Curtis Thompson takes second position after round one of the 2012 Dixie Amateur
Curtis Thompson fired a six-under par 66, in the opening round of the 2012 Dixie Amateur, to take the second position on the leaderboard, on Tuesday, December 18, 2012.
The tournament is being staged at Heron Bay in Coral Springs, featuring top-notch amateurs from the region.
Thompson, who won the 2011 edition of the tournament, remained bogey-free throughout the day and showed his intentions to try for his successful title defence in Coral Springs.
Daniel Berger, a 19-year-old sophomore at Florida State, led the charge after carding a career-best nine-under par 63.
Last year, he was the same person who finished one stroke behind Thompson to finish second on the leaderboard. This year, he is hoping to go one spot better, by maintaining consistency in his game.
Talking to The Miami Herald after finishing his round, Thompson expressed his pleasure in posting a decent score.
In the meantime, he also praised the way Berger played and surpassed him on the leaderboard.
“I played bogey-free,” Thompson said, “but he just flat-out beat me today”.
According to him, Berger has the ability to hit the fairways on regular basis because of his brilliant game off the tee.
He also lauded Berger’s commitment to bring improvements in his game in the last two years.
“With me, I hit it as hard as I can, and it goes where it goes,” Thompson said. “Daniel is nothing flashy but very consistent — fairway, green, and make a putt. And it goes pretty far for how straight he hits it. He’s come a long way the past couple of years”.
Berger, in the meantime, admitted that he will have to work really hard in order to retain the top spot on the leaderboard.
Apart from his second-place finish at the 2011 Dixie Amateur, he also finished seventh at the ACC championships and took the 21st spot on the leaderboard at the NCAA finals in 2011. This week, he hopes to record the first amateur title victory of his career.
“It won’t be easy – I have to grind for three more days,” Berger said. “But it would mean a lot because of how close I came last year”.
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