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By Chris Lang
ROANOKE — Richmond’s Mark Lawrence Jr. made it known early that he wasn’t about to back up during the second round of the Delta Dental State Open of Virginia at Ballyhack Golf Club.
Staked to a four-stroke lead at the start of Friday’s action, Lawrence made birdie on his first two holes in an afternoon round filled with lightning delays. Though he didn’t match Thursday’s spectacular 9-under-par 63, he cruised to a 4-under-par 68, finishing in dwindling daylight before the round was suspended due to darkness.
Eighteen players will complete their second round early Saturday morning. The top 40 players and ties remaining will begin Saturday’s third and final round soon thereafter.
Lawrence, who has posted a two-day aggregate 131, holds a seven-stroke lead over Roanoke’s Ross Funderburke, a rising sophomore at Furman University who posted a 4-under-par 68 in the morning wave Friday. Four players were tied for third at 5 under, including one (Alex Price) who still has four holes to complete in his second round.
Lawrence went 30 holes before making his first bogey of the tournament on the par-4 4th hole (he started Friday on No. 10). Much like Thursday’s opening round, he hit plenty of fairways and left himself with manageable birdie putts after his approaches. He rarely found trouble.
Lawrence is a two-time runner-up at Ballyhack, and this year will mark the second time he’s entered the final round with the lead. He held a two-stroke advantage after two rounds in 2016 but lost in a playoff. He said he’s learned some lessons from those experiences.
“I’ve learned the golf course a lot, which helps,” Lawrence said. “I know where to attack and where to be more conservative. Pretty much every year in the last four or five years, I’ll play here and have a good round in the first two rounds, and a bad round, and I’m five shots back and I have to shoot zero to have a chance. My mindset this year was to get out the gates hot and just play steady the whole time. Don’t worry about anything else. Just try to shoot a good score every day.”
No one was able to gain much ground Friday morning, though Funderburke did his best to make a charge at Lawrence. He birded six of his first 11 holes before bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13 dropped him to 4 under for the round. He parred his final five holes to finish at 68.
“I really got off to a hot start. I was hitting the ball really well,” said Funderburke, a member at Roanoke Country Club. “I wasn’t making all of the putts but I was making enough to where I was still playing really well. I was 6 under through 11, and got to 12 and hit it a couple of inches into the left rough. Missed the green, didn’t get up and down. Short-sided myself on 13 and bogeyed that hole. I had a couple of really good looks coming in. I hit all of the rest of the greens, probably between 10 and 20 feet on all of them, just didn’t make the putts.”
The afternoon featured two delays for lightning in the area, totaling three hours and 20 minutes.
“I think everybody agrees it was handled as best as it could be,” Lawrence said. “I don’t want to be on the golf course when there’s lightning. I know last year, a tree got struck out here and that scared the hell out of me.”
Along with Price, others in the tie for third at 5 under include Forest professional Dick Mast, PGA, who at 69 is the oldest player in the field, Vienna’s David Stanford and Ashburn’s Jeff Long.
Stanford, who won last year’s VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship, followed his opening-round 71 with a 68 that included a chip-in for eagle on No. 10. Stanford is one of three 16 year olds in the field.
“Obviously, there are a lot of college players and pros here, which I’m not used to,” Stanford said. “This course is just so tough compared to the other ones I play. You have to place it so perfectly. It’s definitely a big step up for me.
“I just want to go out and have fun. I just need to stay consistent like I have the last two days and hopefully I’ll drop some putts.”
Long, who returned a 2-under 70 on Friday morning, has played in enough tournaments with Lawrence to understand the daunting task ahead of the field Saturday.
“I don’t expect him to back up at all,” Long said. “I’d be surprised if he does. I mean if he does, maybe it gives a few other guys a chance. But I think he just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, and he’ll have a damn good chance.”
Chris Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications. The Delta Dental State Open of Virginia is conducted jointly by the VSGA and the Middle Atlantic PGA.