Pratt moves with 66 at Southern Am
BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2010 Southern Amateur Championship | Round Two | 16 Jul 2010
Kieran Pratt fired a second round 6-under-par 66 to move into 4th position at the Southern Amateur Championship being played at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Alabama.
The three-time winner on the 2010 Australian amateur circuit opened with a 1-under-par, 71, and is currently at 7-under-par for the tournament, three strokes behind current leader, Patrick Cantlay, after the American fired rounds of 66-68 to be at 10-under-par.
Pratt came out of the blocks firing today with an opening nine of 5-under-par, 31, and completed his card with a total of five birdies and an eagle. The only blemish to his round was a bogey on the 536 yard 17th, considered by many as a birdie opportunity hole. The fine round elevated Pratt twenty places on the field from his overnight tied 24th position.
Since arriving in the US this season Pratt has experienced mixed results with a tied 36th finish last week at the Players Amateur and a tied 29th at the Dogwood Invitational.
Pratt’s form is certainly there as his recent results in the British Amateur reflect what the world number 19 and Australia’s number 2 ranked player can produce. Pratt finished 11th in the British Amateur stroke qualification and went onto make the top-32 of the match-play draw of the Championship at Muirfield Golf Club in Scotland.
Luke Bleumink is the next best of the Aussies at the Southern Amateur after the Victorian fired rounds of 70-69, to be at 3-under-par and in a tie for 9th position.
Ryan McCarthy and Bryden Macpherson had stellar second rounds of 68’s respectively, moving the pair thirty places up on the field after they both opened with even-par rounds of 72. They are currently in a tie for 17th position, six behind the leader.
Jordan Sherratt fired rounds of 72-69 to be in a tie for 24th position at 3-under-par, a stroke ahead of Kalem Richardson after the Tasmanian opened with rounds of 73-69.
Daniel Beckmann, who fired an opening round of 4-under-par, 68, to be in 4th position overnight, moved down the leader board after a second round 2-over-par 74 and is currently in a tie for 28th position.
Jason Scrivener was the last of the Australians to make the 36-hole cut, firing rounds of 72-73 to finish right on the cut mark of plus-1.
Tim Hart was unlucky to miss the third round, finishing a stroke short of the cut at plus-2 after rounds of 71-75. Brendan Smith experienced a tournament he would rather forget, opening with a 84 and then following that with a second round 75, to finish well down the field.
The day’s low round went to American Bud Cauley, runner-up at this year’s Master of the Amateurs in Melbourne, with an impressive 8-under-par 64 to have the world number 9 tied with Pratt at 7-under-par and three from the lead.
