Gann Jr. and Hodge hold slim lead in the Peach Blossom

For a while, it looked as if Stan Gann Jr. and Shawn Hodge were going to put a number up that would just about assure them of winning their second straight Peach Blossom Golf Tournament at Idle Hour Golf Course.

The duo, who shot 6-under-par in the first round on Friday, were cruising at 5 under after 13 holes on Saturday, but only one birdie to go with two bogeys on the final five holes pushed their score back to 10-under for the tournament, leaving them only one shot ahead of Bill Hodges and Jordan Mitchell, who shot six-under on Saturday. The team of Donny Phillips and Chris Hall is three shots back at 7 under.

“We would have liked to have put a better score down, but with all the wind, we are not too unhappy about shooting 4 under (Saturday),” said Hodge, who had three birdies on the front nine. “If you would have told us at the beginning of the tournament that we would have the lead heading into the final day, I think we would have been happy, but the two bogeys were a little frustrating.

“We both hit poor shots on 14 and then just missed two makeable putts, and then on 18, the wind made it very tough to know what club to hit and we made bogey again. But overall, I would say we are pleased to be in the lead heading into Sunday.”

The team of Hodges and Mitchell played in the morning, but still had to deal with difficult winds. But it barely affected them as they put together a six-birdie round with no bogeys.

“The first time I played Idle Hour was on Tuesday and the conditions were totally different then then they were on Saturday,” said Mitchell, who had three birdies in a row on holes 4, 5, and 6. “I think we had a lot more birdie looks (Saturday) and we were able to take advantage of them and put up a good score. This is actually the first time we have played together in a tournament like this and we had hoped we would play well.”

Hodges gave credit to his partner and admitted they really were just hoping to play quality golf.

“Jordan played great golf and it seemed like when one of us was in trouble, the other one played well on the hole,” Hodges said. “We hope that we put ourselves in a position to have a chance on Sunday, and we really won’t change anything. We will just try and go fairways to greens and hope to make some putts.”

The team of Adam Cooper and Jared Garrity are in fourth place, four shot behind the leaders.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Gann Jr. and Hodge hold slim lead in the Peach Blossom."