Zhang, Hillier go low to share Players Am lead

BLUFFTON, S.C. (July 13, 2018) – It’s 90 degrees and feels like 103 at Berkeley Hall Club, but the scores keep dropping. After 36 holes at the prestigious invitation-only event in the Lowcountry, Daniel Hillier and Andy Zhang are tied for the lead at 10 under. The round of the day belonged to Zhang. An 8-under 63 rocketed the Florida sophomore-to-be up the leaderboard and into a share of the lead. So far this summer, Zhang, who is coming off a college season in which he led Gator scoring and won twice, has finished T-21 at the Northeast Amateur and T-6 at the Sunnehanna Amateur. For his part, Hillier has been the most consistent player through two rounds. His second-round 67 followed a first-round 65. He has made only two bogeys in 36 holes. The New Zealander, who plays a worldwide schedule, tied for 7th at the European Amateur last month and made match play at the British Amateur before that. Berkeley Hall played nearly one shot easier on Friday than it did on Thursday. Thirty-seven of the 80 players in the field are under par for the week. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the second round was that first-round leader Luke Schniederjans faded away. The Georgia Tech player was 3 over in his first nine holes and could only manage a 1-over 72 for the day. It dropped him to 7 under for the tournament and into a share of fourth. Georgia sophomore Davis Thompson, Clemson senior Bryson Nimmer (who was runner-up here a year ago) and Brandon Mancheno, the Auburn sophomore who won medalist honors at the 2015 U.S. Junior, are also on that number. Will Grimmer leads a pack of five players tied for eighth. Grimmer, the incoming Ohio State senior who played in the 2014 and ’18 U.S. Opens, eagled the par-5 second on Friday. He had four other birdies in a round of 4-under 67.