Around the Green

Atkinson Maintains Lead at North Mid-Am

Atkinson Maintains Leads at North Mid-Amateur

Fort Worth – Zach Atkinson shot a 2-under-par, 68 to maintain his three shot advantage at the North Mid-Amateur at Diamond Oaks Country Club. Will Osborne continues to trail by three after shooting a 2-under-par as well.

Atkinson backed up his five under first round with a two under par, 68 after completion of the second round. The Colleyville native got off to another strong start by making birdie on holes three and five.  In addition to making birdie on those two holes in the second round, Atkinson made a birdie on both of them in the first round as well. Following the birdie on the fifth, Atkinson made pars coming in and then again on holes 10 and 11. His lone bogey of the day came on the par three 12^th when he failed to get up and down after missing the green right. A bounce-back birdie on the 14^th got him back to 2-under for the round.

For Atkinson, converting the 36-hole lead would reward him with his third North Mid-Amateur title in six years.  Atkinson won the championship in 2013 and 2015 at Trophy Club Country Club (Hogan Course).

Remaining just three back of Atkinson is Fort Worth’s Will Osborne. He too got off to a quick start with a birdie on the first. However, he surrendered it back on third hole. A birdie-bogey trade off on the fifth and sixth holes ultimately propelled him to a run of three-straight birdies on holes eight through ten. Osborne bogeyed the 15^th hole which resulted in him carding a 2-under, 68.

One of the low rounds of the day belonged to Lewisville’s Brad Gibson who shot a three under, 67 to jump him up to the final pairing for the last round. Gibson made six birdies on the day including five on the course’s front side, his back side for the round.

The low round of the day went to Chris Wheeler of Addison. Wheeler made a total of five birdies and a bogey which lead to a 4-under-par, 66.  Wheeler used moving day to his advantage, landing a starting time in the penultimate group.

In the Mid-Master Recognition, Aledo’s Wayne Wright shot a 3-under, 67 to skyrocket up the leaderboard. His second round total was seven strokes better than the first round which brought him to a 1-over-par total. Just a shot back from Wright is his Ridglea Country Club, club mate, Gary Ezmerlian. The Fort Worth resident shot a second round score of even par to maintain his 2-over-par total.

The Mid-Master Recognition is for players that are or over the age of 40 by the start of the first round. In addition to the title of Low Mid-Master, the title winner earns an exemption into the Texas Mid-Amateur to be contested at River Oak Country Club in Houston.

Tee times for the final round of the North Mid-Amateur will commence at 8:00 AM tomorrow off holes #1 and #10 tee.  Atkinson will look to convert his 36-hole lead into his third title starting at 9:57 am off the first tee. For more information and scores from the second round of the North Mid-Amateur, please click here