PINEHURST, N.C. — Robbie Fillmore, returning to competition after two years away from the game, shot a 5-under-par 65 to take the early-second-round lead in qualifying for the U.S. Amateur.

Fillmore, who is a junior at Brigham Young, took time off from golf to go on a Mormon mission to Chile, during which time he never touched a club. He quickly made up for lost time when he returned, heading to the golf course about three hours after his plane landed back home in Salt Lake City.

“I got it back pretty quickly, but from sunup to sundown, I worked pretty hard at it,” Fillmore said.

His 65 on Tuesday was the low score of the qualifying rounds and came on the No. 4 course at Pinehurst. He shot a 1-under-par 69 on No. 2 in the opening round for a 134 total.

“The goal was to make match play,” Fillmore said. “To shoot 65, to do it makes it that much better. I feel really good about the way Ive been playing.”

Fillmore was two shots better than first-round leader Wesley Bryan, a freshman at USC, whose 1-under 69 on No. 4 gave him a 4-under-par 136. Corey Nagy and Dan Woltman are three shots back at 137.

Among those also moving on were top-ranked amateur Danny Lee (141), Kevin Tway (143) and Jamie Lovemark (143), runner-up at the North & South Amateur earlier this summer at Pinehurst and one of the top college golfers in the nation.

“I had some moments of greatness mixed in with some pretty awful shots,” Lovemark said. “That was the hard part. I’m not saying that match play is easy, but I just feel more comfortable knowing I can take a deep breath and validate my game.”

Brady Exber, a 52-year-old member of the Southern Nevada Golf Hall of Fame, was the oldest player to advance to match play. This is his fourth trip to U.S. Amateur and the first time hes made it through qualifying, and he almost pulled off a hole-in-one en route to the next phase. He narrowly missed the ace on his final hole, the par-3 ninth at No. 2, when his 7-iron caught the left lip and rolled a couple of feet past.

There were 26 players tied at 5-over 145 for the final two spots. They will head to No. 4 early Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. for a playoff in four groups of four and two groups of five.

Follow the U.S. Amateur at the USGA Internet site, www.usamateur.org.

Burger shoots

1-under 69, now

into match play

Orangeburg’s Jacob Burger played his way Tuesday into match play at the U.S. Amateur.

After an opening 1-over 71 on Pinehurt No. 2 on Monday, Burger moved to the No. 4 course on Tuesday and recorded a 1-under 69. The total put him tied for 11th among 315 players and moved him into match play on Wednesday, teeing off at 11:20 a.m.

Two of Burger’s Clemson teammates also made the move to match play: Kyle Stanley at -2 and Sam Saunders at +4. Saunders tees off at 10:10 a.m. Stanley goes off at 11 a.m.

Austin Cody of Charleston was at +5 and projected to make the cut to match play.

U.S. Amateur TV coverage will begin Wednesday on the Golf Channel. First-round matches will be shown from 1 to 4 p.m. Coverage of third-round matches will be 12-2 p.m. Thursday. Quarterfinal matches will be shown from 12-2 p.m. Friday. Semifinal matches are Saturday from 1-4 p.m. The Championship Match coverage is 1-4 p.m. Sunday.

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