A relative local reached the top of the leaderboard in the second round with one of six red rounds. Davis Thompson, a University of Georgia sophomore who hails from St. Simons, Ga., (just down the Georgia coast), had 2-under 70 to reach 2 under for the tournament. He is tied with Akshay Bhatia, the top-ranked junior in the nation, who had identical rounds of 72-70.
Thompson, who was 15th here a year ago, played a full summer amateur schedule. One of his better finishes came not too far from this week’s venue. He was 35th at the Players Amateur at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, S.C.
As for Bhatia, the past year has been a matter of piling up the wins. The notable ones (Rolex Tournament of Champions, Junior PGA Championship, Polo Golf Junior Classic, Junior Invitational at Sage Valley) have been in fields of juniors only.
The 17-year-old from Wake Forest, N.C., the only junior golfer invited to a December practice session for Walker Cup hopefuls, would kick that trend if he could finish on top of the Jones Cup on Sunday.
First-round leader Will Grimmer fell to a tie for third with Alex Fitzpatrick, the U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist and a freshman at Wake Forest. Grimmer, an Ohio State senior, had too many bogeys on Saturday and fell from his opening 68 to a second-round 75.
Fitzpatrick, the Englishman, went the other way. He logged six birdies in his 69, which was five shots better than Friday’s 74.
Chandler Eaton and Stephen Franken are tied for fifth at even par. Defending champion Garrett Barber, an LSU freshman, is tied for ninth at 3 over.
There are nine mid-amateurs in the field, and among those men, Joseph Deraney occupies the best position on the leaderboard. The reigning Canadian Mid-Amateur champion is T-15 after rounds of 72-77.
