Gaspar pushes forward; Larsen stumbles on day two

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-With temperatures soaring into the low 90’s, Garden City’s Daniel Gaspar was heating up himself. 

After firing a 2-over par on the front nine on Thursday, the sophomore went to work, chipping in back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 before parring the final five holes to shoot a 72, putting him three strokes back of the lead heading into Friday’s final round. 

“Things were working much better for me today,” Gaspar said afterwards. “Even my misses were much better.”

It wasn’t a great start for Gaspar, who bogeyed two of his first three holes. But he fixed a fundamental flaw that had plagued him for the first 21 holes of the tournament. 

“I fixed my swing, so that helped me out,” Gaspar explained. 

As for Taylor Larsen, he didn’t fair as well. After tying for a top 10 spot on Wednesday, the junior struggled to find any rhythm, bogeying 8 of his 18 holes on his way to a 6-over 78. He’s 7-over for the tournament. 

“It wasn’t really my day,” Larsen said. “The putting surface is where i really struggled; especially on the back nine.”

To put those struggles into perspective; Larsen bogeyed four of the final seven holes. 

The other three Garden City players in the tournament: Sion Audrain made the cut at 11-over as did Logan Durst. Connor Schultz failed to qualify for Friday’s final round after shooting an 88 for a second straight day. 

Oklahoma City’s Logan McAlister grabbed the second-round lead with a 1-under par. 

On the girls side-Ingalls’ Micheala Loewen missed the cut, firing a second-round 90. 

Meantime Courtney Dow from Frisco, TX leads the field at 4-under par.