Michael Pruitt and Aaron Hickman tied atop leaderboard at North Mid-Amateur
 
Garland, TX – Michael Pruitt and Aaron Hickman fire opening rounds of 5-under-par, 67 to take share of the lead at the North Mid-Amateur at Firewheel Golf Park.  Christopher Wheeler and Rob Couture sit just two back of the lead.

Michael Pruitt of Lubbock managed to navigate the challenging course bogey-free to shoot an opening round 67. He began his day, starting on the 10th, with four straight pars before taking advantage of the 125 yards par three, 14th. That momentum helped him record another on the 15th. After another string of four pars, his next birdie came on the difficult par three, 2nd. Adding two more birdies coming in gave the Lubbock native a share of the lead. Pruitt will look to break away from the pack at 9:03 am of the first tee on Saturday.

Also shooting a five-under-par, 67 was Aaron Hickman of Tyler. Hickman got his day started right with birdies on two of the opening three holes. He also took advantage of the back to back par fives on holes seven and eight, with birdies on each of them. Consistent play helped him card two more birdies before surrendering one to field on the par-five 18th.  Hickman will hope to take an outright lead at 8:09 am off the 10th tee on Saturday.

Chasing Pruitt and Hickman is Christopher Wheeler of Addison and Rob Couture of Dallas. Wheeler had five birdies on the day, two of which came on his opening three holes. His bogey free front side, his back, also helped put him in contention.
Rob Couture is also just two back with his, three-under-par, 69. Couture, who started on the 10th hole, began his day with three straight birdies. He added one more birdie before he doubled the difficult par four, fourth. Despite adding another bogey, he closed well with back to back birdies to finish the day.

The North Mid-Amateur recognizes the Super Mid-Am (ages 40 and older) in field in which Couture leads Carrollton’s Rick Sulzer by one. Sulzer’s two-under-par, 70 puts him at 5th overall and close to the leads.

Firewheel Golf Park proved to be a tough test for the players as the scoring average came in at around seven shots over par.

Tee times for the second round of the North Mid-Amateur will begin again at 8:00 am off the 1st and 10th tees.  For complete results, click here