The scoring sheet tells a straightforward but intriguing tale. 36 holes of the 2019 Porter Cup have been completed. Two golfers share the top tier of the leader board, at 8 strokes below par. Reid Davenport (Texas) and Chun An Yu (Arizona) sit 2 shots clear of the 3rd place golfer, Jimmy Hervol (Massachusetts.) Next comes Ethan Ng (New York) at -5, then a group of 6 golfers at 4 under par. All told, 22 golfers find themselves at least 1 stroke below par of 140. That’s the straightforward part. Have a look at a Chun An Yu swing sequence, and then we’ll get to the intriguing part.

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As promised, here is the intriguing part: five golfers had scores of 65 or better, led by Chun at 63, James Piot (Michigan) at 64, and Davenport, Hervol, and Bradley Reeves (California) at 65. With the exception of Chun, whose round had 7 birdies and 0 bogies, each golfer made at least one blunder. What we glean from this is, 63 is not the lowest we should see this week.

For more intrigue, consider these two techniques: consistent golf and fire then fall back. Over two rounds, 6 of the top 10 golfers have scored within 1 stroke both days (68-68 or 67-68, that sort of thing.) Chun (again!), Hervol, Davenport and Noah Norton (California) have gaps of 2 to 6 strokes between their two, 18-hole scores. What to make of this? If Davenport, Chun and Hervol each struggles on Friday, one of two things should happen.

A) Someone will fire a low round, and reach -9 or -10;

B) One or more of the consistent golf golfers will remain consistent, and reach a similar talley;

C) One of the top three golfers will fire again, increasing the lead to 5 or more strokes at 13 or 14 below par.

Hold those thoughts while we look at Scott Harvey’s swing. Harvey finds himself at 4-under par, in a tie for 5th spot.

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To conclude, here goes some real number crunching.

*Reid Davenport, T1: 3 bogies, one each on a par 3, par 4, and par 5. 11 birdies, 0 eagles and 0 others. Remarkably consistent;

*Chun An Yu, T1: IDENTICAL NUMBERS as Davenport. All bogies came in round 1. Can he repeat flawless round two?

*Jimmy Hervol, 3: Also 3 bogies. 9 birdies, 0 eagles. Only 1 birdie on closing stretch. Might not be able to finish it off;

*Ethan Ng, 4: 7 birdies, 2 bogies. Nothing to excite us so far. Also has trouble with closing stretch;

*Davis Lamb, T5: 11 birdies on the week! If this fellow continues to fire at flags with approaches and putts, he might pull of the week’s upset.