Three tied for second round lead in Korn Ferry Tour Qualifier at Dayton Valley
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 8:00am
DAYTON — First round leader Sklyer Finnell, Santa Fe, Calif. carded a 3-under 66 in the second round for an 11-under 133 total at the halfway point to maintain a share of the lead. He was joined atop the leaderboard by Gregory Moss, Sherman Oaks, Calif. with the low second round of 6-under 66 and David Bradshaw, Harpers Ferry, W.Va. who carded a 5-under 67.
JooHyung “Tom” Kim, Republic of Korea, fired a second 5-under 67 and is one shot back at 10-under 134. Li Wang, Seattle, Wash. is another shot back at 9-under 135 after a 3-under 69. James Holley, Howell, Mich. with a 2-under 70 and Gunnar Wiebe, Sherman Oaks, Calif. who carded a 5-under 67 are tied for sixth at 8-under 136.
“I’m keeping my head above water,” said Finnell who opened with a sensational 8-under 64. “I played a pretty solid round overall but I made a couple of bogeys today and that’s going to happen on this kind of course.”
“For certain I am playing the last two rounds to win the qualifier,” he smiled. “I know that if I win, I’ll be able to qualify.”
Wiebe, son of PGA and Champions Tour star Mark Wiebe, is making a comeback of sorts in his fifth Dayton Q-school after five years away from the game.
“I was injured in a bad accident and was struggling to play,” he explained. “I became disgruntled and just didn’t want to play so I went to work. I had all kinds of jobs, but I spent the last three years as an assistant pro at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles.”
“That experience renewed my desire to get back into the game on a different level,” he continued. “I won the National Assistant Professional Championship last year and it convinced me I could still play but with a total change of attitude.”
“I give my wife a lot of credit for helping me look at this process in an entirely different way,” he said. “We talked it over and decided now is the time to give it another shot as there might not ever be another one. So here I am telling you I’m happy to have shot 67 today despite a double bogey on 16. It’s going to be fun to see where it goes from here.”
Thirty-three players in the field were under par in the relatively benign scoring conditions. There were an additional five players at even par and the total scoring average for the entire field went up over one stroke to 72.23 compared to 1.16 in the first round.
Former Nevada Wolf Pack golfer Kaleb Gorbahn, Smithers, BC, Can. shot a 2-over 74 for a 150 total that puts him 10 shots above the qualifying number.
The 20 low scores and ties after Friday’s final round of the 72-hole tournament will advance to Second Stage Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying at five sites in October. Players advancing to the second stage will play to make the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School Final where they will vie for a spot on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.
Go here for complete results and individual player scorecards.
