Nader’s 68 puts him in front of invitational

Published 5:16 pm Saturday, May 21, 2016

Tuscaloosa’s Philip Nader leads after the second round of the 88th annual Selma Country Club men’s invitational.

Nader is an out of town member of the Selma Country Club and showed Saturday he knows his way around the course. He fired a second round 68, matching the best round of the tournament, and sits at 1-under par after two rounds.

He’s got a one shot lead over Andy Stewart, who followed a first round 70 with a 1-over par, 72.

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Tom Fitzgerald and Will Morrison are another shot back. Fitzgerald shot 72 while Morrison, who led after the first round, followed his opening 68 with a 75.

Two shots farther back is a group tied for fifth. It includes Paul Garner, Chance Caylor, Richard Douglas and Robbie C. Cotton. Garner, who teed off on the third hole, followed a first nine 40 with a 34 on the back-nine to stay within striking distance.

Owens Tripp and Taylor McCollum were five shots back with a total of 146.

The tournament field was broken into flights after the first round. Championship flight, which includes those players vying for the overall title, and second flight  played normal scoring rules for the second and third rounds.

David Cothran shot a second round 71 and leads the second flight by five shots going into Sunday’s final round.

The other three flights — third, fourth and fifth — played dogfight scoring, which is based on a point system where the highest score wins.  Players are awarded for points for birdies, pars and bogeys instead of focusing on their score in relation to par.

In third flight, Paul Portwood had 39 points in round two and leads by one shot over Steve Nelson Jr. In the fourth flight, Richard Burch had 30 points and led by one over Paul James. In flight five, Henry Patton’s 23 gave him a two point advantage over Bob Anderson Jr., Glenn Klicker and Hub Maroney Jr.

The final round of the tournament will start at 10 a.m. Sunday.