Next month Patrick Rodgers will begin his college golf career at Stanford University, but this week Rodgers is playing against some of the top amateurs from around the world at the Belfair Players Amateur in Bluffton, S.C. The recent high school graduate enters Saturday’s third round tied for ninth, five shots behind leader Corbin Mills of Clemson University.
Fellow competitor Conrad Ray will most likely be carefully following the progress of the young Indiana native in the Hilton Head-area tournament. Ray, who will have to pick up his play to make the final cut after Saturday’s round, is the golf coach at Stanford. Rodgers' future teammate Andrew Yun, a PING First Team All-American and Stanford sophomore, is also in the field and trails Rodgers by one stroke after two rounds.
Traveling with his son to Belfair this week is Charlie Rodgers who said both father and son are enjoying their time in South Carolina, where 75 amateur golfers from as far away as Australia are heating up Belfair’s West Course.
This is Rodgers’ first time at the Players Amateur and the senior Rodgers said they had both heard great things about the tournament and the course before making the trip. Patrick Rodgers has been traveling to as many tournaments as possible this spring and summer before he heads off to college in the fall.
Currently ranked as the 11th best amateur in the world based on the WAGR ( World Amateur Golf Ranking), Rodgers is a two-time AJGA All-American and two-time Academic All-American. He won the 2010 Western Junior, finished second at the Terra Cotta Amateur, third at the Jones Cup and fourth at the Northeast Amateur this year.
Saturday, however, Rodgers will be trying to catch or pass a trio of Australian golfers, a South Korean and players from Clemson University, the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Florida State, Northwestern, the University of California and Georgia Tech.
Belfair Players Amateur Second Round Leaders
1 Corbin Mills, Clemson University 67-69–136 (-8)2 Kalem Richardson, Launceston, AUS 68-69–137 (-7)T3 Eric Chun, Northwestern University 68-70–138 (-6)Kramer Hickok, University of Texas 70-68–138 (-6)T5 Max Homa, University of California 69-70–139 (-5)Jordan Russell, Texas A&M 71-68–139 (-5)T7 James White, Georgia Tech 71-69–140 (-4)Todd Sinnott, Essendon, AUS 69-71–140 (-4)T9 Brooks Koepka, Florida State University 72-69–141 (-3)Byeong-Hun An, Seoul, South Korea 73-68–141 (-3)Cameron Smith, Brisbane, AUS 69-72–141 (-3)Patrick Rodgers, Avon, IN 72-69–141 (-3)
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