Date: June 03, 2017
Author: Martin Blake

Coletta fires at Muirfield Village

Victorian rookie professional Brett Coletta has enjoyed one of the finest days of his short career at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

Coletta, 20, fired a second-round 69 with seven birdies to leap on to the leaderboard at Muirfield Village before two late bogeys saw him dip to a tie for 15th place through two rounds.

At three-under, he easily made it through the cut to ensure that he is around for the weekend.

It is just his second start as a professional after a brilliant amateur career in which he was runner-up to Curtis Luck in the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship and won a SA amateur title and a Victorian junior masters.

American Jason Dufter (14-under) is running away with the tournament in Ohio, leading by five shots, but a group of Australians have performed well headed by Coletta and Marc Leishman, who is four-under and tied-13th. Adam Scott (two-under) also is having a decent week although Jason Day (two-over) struggled into the weekend's play.

Asian Amateur champion and US amateur winner Luck made the cut on the number at three-over, but Ryan Ruffels, one of the three young Australian pros who secured invitations to play this week, missed out after shooting a second-round 76.

At the LPGA Tour's ShopRite Classic in New Jersey, Australian Su Oh started nicely with a 69 to be five shots from the lead held by the defending champion, Anna Nordqvist of Sweden.