A rainy forecast for Sunday is threatening what otherwise figures to be a thrilling final round of the 74th annual Greenwood Invitational.
Saturday’s second round saw Delta State golfer Landon Carner maintain his two-stroke lead at the Greenwood Country Club, as the 21-year-old Birmingham native shaved another two strokes off his score to improve to 10-under in total.
After a rain delay that lasted over an hour, Carner cooled off from Friday's tournament-low 64, calling his luck "the opposite of yesterday." Nonetheless, he did enough playing through less-than-ideal course conditions to hold off Tucker Jenkins (-7), the runner-up finisher the past two years, and two-time champion Josh Lampley, who moved into second place (-8) with a five-under 67 on Saturday.
Jenkins followed up Friday’s 68 with a 69 on Saturday.
Scotty Patterson struggled after shooting a 6-under 66 in the first round. The Pontotoc native finished five strokes over par in the second round, dropping from second place to 17th.
On the local front, Alan Ellis shot a 3-under 69 to move to 1-under par total for the tournament, tied for 17th place with Michael Naaman, Friday’s local leader. The pair was slotted in the first flight along with Patterson.
Drew Wilson had the low score of the day, matching Carner's 8-under 64 from Friday to move up to sixth place in the championship flight.
Tournament officials will likely flip the flight schedule for Sunday, moving the leaders up to earlier tee times to avoid incoming rain. The latest forecasts show an 80% chance of showers during the final round.
"They’re trying to move the leaders to play in the morning, so hopefully the rain doesn’t affect us," Carner said.
