Kyler Dunkle from The Club at Pradera is in full birdie barrage mode.
The 2016 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year made nine birdies on Friday at the CGA Amateur, giving him a remarkable 19 for two rounds at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver. To put that into perspective, the next-highest total to this point is a dozen.
And 3s are clearly wild for the University of Utah golfer, who has carded 20 of them in 36 holes.
Most importantly, Dunkle’s 6-under-par 64 on Friday gave the 21-year-old a two-stroke lead at the midway point of the CGA Amateur, one of the oldest and most prestigious golf championships in Colorado.
Dunkle, who finished ninth and claimed low-amateur honors in the CoBank Colorado Open on Sunday, sits at 11-under-par 129. On Friday, the 2018 U.S. Amateur qualifier had a bogey and a double bogey in addition to his nine birdies.
Chris Korte of Littleton, winner of the 2015 CGA Amateur and the 2017 CGA Match Play, backed up his first-round 65 with a 66 on Friday and trails Dunkle by two. The former University of Denver golfer, who placed 22th against a formidable field last week at the Pacific Coast Amateur in San Francisco, carded an eagle, three birdies and one bogey on Friday. That one bogey — which came on No. 7 Friday — is Korte’s only one in 36 holes.
University of Northern Colorado golfer Coby Welch, from The Links Golf Course, stands at 132. Welch, who like Dunkle has qualified for the U.S. Amateur, fired a bogey-free 65 on Friday that included five birdies.
Tyler Zhang of Lone Tree Golf Club is in fourth place at 135 after a 67. Sharing fifth at 136 are first-round leader and 2016 champion Colin Prater of The Broadmoor Golf Club (73 Friday) and Dominic Kieffer of Collindale Golf Course (69).
The field was cut from 84 to the low 40 players and ties after Friday’s second round, with the 42 players at 148 or better advancing to the weekend.
The 72-hole championship will continue through Sunday.
For scores from the CGA Amateur, CLICK HERE.
For Saturday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.
