Okatie, SC – Through 36 holes of the eGolf Tour’s Oldfield Open, the tournament leaders appear to be the demanding Oldfield Country Club and Chechessee Creek Club courses, which have proven to be cruel mistresses to the event’s competitors through two rounds of play. Severe winds wreaked havoc on the 162-player field on Thursday, and left a threesome of players atop the leaderboard at a major-championship-like 6-under 136.

The Oldfield Open is the second of 24 scheduled events on the 2012 eGolf Tour schedule, and is being contested this week at both Oldfield Country Club and Chechessee Creek Club in Okatie, SC.

Chris Naegel of Chesterfield, MO, Ryan Nelson of Houston, TX and Joey McLister of Charlotte, NC are the tournament’s co-leaders through 36 holes at 6-under 136.

Naegel, who entered the second round in solo-second place following an opening 66 at Oldfield, carded three bogeys and three birdies at Chechessee Creek during Thursday’s morning wave to finish with an even-par 70 to remain at 6-under for the week.

The former Missouri Baptist University golfer finished T45 at the tour’s season-opening Palmetto Hall Championship last week with rounds of 71-71-72-78—292. The made cut was his second in three career starts on the eGolf Tour.

Nelson, one of the tour’s top newcomers in 2011, has arguably played the most consistent golf of anyone this week, with rounds of 68-68 and only two bogeys through 36 holes of play.

A winner at both the tour’s Scratch Golf Championship last July and Cabarrus Classic last September, Nelson played his second round at Oldfield in the horrid afternoon wind, but managed to surround his five birdies with just one bogey – that coming at the narrow par-4 ninth. The former University of Portland star opened his season with a 60th-place finish at Palmetto Hall, courtesy of a final-round 81 that included a sextuple-bogey nine at the par-3 16th.

The sluggish start did nothing to diminish Nelson’s stellar 2011 campaign, where he coupled his two wins with three other top-5 finishes en route to earning $83,260 on the year to finish No. 3 on the season-ending money list. The 33-year old Nelson, originally from Omak, WA, moved to Charleston, SC last year to play the eGolf Tour on a full-time basis.

Joey McLister

McLister, who opened his week with a 4-under 68 at Oldfield on Wednesday, continued his stolid play with another 68 at Chechessee Creek on Thursday to reach 6-under par.

The Delaware native, who now calls Charlotte, NC home, is one week removed from a T19 finish at Palmetto Hall – his third top-25 in his last four eGolf Tour events dating back to last fall.

Tied for fourth, one shot behind the trio of leaders, are six-time eGolf Tour winner Frank Adams III of Laurinburg, NC, Adam Cohan of nearby Savannah, GA, Brazil’s Fernando Mechereffe and George Bryan IV of Chapin, SC.

Adams, a former East Carolina University golfer and one of the longest tenured members of the eGolf Tour, carded the tournament’s low round at Chechessee Creek on Thursday with a five-birdie, one-eagle effort that resulted in a 5-under 65. Adams, who began his second round on the back nine of the Coore/Crenshaw masterpiece, birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to quickly move to 2-under for the day, before posting a double-bogey at the short par-3 13th to fall back to even. A closing nine featuring an eagle at the par-5 fifth (his 14th) and birdies on his last two holes more than made up for the early blunder and sent Adams shooting up the tournament’s morning leaderboard.

Cohan, a longtime eGolf Tour member who lives 20 minutes away in Savannah, posted four birdies and a bogey at Oldfield’s drive-able par-4 12th in the second round to card a 3-under 69. Cohan, who opened his week with a 2-under 68 at Chechessee Creek, is one of only four players in the field to post both rounds in the 60s (Nelson, McLister, Mechereffe).

The former Georgia Tech golfer is coming off of a 2011 season in which he made just 5 of 13 cuts on the eGolf Tour, with his best finish being a T48 at the Bolle Classic. Cohan missed the cut at last week’s Palmetto Hall event with rounds of 74-74—148.

The story of the day during Thursday’s second round was the presence of heavy winds, which pelted both Oldfield and Chechessee Creek as they blew in off the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Steady winds at 20 mph throughout the afternoon wave were exacerbated by gusts of up to 30 mph, and scores reflected the difficult conditions. Scoring averages increased from Wednesday’s opening round at both courses, with Oldfield’s average ballooning to 73.25 for day two.

The high scoring, however, has left the door open to a number of contenders entering the final two rounds of play. With Friday’s third round on the horizon, a staggering 26 players are within four shots of the tournament lead.

First-round leader Roger Sloan of Canada, who opened the week with a 7-under 65 at Oldfield on Wednesday, ballooned to a second-round 80 on Thursday at Chechessee Creek, and missed the tournament’s 36-hole cut by two shots.

The 36-hole cut fell at 1-over 143, with 63 players making it through to the event’s final two rounds. Third-round play in the Oldfield Open will begin at 8:00 AM on Friday morning at both Oldfield Country Club and Chechessee Creek Club. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.