Pevarnik called his second round "really solid golf.” He vaulted into the lead in Monday's opening round by holing out for eagle on the par-4 18th hole from 144 yards. He hit a punch 9-iron to keep it under the wind and, as he recalled, "heard it dunk." With that momentum on his side, he began Tuesday's round on the back nine of the classic A.W. Tillinghast design. After an opening par 3 at the 10th, he then made his second eagle in a span of three championship holes as he carded a 3 on the par-5 11th hole.
"Today's round was kind of boring," Pevarnik said, noting that after the early fireworks, he came in with 12 straight pars. That was quite the change from Monday, where he carded four birdies and an eagle on his way to the opening round score of 65.
"I hit it really well yesterday," Pevarnik remarked. "I got up and down on both No. 3 and No. 4 for par, and that kind of jump started my round. I built momentum all day and just played really well."
With the competitors fighting bouts of rain and then lightning over the two days of play, a significant portion of the field has yet to complete the second round. One of those who did, however, is defending champion J.D. Hughes. A senior at Penn State, Hughes followed up his opening round 66 with a second-round score of 71 and is 3 under, three shots behind Pevarnik.
Three other competitors completed their second round with a score under par for the championship - Mitch Mercer (-2), Connor Schmidt (-2) and Chuck Nettles (-1).
A trio of players with golf left to play in the second round are three shots off the lead. Anthony Sebastianelli is 4 under par through 13 holes in Round 2. Two-time past champion Nathan Smith is at 3 under, as is Daniel Thompson.
This is the first time the Pennsylvania Amateur has been held at Sunnehanna since 1955, when Oakmont's Fred Paine, Jr. defeated Tommy Smith in the finals of what was then a match-play competition.