Fiese Leaves The Field Behind

Mint Hill, NC- Doug Fiese backed up his opening round 65 with a blistering second round 62 at the Tarheel Tour’s Olde Sycamore Open on Thursday and now takes a five-shot lead into tomorrow’s final round.

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Fiese, a native of Smyrna, GA, got off to a rough start making a par at the reachable par-5 first followed by his second bogey on the short par-4 second in as many days. The bogey seemed to motivate Fiese as he proceeded to birdie 11 of his final 16-holes to finish with his 10-under par second round score. Fiese now sits at a whopping 17-under par after two rounds and heads to the final round with the largest 36-hole lead in the history of the tour. The 17-under par total for two days is also a Tarheel Tour record. Fiese seems to be a near lock to better the existing 54-hole record total of 20-under par, set only one week ago at the Southern Open by South African Shaun Norris.

The one record that Fiese does not hold after the second round at Olde Sycamore Golf Club is the course record. That belongs to 2006 Rock Hill Open champion, Alex Hamilton. The Aiken, SC native lit up the Tom Jackson design opening his day by needing only 29-shots to complete the front nine. Hamilton kept his foot on the gas after making the turn, firing a closing nine 32 to finish off his record setting round of 61. Hamilton now heads into the final round alone in second place, seemingly the only player who has a chance to catch Fiese in Friday’s final round.

Recent Vanderbilt alumnus, Luke List heads a group of three players tied for third a distant 8-shots behind Fiese. The former Masters and U.S.Open participant has made a sparkling debut on the Tarheel Tour, opening with rounds of 67-68. The former U.S. Amateur runner up sits at 9-under par and looks to begin his professional career with a top-5 finish this week.

Tied with List at 9-under par are Alabama natives Reid Edstrom and Chip Deason. Edstrom continued his strong play of late making 6-birdies en route to a second round 67. Deason, made eight birdies on Thursday to go with two bogies. His round of 66 is his lowest in his short Tarheel Tour career.

The cut fell at 2-under par 142 with 47 golfers making the cut. The total purse this week is $95,000, with the winner taking home $15,000. The final round will begin at 8:00 AM with the leaders teeing off at 10:30. As always, the public is welcome to watch the future stars of the PGA Tour free of charge.