SNOW HILL — Mark Silvers shot Day 2’s lowest round at the Cutter Creek Golf Classic on Friday, a 7-under 65 to jump up 37 spots for a share of the lead. He sits atop the leaderboard at 8-under — 136 for the tournament — alongside Ben Klaus and Kevin Hall.
Klaus has posted back-to-back 4-under 68s and Hall boasted a 6-under 66 to share the lead.
With the field cut at 1-under, 64 of the 134 golfers who entered the NGA event at Cutter Creek Golf Club are expected to tee off today.
Clayton Rask, who shot a Round 1-best 66 on Thursday, shot a 2-over 75 to fall to a 10-way tie for 28th position. Brandon Brown, who tied a course record 9-under, 63 en route to winning the 2011 Classic, is sitting at 3-under for the tournament as well.
Also tied for 28th is Blayne Barber, who posted a reversal of Rask’s scores. He recovered from a Day 1 75 by posting a 6-under on Friday.
“I’ve been really close for the last few weeks and I just finally got some putts to go in the hole today,” Barber said. “(The course) is really tough, the greens are really fast. It’s a good challenge out there; you’ve got to play really smart.”
He added the big turnaround leaves him optimistic for finishing the tournament.
“I brought myself back into contention,” he said. “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and we’ll see what happens this week.”
Cutter Creek Director of Golf Burt Williams agreed that the greens are beginning to play tough. Although it rained Tuesday night he said it didn’t do a lot to slow them down.
“The greens are drying out, so we’re double cutting them at night and then again in the morning,” Williams said. “They’re very quick.”
He added that as the course has matured it has also provided a bigger challenge to the golfers.
“(Friday) morning the course played tough because the wind was blowing, it was pretty gusty,” he said. “I think we’re going to end up seeing 10 to 12(-under par) to win.”
Rhein Gibson, the tournaments defending champion, finished his attempt at defending by posting a two-day even par, missing the cut. Lucas Black posted an even par 72 on Friday but could not recover from a 9-over on Day 1 of the tournament. The actor-turned-golfer, who was participating in his first professional event, finished tied for 115th place.
Round 3 of the Cutter Creek Golf Classic tees off today at 7:30 a.m. Admission to the event is free.
Leaderboard
Cutter Creek Classic
At Cutter Creek Golf Club, Snow Hill
Purse: $150,000
Yardage: 7,280
Par: 72
Second round
T1. Mark Silvers 71-65—136 -8
T1. Ben Klaus 68-68—136 -8
T1. Kevin Hall 70-66—136 -8
T1. Matt Hendrix 70-66—136 -8
T5. Jesse Hutchins 68-69—137 -7
T5. Hunter Green 69-68—137 -7
T7. Adam Hart 68-70—138 -6
T7. Travis Hampshire 69-69—138 -6
T9. Adam Hogue 67-72—139 -5
T9. Ben Silverman 71-68—139 -5
T9. Travis Bertoni 68-71—139 -5
T9. Ted Smith 70-69—139 -5
T9. Chris Wolfe 69-70—139 -5
T9. Ken Looper 69-70—139 -5
T9. Collin Neman 68-71—139 -5
T9. Mitchell Gregson 69-70—139 -5
T9. Eric Axley 69-70—139 -5