Entering play on Sunday, Jackson, who earned medalist honors for the second time in a USGA event, was even-par following a 71 the day before. Starting on the homeward nine, Jackson kick started his round with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 to quickly reach red figures. One more birdie for the two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion pushed the tally to 3- under at the turn.
On his second nine, Jackson rolled in a 40-foot birdie on the 5th and then moved to 5-under with another birdie a hole later. Jackson did give one- stroke back on his final hole.
"Well, you beat everybody; you get a medal, so it means something. Other than that, I don't think it means that much,” Jackson said. “How many times have you seen the 64 seed beat the 1 seed? It happens a lot. You put that out of your mind tomorrow and warm up on the range the way you always warm up."
Jackson will be play No. 64 John Madden in the Round of 64.
First round co-leaders Joe Russo and Randal Lewis finished second at 2-under. After a first round 3- under 68, Lewis reached 4-under with a birdie on the 6th but three bogeys and only one other bogey prevented the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur winner from making a medalist run.
Russo also reached 4-under, however bogeys on the 11th and 13th holes dropped him off the pace. For the day Russo birdied two and bogeyed three.
"I haven't been in this position before where I'm near the top, trying to be the medalist,” Russo said. “I thought my nerves were worse today than yesterday."
The only two other players in red figures were Tim Sheppard and Randy Haag at 1-under and tied for fourth.
Defending champion Chip Lutz responded as a champion would be expected to during the final day of stroke-play qualifying. After the first day, Lutz was 6- over and outside the cutline in a tie for 81st. On Sunday Lutz bounced back with a 1-over 72 to finish 7-over and in a tie for 41st.
Beginning on Monday play will move to match play with the Round of 64 to be followed by the Rounds of 32 and 16 on Tuesday. On Wednesday it will be the quarterfinals and semifinals before the title match is played Thursday.
NOTABLE PLAYERS TO MISS CUTBob Kearney Stanford Lee Michael Mercier
-The USGA contributed to this story