Saguaro Amateur: Daniel Connolly continues to lead

MARICOPA, AZ (January 3, 2017) -- For the second straight day Daniel Connolly is leading the way at the Saguaro Amateur hosted by the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club. Connolly moved to 9-under-par after the second round and he will begin Wednesday's final round as the two-stroke leader over Spencer Painton. Connolly, a freshman at SMU, followed up an opening day 6-under 66 with a 3-under 69 to maintain his two shot lead. The 2016 San Francisco City champion started his round on No. 10 and opened with a birdie before rolling in another four holes later to move to 8-under. Four straight pars followed setting the stage for some early second nine fireworks that saw Connolly attempt to pull away. First came a birdie on No. 1 and then two more birdies on Nos. 2 and 3 followed that pushed Connolly to 11-under. However, the bogey-free round would come to an end in somewhat surprising fashion as Connolly dropped shots on three of the next five holes to fall all the way back to 8-under. Despite the slip up Connolly was able to rebound and finish his round with a momentum building birdie on the closing hole, the 462 yard par-4 9th. Colorado junior Spencer Painton moved into second place with a 5-under 67 that matched the round of the day. Painton, 7-under, dropped a shot on No. 1 before kicking things into high gear midway through the side with three straight birdies from Nos. 4-6 and then an eagle on the 7th that brought him to 7-under. Heading for home Painton did cool off a bit as he birdied three-times but also bogeyed three-times for an even-par side. Painton will be playing in the final group alongside Connolly on Wednesday. Marty Sanchez and Tanner Hughes (California) are tied for third at 5-under while Zach Smith, Corey Shaun and Jake Staiano are tied for fifth at 4-under.