ATLANTA, GA (June 28, 2017) - Play at the Dogwood Invitational began on Wednesday and low scoring seems to be the theme for this week. Over eight inches of rain fell in the Atlanta area over the last few weeks, inciting worry over the condition of the host track, Druid Hills. Thankfully for our players, a subsequent streak of good weather early this week has given the course some time to drain and dry out, creating a perfect balance of playability and generosity, with very receptive greens and fairways. The effect of these scoring conditions is shown on the leaderboard, with over half the field shooting even-par or better in Wednesday’s round.
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Lipcomb’s Dawson Armstrong seemed to navigate a marshy Druid Hills track with ease, carding six birdies before his only bogey would come on the par-4 15th. Dawson cleaned up his mistake by following with a birdie on the 16th, then proceeding to finish up with two pars to post 6-under-par for the day.
“From the beginning of the round, it was a little surreal being able to play with my two brothers, and I really had to learn how to get into my own zone, instead of worrying about other players,” offered Dawson to AmateurGolf.com reporter Kevin Cassidy of his unique pairing this morning, in which he was able to tee it up with his brothers, Dowling and Davis, who are also in the field this week in Atlanta.
ROUND 1 HIGHLIGHTS
Tied for second with Armstrong is Georgia native Ben Shipp and Argentinian Gaston Bertinotti, who got off to hot starts on Wednesday, firing 6-under-par rounds of their own.
Shipp, the NC State freshman also managed to make a total of seven birdies, with his lone bogey coming on the par-3 8th hole.
“Same as today,” replied Bertinotti of his plans going into Thursday. “Think the golf course is going to play tough and make as many birdies as I can, and less mistakes.” Bertinotti didn’t make too many mistakes to begin with in his afternoon round, only bogeying the 6th and the 10th holes. His highlight came with an eagle on the 9th, that propelled him to 5-under-par after his first nine holes.
Seventeen players are within three shots of our leader, and with rain as a possibility for Thursday’s round, anything should be expected from a talented field here in Atlanta.