Utah leads International Senior Invite after second-round leaderboard shuffle

The team from Utah separated itself on Friday in the second round of the International Senior Invitational. Call it a full-team effort.

Utah’s rise to the top of the leaderboard during Thursday’s opening round of the elite senior event at Cartersville (Georgia) Country Club could largely be attributed to Shane McMillan. Two eagles and six birdies went a long way in helping McMillan secure the top spot on the individual leaderboard as well as the team leaderboard, but on Friday, that hot play cooled slightly.

After an opening 65, McMillan returned a 74 on Friday with only two birdies canceled out by four bogeys. His teammates, however, stepped up in the play-three-count-two format. Brigham Gibbs posted 71 while Jon Wright had 74. Utah is now 4 under and one shot ahead of South Carolina.

McMillan is still in a tie for first place on the individual leaderboard after being caught by Irishman Joe Lyons, who backed up an opening 71 with a 68 to reach 5 under. No surprise there: Lyons is among his country’s most notable senior amateurs. He has won multiple Irish Senior Men’s Amateur Close Championships as well as the Spanish, Portuguese, and Irish senior amateur championships.

Lyons won the individual title in this event in 2023. He is co-founder of Lyons Links, which operates luxury golf and sightseeing tours in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and lives a life that revolves around the game.

Lyons’ strong play led his Irish team five spots up the leaderboard to a tie for eighth with Kentucky and Florida. The biggest mover of the day, however, was team Arkansas. Led by Stan Payne’s 66, that threesome climbed 15 spots into a tie for third. At 1 under as a team, Arkansas is now only three off Utah’s pace and in real contention for the title.

Iowa also climbed the team leaderboard on Friday, jumping five spots into a tie for third along with Arkansas and Scotland.

Mike McCoy, the reigning U.S. Senior Amateur champion, largely led that Iowan effort with his second-round 71. He is 4 under for the tournament and in solo third.

With one round left, a local team lurks, too. Cartersville member Chad Branton continues to lead the charge for a Georgia team that includes past U.S. Senior Am champs Bob Royak and Rusty Strawn. Branton posted a second-round 70 that moved him into the top 5 individually as his Georgia team sits in sixth on the team leaderboard.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Utah leads International Senior Invite after second-round leaderboard shuffle