Blythewood, SC – When Jack Fields of Southern Pines, NC arrived at the scoring table on Thursday afternoon at the eGolf Tour’s Columbia Open presented by Groucho’s Deli, he commented on how nice it was to play a round of golf without recording a single five on his scorecard. Turns out nine birdies and nine pars worked out just fine for the former UNC golfer, who carded a blistering second-round 62 to reach 14-under for the week, in turn grabbing a share of the lead at the halfway point of the 72-hole event.

The Columbia Open presented by Groucho’s Deli is the eighth of 24 scheduled events on the 2012 eGolf Tour schedule, and is being contested this week at both Columbia Country Club and Cobblestone Park Golf Club in Blythewood, SC.

Fields entered Thursday’s second round trailing overnight leader Nick Taylor of British Columbia, Canada by three shots following an opening-round 67 at Columbia Country Club on Wednesday. Starting on the front nine of the P.B. Dye-designed Cobblestone Park course on Thursday morning, Fields birdied three of his first five holes to ease into what would become a career-best day.

“I got off to a really good start today. I was hitting my irons close, with a lot of shots getting inside 10 feet,” said Fields, 22. “If you keep doing that, you’re bound to make a few.”

Birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 took him to 5-under on the day and 10-under for the week, while a birdie at the watery par-3 11th took him even further into the red at 11-under.

Looking to finish strong, and still without a five on his card, Fields closed with birdies at 14,15 and 18 to close in 4-under 32 for his second-round 62.

The round marked a season-best for a player with just three made cuts in seven starts during his rookie campaign as a pro.

For Fields, the adjustment to professional golf has been a learning process after a stellar amateur career, highlighted by a win at the prestigious North & South Amateur last summer. Fields turned professional just prior to PGA TOUR Q-School last fall, but failed to advance past first stage when a final-round 81 took him from inside the number to outside of a passing grade. That experience in and of itself forced Fields to re-commit to his game, most notably his short game, this winter.

“Missing out on Q-School was definitely an eye-opening experience for me,” said Fields. “This offseason, I spent a lot of time working on my short game trying to get it up to par with everything else.”

Fields committed himself to improving his short game this past winter, working alongside coach Scott Davenport, who also doubles as his boss.

Since leaving the University of North Carolina, Fields has spent time working for Davenport in the pro shop at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte – site of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship. One of the perks of that job has been the time spent playing and practicing with the PGA TOUR members who are also members of the prestigious club.

“I spent a lot of time playing and practicing with Webb Simpson in the offseason. His short game is unbelievable, so to be able to watch him and feed off of that was big for me,” Fields said. “It quickly showed me what I needed to work on.”

Fields also was able to spend time with PGA TOUR winner Johnson Wagner, also a member at Quail Hollow.

“Between myself, Webb and Johnson, we all hit it well. But what I realized was, my short game wasn’t even close compared to theirs. They were just better than me around the greens,” he said. “You have to be able to salvage par when you’re having a bad hole, and those guys do it all the time. I just had to improve.”

With his eyes wide open, Fields took to the practice facility at Quail Hollow, allowing Davenport to hone his short game to the point where it would be PGA TOUR ready – or at least to the point where the number of fives on his card would slightly decrease.

“I played well as an amateur last summer, and a big reason for that was because I birdied a lot of par-5s,” said Fields, who also won the Carolinas Open last summer. “I knew if I could get back to doing that, I’d be headed in the right direction. So far it’s really paying off.”

Taylor, who held sole possession of the day one lead following an 8-under 64 at Columbia Country Club, played in one of the day’s final threesomes on Thursday at Cobblestone Park, and was able to birdie three of his last five holes to match Fields at 14-under thanks in part to a second-round 65.

Through two rounds of play, Taylor has posted a stout 15 birdies against one lone bogey to reach the 14-under mark – an identical tally to that of Fields. The former three-time “All American” at the University of Washington is making his first start on the eGolf Tour since competing in the tour’s two Morocco events in March of last year.

Much like Fields, Taylor’s amateur resume was among the best the game had to offer for the better part of a three-year stretch. After winning the Canadian Amateur in 2007, Taylor finished runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Championship as a sophomore on the Huskies golf team.

A T36 at the 2009 U.S. Open – highlighted by a second-round 65 on Bethpage Black – gave way to a runner-up in the 2009 U.S. Public Links Championship for Taylor, who capped off his stellar run with the prestigious Ben Hogan Award during his senior year. The award is given annually to the nation’s top college golfer.

Former British Amateur champion Drew Weaver of High Point, NC is alone in third place at 13-under 130 following rounds of 65-65—130 over the first 36 holes.

Drew Weaver

Weaver, who captured the prestigious amateur title during the summer of 2007, has been playing the eGolf Tour full time since the start of the 2010 season – a year in which he notched his first pro title at the tour’s Caddy For a Cure Classic in September. Since that rookie year, Weaver has collected five top-10 finishes on tour, with his most recent coming earlier this year when he finished T5 at the Pine Needles Classic.

On Thursday at Columbia Country Club, Weaver began his second round on the back nine with birdies on 10 and 12 to reach 2-under par, then added a birdie at 16 to turn at 3-under 33.

On the front nine (his back), Weaver’s scorecard read like a pro-am score on a PGA TOUR Wednesday.

Birdies on Nos. 1 and 3 took the Sea Island (GA) resident to 5-under for the day, which is where the fun began. Starting at the par-4 fourth, Weaver finished his round with the following six-holes stretch: bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-birdie-birdie. All told, the former Virginia Tech star posted six birdies and two bogeys on his final nine to close with a 32 to finish off his 7-under 65. The round marked his lowest (to par) on the eGolf Tour since a final-round 65 at the Cabarrus Classic last fall.

Michael Maness of Greenville, SC and Will Golden of Auburn, AL are tied for fourth at 11-under 132, three shots behind the pace set by Fields and Taylor.

The 36-hole cut fell at 4-under 140, with 53 players making it through to the final 36 holes of play. The third round of the Columbia Open presented by Groucho’s Deli will begin at 7:30 Am on Friday morning, with players competing in threesomes off of No. 1 tee. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.