Zach Atkinson is looking to go wire-to-wire on Sunday
(USGA Photo)
FORT WORTH, TX (March 24, 2018) - Zach Atkinson shot a two-under-par, 68 to maintain his three shot advantage at the Texas North Mid-Amateur at Diamond Oaks Country Club. Will Osborne continues to trail by three after shooting a two-under-par as well.
Atkinson backed up his five under first round with a two under par, 68 after completion of the second round. The Colleyville native got off to another strong start by birding holes three and five. In addition to birding those two holes in the second round, Atkinson made a birdie on both of them in the first round as well. Following the birdie on the fifth, Atkinson made pars coming in and then again on holes 10 and 11. His lone bogey of the day came on the par three 12th when he failed to get up and down after missing the green right. A bounce back birdie on the 14th got him back to two under for the round.
For Atkinson, converting the 36-hole lead would reward him with his third North Mid-Amateur title in six years. Atkinson won the championship in 2013 and 2015 at Trophy Club Country Club (Hogan Course).
Remaining just three back of Atkinson is Fort Worth’s Will Osborne. He too got off to a quick start with a birdie on the first. However, he surrendered it back on third hole. A birdie bogey trade off on the fifth and sixth hole ultimately propelled him to a run of three straight birdies on holes eight through ten. Osborne bogeyed the 15th hole which resulted in him carding a two under, 68.
One of the low rounds of the day belonged to Lewisville’s Brad Gibson who shot a three under, 67 to jump him up to the final pairing for the last round. Gibson made six birdies on the day including five on the course’s front side, his back. However, the low round of the day went to Chris Wheeler of Addison. Wheeler made a total of five birdies and a bogey which lead to a four-under-par, 66. Wheeler used moving day to his advantage, landing a starting time in the penultimate group.
In the Mid-Master Recognition, Aledo’s Wayne Wright shot a three under, 67 to skyrocket up the leaderboard. His second round total was seven strokes better than the first round which brought him to a one-over-par total. Just a shot back from Wright is his Ridglea Country Club, club mate, Gary Ezmerlian. The Fort Worth resident shot a second round score of even par to maintain his two-over-par total.
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ABOUT THE
Texas North Mid-Amateur
Eligibility: Entries are open to male amateur
golfers who are 25 years of age or older by the
tournament start date and residing in the
North Texas region as defined by the Texas
PGA Sections (North of 31 degree parallel,
Salado TX and north is break point).
Applicants must have a certified USGA
Handicap Index of 8.4 or less.
Format: 54 holes Stroke Play. No Cut.
Field limit: 84 players.
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