Curtis Luck sits two shots back at Desert Classic

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Curtis Luck could dramatically change his season with a good weekend at the Desert Classic.

The 22-year-old Australian will start Saturday in second place after missing four of his first five cuts this season.

He sits at 14-under 130 (64-66), two shots behind fellow U.S. Amateur champion Phil Mickelson. Mickelson is the 36-hole leader following Thursday’s 60 with a 4-under 68.

Luck and Mickelson both have 16 birdies this week, the most in the field (Mickelson also has an eagle), but now they have two rounds remaining on PGA West’s Stadium Course, the toughest of the three courses in use this week.

Luck made eight birdies in each of his first two rounds, but also had two bogeys Friday.

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“Just like yesterday. Very solid, lot of greens, a lot of fairways. Just missed a couple of short ones today, unfortunately, on the greens,” he said.

He’s needed just 23 putts in each of the first two rounds. He is T79 in greens hit (25 of 36) but first in putts per green in regulation (1.44).

Luck, the 2016 U.S. Amateur champion, is playing his first season as a PGA TOUR member after earning his card via the Web.com Tour Finals.

He didn’t qualify for the Finals until the last week of the Web.com Tour’s Regular Season, finishing sixth at the WinCo Foods Portland Open to jump inside the top 75 on the money list and qualify for the four-event series that is the only source of PGA TOUR cards.

Luck posted two top-10s in the four Finals events to become a TOUR member.

Now he’s trying to turn around his season after a tough start. A 50th-place finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship is his best showing this season.