Harry Higgs leads after Day 1 at Kansas State Amateur

July 24, 2012|KWCH 12 Eyewitness Sports

NEWTON, Kan. — The 102nd Kansas Amateur Championship got underway Tuesday at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Newton.

Not surprisingly a player with recent success at the challenging Sand Creek Station course was the leader in the triple-digit Kansas heat at day's end. Southern Methodist golfer Harry Higgs shot a 6-under 66 in the first of two rounds of stroke play qualifying and is halfway to earning medalist honors before match play begins.

Overland Park's Higgs shot 69/73 to share the lead after two rounds and finished second at last month's Railer, Stroke Play Championship of Kansas held on the same Sand Creek Station layout. Tuesday morning, the 20-year-old Higgs opened with a 35 on the back nine and closed his round on Sand Creek Station's front side, shooting a 5-under 31 which included an eagle at the par-5 fourth and birdies on both par 3's.

"It really suits my eye. Today the wind was up but it was still pretty score-able. The course was in great shape. It's just kind of a tee shot golf course. You have to keep it in front of you; keep it in play and then you can go ahead and score from there today was a good putting day though. I made absolutely everything I looked at," said Higgs, a junior SMU sports management major who plays at Royal Oaks while in Dallas and at Overland Park's Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate. "At no. 4, the tee shot was kind of left to right and down (wind). I hit a good tee ball. I had 250 or so. The flag was on the right. I landed a hybrid just a little short and it ran up to about 10 feet below the hole and I made the putt. It was kind of a nice way kick start to my (second) nine."

Just one shot back of Higgs was Kansas State golfer Ben Juffer at 5-under 67. West Des Moines, Iowa's Juffer, who also played in the morning, had two birdies on the front nine and three more on the back during his bogey-free round.

At 2-under 70 was 2011 KGA junior player of the year Myles Miller of Wellington. Also in red figures at 1-under 71 were 2012 KGA Junior Amateur champion Travis Mays of Overland Park, Lawrence's Ryley Haas and Wichita's Charlie Ballard, each having played in the morning wave.

The 2011 Kansas Amateur champion, Oklahoma City, Okla.'s Hunter Sparks had a 1-over 73 Tuesday. Last year’s runner-up, Kyle Smell, a recent Kansas State grad out of Overland Park, shot 72. Smell had a 7-under 65 in the first round of qualifying last year at Hallbrook Country Club and went on to earn medalist honors and the top seed for match play.

The field faces the second of two rounds of stroke-play qualifying with tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. from Nos. 1 and 10 Wednesday to establish a 64-player bracket for match play. If a playoff is needed it will commence as soon as possible at the conclusion of round two.

Thirty-two first-round matches are to be played on Thursday. Second- and third-round matches are set for Friday with quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday. A 36-hole championship match is set for Sunday with 18 holes before and after the players' lunch.

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