Round one of the 119th Indiana Amateur Championship at Purgatory Golf Club finished early Tuesday morning. Indiana University’s Mitch Davis, Valparaiso, held the first round lead after firing a bogey-free 65, carding seven birdies between holes five and 15. He grabbed a two shot lead heading into the second round.
“I hit a lot of quality golf shots. It wasn’t anything special,” Davis said. “I was hitting good approach shots in the right sections of the greens.”
Also in the mix was 2019 IHSAA golf state champion Nick Dentino, Carmel, who finished with a bogey-free 68. Dentino stuck it close on his first hole of the tournament and made birdie, and carried that momentum with him throughout the rest of his round.
“It’s important to put a par or even a birdie on the first hole because it gives you confidence going into the rest of the round,” Dentino said. “That’s what it did today and it helped out a lot.”
Last year’s State Amateur champion, Cole Bradley, West Lafayette, carded a 1-under, 71, in the first round of his attempt to defend his title. 2019 Indiana PGA Indianapolis Open winner Jack Sparrow, Floyds Knobs, carded a 71 of his own in the first round.
All but one group finished round one on Tuesday and scores were higher than they were during the opening round. Ben Hoagland, Evansville, carded a 3-under, 69 after a first round 70 and holds the outright, 36-hole lead at 5-under-par.
Although Mitch Davis faltered down the stretch on Tuesday, carding a 4-over, 76, he is tied for 10th heading into the third round and still in the hunt for the title.
The round of the day belonged to Vince Drahman, Indianapolis, who fired a 4-under, 68 and sits in a tie for 10th as well.
23 players are within five shots of the lead. After round two is officially complete, the field will be cut to the top 60 and ties with the expected cut at 9-over, 153.
The final group will finish their second round Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m. and the third round will begin at 9:30 a.m. The official cut and third round pairings will be announced after the completion of the second round on Wednesday morning.
Find the complete leaderboard at the Indiana Amateur Championship here: https://iga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/iga19/event/iga1937/contest/1/leaderboard.htm