Owen Stamper’s 64 Gives Him Three-Stroke Lead Entering Final Round
BOWLING GREEN, KY (June 15, 2022) – Tennessee institutions were represented well after the first round of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur on Tuesday when Belmont’s Evan Davis and Vanderbilt’s Jansen Preston shared the lead, but Owen Stamper made sure he got Middle Tennessee State involved too. The junior-to-be at MTSU originally from Scottsville carded the round of the tournament thus far with 64 (-7) in Wednesday’s second round to take the lead entering the final round of the championship.
Starting the day at -3 and tied for sixth, Stamper was all systems go as soon as he got to the 10th tee to begin his round. Three birdies in his first six holes helped him shoot 33 (-3) on his first nine holes, but the performance went up a notch when he holed out for eagle on the par-four 1st. Two more birdies followed the rest of the way with no bogeys inflicting any late damage, and as a result he now leads by three strokes going into Thursday.
“I’ve been hitting my driver really well and getting myself in the spots I need to be off the tee,” Stamper explained. “I made a conscious effort going into today’s round to not give any shots back. It’s weird though, I feel like I haven’t been putting that well so far, but I am managing the course well. This leaderboard seems like something we had several years ago in the KHSAA State Championship though. So many guys in or around my high school graduating class are right there, and I know any of them are capable of going low on any given day. It would mean a lot to win this week since this is basically a home game for me, so I’ll come out here on Thursday and do everything I can to win.”
Stamper’s closest pursuer is first round co-leader Evan Davis. A round of 69 (-2) on Tuesday puts him at 135 (-7) for the championship and within striking distance of the leader. A crowded group at 136 (-6) follows him in a tie for third place, which features Jackson Finney, Campbell Kremer, Matthew Troutman, and the other first round co-leader, Jansen Preston. By virtue of being the first of those players to finish, Finney will have the honor of rounding out the final threesome in the final round and will join Stamper and Davis at 10:00 a.m. CDT on the 1st tee on Thursday.
