>Thomas Walsh is only a few days removed from chasing the Players Amateur title – he came up fourth, six shots back – and now he’s at the top of the leaderboard again. Walsh called the Players Amateur a momentum-getter for the rest of his summer schedule. He has only had two bogeys in rounds of 69-65 to start the Porter Cup. At 6 under, he leads by one shot.
Wools-Cobb was the 2015 Mandurah Open Amateur winner. He finished T-6 at the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2017 and also made it to the third round of match play at the U.S. Amateur. Like Walsh, Wools-Cobb also shot up the Porter Cup leaderboard – to the tune of 14 spots.
A round of 4-under 66 also put Matt Parziale in the conversation. The 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, a firefighter in Brockton, Mass., is now part of a three-man tie for third at 4 under. That also includes Austin Hitt of Longwood, Fla., and Michael Mattiace of Jacksonville, Fla.
Other notable movers on Thursday included Scott Harvey, the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, who followed an opening 2-over 72 with a 66 on Thursday that included an eagle at the par-5 11th. He’s now in the top 10. Qi Wen Wong of Singapore had the round of the day, 63, and climbed into a tie for 30th.
Sam Meek, a Peterborough, Ontario native who plays for the University of Nevada, went 7 under on the back nine for a 28. It helped him get inside the top 20 to start the third round.
The two first-round leaders, Ben Schlottman and Ben Reichert, moved the wrong way in Round 2. Both started with rounds of 65, but Schlottman returned a 2-over 72 to fall into a tie for sixth and Reichert stumbled to 76, which left him T-26.
