TWIN FALLS, Idaho – Day 1 leader Colby Dean started off Saturday’s second round with a couple mishaps, but he didn’t let that affect him for the rest of the day. Dean shot a 3-under 69 to stay atop the Idaho State Amateur leaderboard.
A couple of wayward tee shots on holes 13 and 14 resulted in bogeys for the Chico State grad. On 14, Dean remained focused after going O.B. left and knocked in a 15-foot putt with confidence to save bogey.
Perhaps 4 years of college competition prepared Dean to bounce back from adversity. Maintaining a lead is not an easy task considering Chris Carew in 2nd place was off to a hot start in the same group.
Dean finished his first nine holes with 2 birdies to climb back to 1-over on the day (-6 total). Dean fared much better on the back nine. Accurate drives set up a few birdie chances, which he capitalized on with great putting. A key highlight on the second nine being a birdie on the difficult par-3 5th hole playing straight into wind gusts of up to 25mph.
Hunter Ostrom also finished the day 3-under, giving him a two day total of 139 (5-under). Ostrom once again put an eagle down on the scorecard, and made 2 fewer bogeys than Friday (3) proving that his game is trending upwards heading into Sunday.
Carew finished with a 75 (+3), but remains in 5th at 1-over. Rounding out the final pairing is Jason Huff who fired a 73 (+1) which was good enough for 4th place at even par.
One of the more fascinating stories of moving day was Randal Cross. The Twin Falls resident played in the first flight, but shot a lights-out round of 68 on Saturday to give him a two-day total of 140 (-4) – which, yes, is currently in third place. The 54-year-old is one year shy of senior status for IGA championships, but is showing the state why he belongs in the top 5 of the IGA’s hallmark event.
Be sure to follow along with the final round and view all scores from Canyon Springs in Twin Falls here.
(Note: players from the first flight are eligible to win the event, winners from net scores in the first flight remains the only difference between the championship flight and first flight; handicap index separates flights)