bogey on the next hole but moved into sole possession of first after a birdie at No. 4. Another bogey at No. 6 would drop him into a tie for the lead with Chris O’Neill. Both players birded the seventh and eighth before O’Neill’s bogey at No. 9 knocked him out of first. Wood bogeyed No. 10 to drop back into a tie with O’Neill.

O’Neill would again take the lead after his bogey- birdie- par stretch at Nos. 13-15 bettered Wood’s bogey- birdie-bogey stretch. O’Neill carded triple bogey at No. 16 to fall into a tie for third. Wood birdied No. 17 to move to 3-under for the tournament and in sole possession of first place.

“The front 9 was kind of up and down,” Wood said. “But on the back nine I made one too many bogeys. Bogeying a par 5 probably wasn’t according to plan. But I made a nice birdie there on 17 and a quality putt here on 18 to round it out. I probably made enough birdies to cancel out one too many mistakes but all- in- all, it was pretty solid and I’m pleased going into tomorrow.”

Starting the day T-16th after an opening round 2- over- par 73, Thornberry opened with bogey to drop to 3- over. A birdie at No. 6 helped move him back to even par for the round. Starting on No. 12, Thornberry birdied five of the next six holes, including four straight, to move to 3-under and into third place. After a bogey on 18, Thornberry wound up shooting 67 for the day and is two-under for the tournament, a stroke behind Wood

“I bogeyed the first hole so I was kind of off to a slow start,” said Thornberry. “Putts weren’t going in but I stayed patient and they started going in. Then I turned onto the back nine and made four birdies in a row so I really jumped my round going and I went from there.”

Meanwhile, first round leader Federico Zucchetti, who fired 68 on Tuesday, struggled to a 78 to drop to a tie for 12th. A quadruple bogey 9 on the par-5 fourth hole derailed the Italian, but he fought back with back-to- back birdies on the 6th and 7th to stay in the hunt before closing with 5 bogeys in the next 11 holes.

The third round will commence with a shotgun start at 11:00 am.