Bluffton, SC (July 12, 2019) – Stewart Hagestad’s second round 66 was good enough to hold the lead going into the third round of the 20th annual Players Amateur at Berkeley Hall Club.
The Newport Beach, CA native’s 2 round total was 17-under of the South Course. His morning started off slow with two bogeys through five holes, but just like Thursday, he caught fire on his last nine holes by carding seven birdies. With five strokes separating him from second place, the 28-year-old is ready for the competition to stay strong. “Everyone in the field is so good, everyone is so talented,” said Hagestad. “You look down the leaderboard and everyone is a total stud and they are going to play an awful lot of weekends in their future.”
One of those studs is Steven Fisk, the recent Georgia Southern graduate shot 66 on Thursday and Friday for a two-day 12-under total. His goal going into the weekend is to manage the golf course. “I am trying to get the easy holes and just trying to put the ball in the right spot on the greens to leave myself some good looks,” said Fisk after his round. Fisk, like Hagestad is hoping to make the Walker Cup team this year.
Three others are tied for third place at 11-under. Ohio State’s Will Grimmer shot a second round 66, University of Arizona’s David Laskin shot a 65 and Chun An “Kevin” Yu from Arizona State University shot a second round 67.
Yu has a special reason he wants to win the Players Amateur. He is good friends with defending RBC Heritage Champion C.T. Pan. Both are from Chinese Taipei and practiced together at this year’s U.S. Open. The winner of the Players Amateur is granted an exemption into the RBC Heritage, the PGA TOUR stop on Hilton Head Island each April. “I hope I can win it to play with him,” said Yu. “That opportunity would be really cool.”
The third round gets underway Saturday at 7:30 am at Berkeley Hall Golf Club. Admission is free and the tournament is open to the public.