“Pretty dang lucky,” Fulmer said of his first round. “I didn’t get in any crap (Midland CC’s native grass) in the practice round and then today I got in some crap and was able to save bogey like three times. I got out of the crap, learned about the crap, and then saved bogey.”
Vinar jumped out to a hot start in route to his 69 as the leader of the morning wave. He made the turn at 3-under before finishing with a clean even par back nine.
“I was very pleased. My ball striking today was awesome,” Vinar said. “I hit 16 greens and kept the ball in front of me. It was fun to be out here. Got my dad on the bag, which probably hasn’t happened since high school golf. It was fun. I had a blast.”
Sitting one shot back of the leaders are five players in a tie for fourth at 2-under. Two Midland Country Club members are included in the log jam. Lane Branum and past champion Terence Begnel had impressive showings on their home course. Each of them had four birdies and will look to continue their strong play this weekend.
“It’s fantastic and what I was hoping for,” Branum said of how he felt after the round. “Didn’t play the back side like I wanted to but kept the round together. The front side was fantastic. I couldn’t ask for a better start.”
Also included in the group tied for fourth are Seminole’s Brady Shivers, El Paso’s Hee Beom Kim, and Argyle’s Marcus Jones.
Two shots back of the lead in a five-way tie for ninth are Dallas’ Scott Maurer, Abilene’s Trey Todd, Tyler’s Clay Hodge, Fort Worth’s Cole Wiederkehr, and Ryan Zamorano of Dallas. Hodge, who won the 2013 Texas Mid-Am, was 3-over through eight holes but fought back to go 4-under in his final ten holes. An eagle on the par-5 12th hole highlighted his round.
Six more players sit in a tie for 14th after rounds of even-par including two-time champion (2017 & 2018) Colby Harwell.