McLuen leads by 1 stroke

ZION CROSSROADS — Early in the week, it didn’t look like Jay McLuen was even going to step foot on the Spring Creek golf course.

Listed as an alternate, the Georgia native had to wait patiently for somebody to withdraw from the eGolf Spring Creek Championship, and when that slot opened up on Wednesday, McLuen made the most of the opportunity by shooting a 4-under 68 to put him three strokes out of the lead.

On a hot and stuffy Thursday, McLuen’s decision to stick around looked even better after the 28-year-old shot a 7-under 65 on nine birdies to take the lead.

“My game plan was just to hit as many greens as I could,” McLuen said. “I was hoping that my putter would stay hot, and it did.”

McLuen teed off in the morning and credited the course conditions for his big day.

“Especially in the morning, the greens are really good,” McLuen said. “I didn’t have to putt outside of 12 to 15 feet.”

Roberto Castro and Frank Adams III trail McLuen by one stroke heading into the third round today.

Charlottesville’s Rich Hannah and former Virginia golfer Cameron Yancey each made the cut.

Hannah put in a 3-under 69 to follow Wednesday’s 2-under 70 on his home course.

“I’m hitting the ball well these past two days.” Hannah said. “I felt like I left a lot of shots out there, but I’m happy for playing this course because it’s my home course and I’m a short hitter and that’s more of a disadvantage out here.”

With the competition so even, players are living and dying by the putter.

Fresh off of his first major — last week’s U.S. Open at Bethpage, N.Y. — Yancey is working through the opposite of McLuen’s situation. The ex-Cavalier says his putting is keeping him from tallying a score in the 60s.

“The putting is just absolutely horrendous,” Yancey said. “It’s just sad because I’m playing to good to be doing this.”

For Yancey, it’s deja vu all over again because it was putting that caused him to miss the cut last week at Bethpage Black.

“It was fun, but still disappointing,” Yancey said of his first major. “I actually played well enough to probably make the cut, but my scores got hurt on the last couple of holes because of my putting. That’s been my game the last three years: playing awesome and putting up a good score when the putter’s working and not so much when it isn’t.”

The third round starts this morning, with the first group teeing off at 7:30 a.m.