David Brown got off to the kind of start Monday in the West Penn Amateur that would buckle the knees of many players. But as Brown has proven to this point in the amateur golf season in western Pennsylvania, he's not "many players."
"On the first hole, my second shot was 3 feet over the green. I chipped back and it rolled all the way off the green and went 40 yards back toward the fairway," said Brown. "I take a double-bogey to start and it's very nice to finish under par."
Under par is a bit of an understatement. He finished the morning 18 holes at even par and came out in the afternoon round and blistered the Westmoreland Country Club course to the tune of a 66.
His 136 total leads the tournament by five shots over Chip Zimmerman and seven over Sean Knapp and William Smith. Knapp would, without a doubt, be the most significant of the pursuers.
He's not only pursuing Brown, but he's trying to extend his record-setting winning streak in the West Penn Amateur to six years. Whatever chance Knapp has, he can thank a second-round 67 that rescued his day after an opening-round 76.
But he's going to need some help from Brown and going on form, that's not very likely to happen.
After finishing in a tie for second in last year's West Penn Amateur, the 40-year-old Brown has been virtually unstoppable. He won the Tri-State Amateur a couple weeks ago at Cedarbrook Golf Course and, earlier, won the West Penn Mid-Am.
"This is probably the best stretch of golf in my life," Brown, an Upper St. Clair resident, said. "But I know I have to play my best or I'll get beaten. The kind of start I've had gives you a little momentum. And it's nice to have that momentum."
Brown said he'll do nothing special before or doing today's final round.
"I'll just come out and play," he said with a smile. "There are a lot of talented people here who can shoot low numbers. I have to play my best, I know that. I know Sean is there and know he can come out and shoot really low. He'll do well on these greens, they're really good and Sean's a good putter."
Knapp has struggled with his game this spring. It hasn't been one particular aspect. Some days his tee shots are bad, other days it's his putting.
It's been so bad for him that twice this spring, he didn't make the cut in no-cut tournaments.
"I played in a couple tournaments that don't have cuts, but because of rain, they had to make a cut to finish and I didn't make it," Knapp laughed.
In the first round Monday, it was a little bit of everything.
And as he came to his ninth hole in the second round, he was one-over par, looking for something to spark him. An 18-foot birdie putt that found the bottom of the cup did just that. He then birdied the 10th, 13th, 14th and 16th holes to finish with a 32 on the back.
"I could have folded the tents a couple times out there this morning," Knapp said. "As many times as I've been successful in this event, today at one point I was wondering if I was even going to make the cut."
He wasn't about to use the pressure of trying to win six straight as an excuse for how he played in his first round.
"When you're expected to win and you're not playing well, that's a deadly combination," he said. "I've sort of looked at it this way. There was so much pressure to break the record and once I got that, we're sort of on the gravy train."
The 36-hole cut came at 151 with XX players surviving to play in today's final round that will get under way at 7 a.m.
