Greensboro, NC – Jack Fields of Southern Pines, NC and T.J. Howe of Osceola, PA took different routes to the 36-hole lead at the eGolf Tour’s Forest Oaks Classic, but both wound up at 10-under 134 regardless. With Friday’s final round looming on the horizon, Fields will try to lock up win No. 2 and continue a torrid 2013 season, while Howe and his red-hot putter will do their best to earn a first eGolf Tour title.

The Forest Oaks Classic is the seventh of 24 scheduled events on the 2013 eGolf Tour schedule, and is being contested this week at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, NC – 30-year host of the PGA TOUR’s annual Wyndham Championship.

Fields, the tournament’s 18-hole leader following a 9-under 63 on Wednesday, entered Thursday’s second round with a three-shot lead, trying his best to put day one behind him, mentally. In golf, there is an argument to be made that trying to follow up a low score – in this case a very low score – is one of the toughest feats, as holes and positions are often tossed in comparison to a day that has few rivals.

“It’s tough to follow up one of those low ones. Earlier this year I was playing the Rio Pinar event on the Fore the Players Tour, and it was the same situation – I shot 62 in the first round and had the lead. The next day I went out and shot 77,” said Fields. “I was thinking about that last night, and really had to delete that thought. But, I’ve done it before, so thought hopefully I could come out and improve on it today.”

Early on, it looked as though Fields would handle the pressure just fine, as birdies on Nos. 2 and 4 quickly moved the former UNC Tar Heel star to 11-under par, and well in control of the tournament.

Pars on Nos. 5 and 6 kept him at 2-under for the day, but it was a short miss at the par-4 seventh that may have set the tone for the rest of the round.

“On No. 7 I hit it to 5 feet above the hole, and I missed it,” said the 23-year-old Fields. “Looking back, I think that was kind of a turning point, because if I make it, I’m feeling like I might have another low one going.”

On the demanding par-3 eighth, Fields blocked a long iron tee shot, in turn leaving himself in poor position to get up-and-down to a back-right hole location.

“That pin was back right, and I tried to hit a fade in there – as opposed to letting a draw work away from the pin,” he said. “That was a mental error. I blocked my tee shot, and had nothing over there.”

The mental mistake led to a crushing double-bogey when Fields went back and forth over the green a few times before settling for a five.

After that, he struggled to regain the lost shots, posting nine consecutive pars before ending the level-par repetition with a closing birdie at the reachable par-5 18th.

“I felt like I bounced back well after No. 8,” he said. “I gave myself a lot of birdie putts, but I couldn’t get any to drop until No. 18.”

Fields, a winner at the eGolf Tour’s Columbia Open last May, will look to draw on that experience, as well as recent success this year, in trying to capture his first title of the 2013 season.

Fields has runner-up finishes at the Oldfield Open and Irish Creek Classic this year – but the former came courtesy of a rained-out final round, while the latter was a 54-hole co-lead that turned into a six-shot loss when eventual winner Ryan Nelson posted a final-round 66. The dual runner-up efforts have him currently at No. 2 on the 2013 money list with $24,397 in earnings.

At the Cabarrus Classic in September of 2012, Fields held a one-shot lead entering the final round, but fell just one shot shy of winner Corbin Mills when Mills birdied the 18th hole to grab his first professional title.

Regardless, the experiences add up to give Fields an advantage heading into the final round, as the ability to learn from the past is often what best prepares players for the future.

“I came from behind to win at Columbia, and I lost the lead after leading at Cabarrus. Either way, you learn from the situation,” he said. “Once you’ve done it a few times, you get used to it, you get more comfortable. You take away everything you’re feeling and try to improve on it. I think I’m ready to head back out and throw another low one at ‘em.”

Howe, who joined two-time Canadian Amateur champion MacKenzie Hughes in a two-way tie for second (6-under 66) entering the second round, had a dissimilar round to that of Fields, as seven birdies and three bogeys left him with a 4-under 68 on the day.

After opening his Thursday effort with a bogey at the docile par-4 10th (his first), Howe rallied with birdies on 11 and 12 to move to 1-under for the round. Late birdies on his opening nine at 16 and 18 gave the current Charlotte, NC resident a 3-under 33 at the turn, pushing him to 9-under par for the week.

Pars on Nos. 1 through 3 masked an upcoming rollercoaster finish to his day, as Howe posted a birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey stretch on Nos. 4 through 7, before polishing his 68 off with a birdie at the tough par-4 ninth.

“I made a few mistakes in that stretch, but hit my approach to No. 9 to about 15 or 20 feet, and was able to convert that for a good birdie,” said Howe, 25. “My putter has been cooperating this week, which has helped my scoring a lot.”

In just his second full year on the eGolf Tour, Howe is sitting on the precipice of his first win, following a freshman campaign in 2012 that resulted in four top-10 finishes – as well as a T18 at the Forest Oaks Classic.

Thus far in 2013, the former Penn State standout has made four of six cuts, with T11 finishes at the Palmetto Hall Championship and the Irish Creek Classic serving as his best results.

Howe’s final-round motivation, outside of the obvious, might just come from down the hall at his Charlotte house.

When Cam Burke of Ontario, Canada – one of Howe’s roommates – earned his first pro win just two weeks ago at the tour’s Founders Club Classic, it sparked the proverbial fire in Howe, who has had a front-row seat to witness Burke’s ascension to being one of the tour’s best players.

“It’s definitely a motivator to see one of your good friends win. I play with him every day, it’s just a matter of getting yourself in that position,” Howe said. “I haven’t done it too much to this point, but I’m really looking forward to playing tomorrow.”

Memphis, TN native Jonathan Fly is in solo-third place at 8-under 136, just two back of the co-leaders following a 69-67—136 start to his week.

Fly has been a study in relative consistency over two rounds, posting 11 birdies, 22 pars, and three bogeys through his first 36 holes.

The 24-year-old burst onto the golf scene in June of last year when he carded a second-round 64 in the PGA TOUR’s FedEx St. Jude Classic, in turn making the cut on the number (2-over 142) in his first start as a professional. The former University of Memphis star went on to finish 76th that week, competing on his home course (TPC Southwind) in front of a raucous hometown crowd.

Fly is making just his second career start on the eGolf Tour, after rounds of 68-69-80—217 gave him a T41 finish in the NorthStone Open last October.

Brad Miller of Timonium, MD and Brent Witcher of Atlanta, GA are tied for fourth, three shots off the lead at 7-under 137.

Miller, a former University of Richmond golfer, is the only player in the field to have played bogey-free golf over the first 36 holes, posting seven birdies and 29 pars en route to rounds of 68-69—137.

Witcher, a winner earlier this year at the aforementioned Oldfield Open, is looking for career win No. 2 on the eGolf Tour, having opened with rounds of 67-70—137 – with just one bogey to his card through two days.

The 36-hole cut fell at 1-under 143, with 50 players making it through to the final round. Final-round play in the Forest Oaks Classic will begin at 7:30 AM on Friday morning, with players competing in threesomes off of Nos. 1 and 10 tees. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.