Griffin makes up ground at Western
BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Western Amateur Championship | Round Two | 01 Aug 2008
Australia’s Matthew Griffin fired a second round 2-under-par 68 to survive the second round cut at the Western Amateur being played in Michigan.
Danny Lee from New Zealand is currently at 3-under-par and in T5 following rounds of 68-69 to be the best Australasian and joins countryman James Gill (1-over-par) and Australia’s Jason Scrivener (1-over-par) to make the plus-2 cut.
Matt Griffin Audio Interview
“This is a really tough tournament,” said Griffin with rounds of 71-68 to be at 1-under-par for the tournament and four strokes inside the cut.
“I was under the pump coming in and was right on the cut mark after having a double on the 13th. I was able to birdie the next and the last to get inside and make it. There are opportunities to score well out there and this is one of the best courses we play on, but you have to have you game on to do well.”
Danny Lee’s second round 68 was a mixed bag with the world number four countering his four bogeys with five birdies, to remain only three from the leaders, Americans Kyle Stanley and Philip Francis, who are tied at 6-under-par.
“The way that I played today was a little disappointing,” said Lee.
“It was playing much easier than yesterday but I just missed some putts and got into trouble a few times. I’m happy with where I’m placed and really enjoying the tournament. Tomorrow we will see, but I need to putt better to play well.”
Co-leader Francis is playing this week well above his 213rd world ranking and continues with his fine run of form when only three weeks ago he was four shots off the lead through three rounds at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic and eventually went onto finish tied for 34th. Francis’ best amateur finish to date is a T10 at the 2008 Northeast Amateur, although he won an international junior event in Japan in 2006.
Stanley, ranked 5th in the world, sank a long birdie putt to win a three-man playoff at the Southern Amateur two weeks ago and qualified for the 2008 US Open to miss the cut by just a stroke. He also was a member of the 2007 winning US Walker Cup team and had the best round today with a 7-under 63, while Francis shot 64.
It took a score of 2-over-par 142 to make the cut with eight players tying for 39th, including 2008 Northeast Amateur champion Brendan Gielow. The scoring average for the two rounds came in at 3-over par 73, a reflection of the difficulty the players are experiencing with the 6400 metre Point O’Woods layout.
Scott Arnold was unlucky to miss the cut finishing at 3-over-par, after a costly double bogey on the 493 yard, par 4 15th ruined his chances. Matthew Giles and Josh Younger finished the tournament at plus-5 and T63 position, whilst Rohan Blizard (7-over-par), Matt Jager (9-over-par), Ben Pisani (11-over-par) and Justin Roach (14-over-par) were well back in the field.
The field will play 36-holes tomorrow with the top 16 moving to the elimination match-play format starting Saturday.
