Jolly maintains lead at Future Masters

This was new territory for Stewart Jolly, and he was proud of the way he handled it.

Jolly, who started the 60th Press Thornton Future Masters with a blistering 65, shot a solid, if not spectacular 71 on Friday. The Mountain Brook golfer takes a three-shot lead over Tyler Klava into today’s final round.

“I was a little nervous the first few holes, but I’m happy with the way I played,” Jolly said. “I’ve been around the lead, put myself in contention, but this is the first
time I’ve been in the lead in a tournament like this.”

He could get used to it.

“I loved it,” he said. “I loved the cameras, having more people around. It was great. I can’t wait to see what it’s going to be like tomorrow.”

Jolly didn’t score as well as he did Thursday, but he was steady.

“I bogeyed probably the two easiest holes on the course — 1 and 10,” he said. “But I birdied 14. Really, that was it. I made a really good save for par on 16 —
a 12-footer that was really big. But I hit a lot of fairways and greens.”

Stewart and Klava are the only two golfers under par after two rounds as Dothan Country Club’s gnarly rough and slick greens have made finding the fairways a
must this week.

Klava, a Pace, Fla., resident, crafted a 2-under-par 68 Friday and is 1-under for the tournament. He said he could have been closer to the lead.

“I birdied 14, 15 and 16 to get it to 4-under and bogeyed the last two holes,” Klava said. “I hit awful drives. The one on 17 went left and the one on 18 went right.”

Another stroke back at even-par 140 are Trey Mullinax of Mt. Olive, Charles Silverfield of Tampa, Fla., and Ryan Ennis of Benton, Ark. Mullinax and Ennis each
shot a 69 Friday. Silverfield followed up his opening-round 68 with a 72.

Mullinax said 69 was about as high a number as he could have shot. He made birdies on No. 4 and No. 16 and bogeyed No. 6.

“If I make any putts from inside 10 feet, it could have been really low,” the Alabama commitment said. “I hit 16 greens today and missed two or three birdie
putts inside five feet.”

Ennis had a much more exciting round. In fact, it started in spectacular fashion. Teeing off on the back side, he birdied Nos. 10, 13, 14 and 18 for a bogey-free
31.

It got even better when he started the front nine with birdies on the first two holes — reaching 6-under-par for the day.

But the par-5 No. 4 bit him. A triple-bogey 8 stopped the roll, and he came in with bogeys on Nos. 6 and 8 to finish his 69.

“I made a bad swing and a bad decision on No. 4,” he said, looking back. “I hooked my second shot left and tried for too much on the approach shot. I got
greedy.”

Silverfield joked that it was easy to see the difference between his 72 and his opening round of 68.

“I didn’t chip-in for eagle,” he laughed. “Really, I didn’t hit as many fairways today.”

That made things, well, rough for those hitting wayward tee shots.

Three other golfers — Brett Patterson of McMinnville, Tenn., Major Lee of Montgomery and Fletcher Johnson of Belden, Miss. — are another stroke back at 1-
over 141.

Johnson shot an even-par 70. Starting on the back nine, he made birdies on Nos. 10, 13, 16 and 18 to turn in 4-under 31.

“I’m thinking, I’m back in it,” Johnson said recalling what he told himself at the turn.

But bogeys on the front side at Nos. 4, 5, 7 and 8 left him at even for the day.

“I made a 25-footer for par at 6,” he said. “I just started pulling my irons. I don’t know what it was.”

Patterson and Lee both shot 33 on the first nine holes but came home in 38 to finish 1-over.

The field is bunched for a tight final round. Forty-two golfers are within 10 shots of Jolly’s lead.

No one is closer than Klava, who said his plan is simple.

“I want to stay cool and low-key,” he said. “It seems big numbers start coming when I get excited or try to do too much out there.”