Herring, Adams share lead in WCMA Open Division

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on July 12, 2014 11:03 PM

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For the first time in five attempts, Kevin Herring is finally playing well in the Wayne County Men's Amateur.

"I play in this tournament every year and I have never done well," the La Grange native said.

Herring shot a 4-under 68 on his home course, Walnut Creek Country Club, on Friday. He battled his way to a 3-under 69 at Goldsboro Municipal Golf Course on Saturday, and has a share of the Open Divison lead with Nick Adams at 7-under 137.

The tournament concludes today at Southern Wayne Country Club.

"I've just gotten more consistent," Herring said of his improvement. "More consistent with my irons, my putting. All of it."

A Wayne Country Day alum, the 24-year-old Herring struggled a bit and shot a 38 on the front nine. But he strung together some birdies on the back nine on a short course that allowed some players to go for low scores.

The course also caused some disastrous holes with shots that were even a yard or two off.

Adams, a University of Mount Olive signee, had the chance to separate himself from the rest of the group when he was 5-under through 16. He bogeyed the final two holes.

"I was hitting them close a lot," Adams said. "But I had a couple bogeys coming in, it's hard to make putts on these greens. But I'm happy with a 3-under."

Sitting four strokes back in third is Jeremy Joyner. Joyner shot a 71 Friday and clawed his way through the back nine for a 2-under 70 Saturday.

Joyner duffed his tee shot on the fifth leaving him a close to 300 yards out on his second shot. He launched his second shot toward the front of the green and left it short. He got up and down to save a diffcult par that kept him in contention.

"I told my playing partner Bradley Jones that that was going to get me going," Joyner said.

Joyner finished the final four holes with three birdies and a par. He hit just 11 total putts on the back nine on a day where putting on some bumpier greens was the Achilles' heel for most of the competitors.

Joyner will play in the same group with former Open champ Lionel Sutton, Herring and Adams today. The quartet tees off at 2:20 p.m. Sutton trails by five shots.

None of the golfers are worried much about what the others do as much as they are worried about playing their games. Even Joyner with four strokes to make up isn't going to push the issue for birdies on his home course.

"I'm just going to focus on me," Joyner said. "If it works out, it works out."

Adams' father, Stan, and uncle, Randy Adams, will tee off in the final group in the Senior Division. Jeff Jackson holds a commanding eight-stroke lead over defending champ Tim Rose and a nine-shot advantage over the Adamses.

The Super Senior Division could come down to the wire. The four players in the final group are all within three shots of each other with Sprunt Hill and Bill Holliday tied for the lead at 15-over 149. John Grice is two shots back and Prentice Herring is three back. The foursome goes off the 10th tee at 1:50 p.m.

Mickey Nance followed up his tournament-best 67 on Friday with a 79 Saturday. He holds a five-shot lead heading into today's final 18 holes. William Jetton and Donald Shaver will join him in the final group that tees off at 9:20 this morning.