South Beach Int'l: Morris grabs lead

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2013) -- Waterbury, Connecticut native and University of Mississippi star Blake Morris followed up his 2 under par 68 at Normandy Shores Golf Club on Thursday with a 1 under par 70 today at the Miami Beach Golf Club to take a one stroke lead in the 2013 South Beach International Amateur. France’s Mathieu Decottignies one over par 71 at Normandy Shores was good enough to move him from 4th Texas Tech’s Corbin Kasten who both carded 69 today at the Miami Beach Golf Club. Virginia Tech star Bryce Chalkley of Richmond, Virginia shot 67 for the round of the day at Miami Beach. That score was good enough to move him to just 2 shots off the lead, tied with local star Kristian Caparros (68-NS), France’s Victor Perez of the University of New Mexico (71-NS)and first round co-leader Northwestern’s Andrew Whalen of Ephrata, Washington (74-MB). Arizona State’s Max Rottluff of Germany couldn’t have been too happy after shooting 79 at Miami Beach on Friday. But he is certainly relieved to be staying around for weekend play after rebounding with a 66, the best round at Normandy Shores, making the cut by three strokes at 4 over par. The cut at 6 over par (147) has 79 players set to play the final two rounds at Miami Beach Golf Club on Saturday and Sunday starting at 8:00am each day. The worldwide “Major” produced a final field which goes into the weekend with all players who made the cut within 9 shots of the lead to 2nd place along with England’s Greg Eason from Central Florida.