Round-up Day 2 - Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic
On day two, the leaderboard shifted a little but nothing could have over shadowed the heroic performance put up by Charlie Beljan.
Beljan shot a magnificent round of 64. His round included six birdies, two bogeys and two eagles, which saw him climb 12 places up the leaderboard to lead the field after 36 holes.
Charlie battled shortness of breath, dizziness and numbness in his arms to fight his way and card an eight-under 64. This was his second best round of the year.
The world number 351 desperately needs a top-three finish to climb inside the top-125 positions on the money tour list. Earlier he was at 139th.
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic is the last tournament of the calendar and he is very nicely poised for a decent finish, which is subject to his health condition, of course.
Beljan was taken to hospital right after his round. The moment he entered the scoreboard area, the medics took him towards the ambulance on a stretcher.
During the round, as well, he took many breaks, sitting down on numerous occasions to catch some breath.
"I think he was scared," said his caddie, Rick Adcox. "He kept saying he thought he was going to die. He just had that feeling. I don't know why. But it was spooky".
Considering his health and the pressure he was in to make a good round, this is a mammoth effort by the American.
"I thought a lot of times he was going to stop," Adcox said. "I didn't even think he was going to start. He asked me to go find a doctor at the beginning, and I did. The paramedics ... were on No. 10 waiting on him. Blood pressure wasn't good then. For him
to go on, that was pretty much his decision".
Though Beljan leads the tournament by three strokes, all is still to play. There are seven players standing on T2, including the overnights leader Charlie Wi.
The Australian Matt Jones made the big jump on Friday, climbing up 46 places after he bounced from his first round of 71 to shoot a 64 on Friday.
He is tied at T2 along with Charlie Wi, Ryauji Imada and others. Japanese Ryuji Imada also improved from his first round to shoot a 66. He too is tied on T2 along many others.
Imada is just three strokes behind and another decent round on Saturday will surely put him in contention on Sunday.
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