Sparks, NV – After opening his week at eGolf’s Championship at Red Hawk with a course-record 61, Richard Fountain of Raleigh, NC could have been excused for laying off the gas during Thursday’s second round of the $250,000 event. Instead, the former Davidson College star eagled both back-nine par-5s en route to a 6-under 66 on day two and a commanding three-shot lead with two rounds to go in the first-year tournament.

Fountain’s week in suburban Reno began on Wednesday morning in stellar fashion, with a 10-under 61 on the Hills course at host Red Hawk Golf and Resort. On a day fit for perfect scoring, his record-setting effort left him one shot clear of the field entering Thursday’s second round on the Robert Trent Jones-designed Lakes course.

To quote Fountain himself, his opening nine on day two was a bit “ho-hum,” with birdies on Nos. 2 and 6 – both par-5s – delivering a 2-under 34 at the turn and a 12-under-par tally for the week.

“I was being patient out there, but I wasn’t hitting the ball as well early in the day as I wanted to,” said Fountain.

A missed 4-footer for birdie on the par-4 ninth may have been the spark he needed to jumpstart a round he hoped would keep pace with his day one effort. On the very next hole, Fountain began to play catch up.

“On No. 10, I blocked my drive to the right and got very fortunate with a kick off a hill,” he said. “My tee shot wound up just 142 yards from the hole.”

The 529-yard par-5 10th was reachable throughout the day for most of the field, but Fountain’s fortuitous bounce left him with a short-iron approach that he stuck to 15 feet for an eagle that vaulted him to 4-under on the day and 14-under overall.

Pars on Nos. 11 through 15 brought the affable 22-year-old to the par-5 16th, where another prodigious tee shot left him with just a 6-iron second shot from 200 yards.

“I usually hit my 6-iron about 190 yards, but with the air up here, I figured I could get it there from 200,” he said. “I lobbed it in the air and it just stopped where it landed.”

Justin Peters

Fountain’s stellar approach wound up 12 feet from the hole, and again he converted for eagle to move even further up the second-round leaderboard at 16-under par – three shots clear of the field at the time.

Pars on 17 and 18 left the eGolf Tour rookie with a second-round 66 and a 16-under 127 total at the event’s halfway point – a red-figure barrage aided by 36 bogey-free holes and a 9-under-par total over seven par-5s.

“It was nice to play the par-5s that well. You really have to take advantage of them out here, because they’re all reachable,” Fountain said.

After finishing a standout career at Davidson this spring, Fountain turned to the eGolf Tour, where he recorded five top-25s in his first six starts, including a career-best runner-up at the Sapona Ridge Classic in August.

Poised as one of the tour’s young breakout candidates, he sits on top of a 36-hole lead for the first time in his professional career and for the first time since his junior year of college.

As one of the best players in Davidson College history, Fountain racked up a plethora of top-10s, but only two wins – both coming in his freshman year.

To say he’s excited to be in the lead with two rounds to go would be an understatement.

“It’s been frustrating (not to win) because there are times when I’m playing great but there just aren’t any tournaments,” he said. “This is really exciting, though. I feel like I’ve been playing well and hitting my driver very well.”

Fountain lies three shots ahead of Ben Geyer of Arbuckle, CA with 36 holes to go, but knows the looming forecast of Saturday snow showers could put forth an interesting finish.

Ben Geyer

“I wanted to get as deep as I could before the last couple of rounds, because it looks like the weather could get interesting,” he said. “This could be a wild finish to a great week.”

Geyer, who set a course-record 9-under 63 on the Lakes course on Wednesday, pared his opening nine holes on the Hills course to sit idle at even-par on day two.

On the back nine of the Hale Irwin-designed course, the former St. Mary’s College standout came to life with a birdie at the first and an eagle-birdie finish on Nos. 8 and 9 to wrap up a 4-under 32 and a second-round 67.

Geyer, the 2013 West Coast Conference co-Player of the Year and 2012 WCC individual champion, won his first professional event earlier this year with a four-shot victory at eGolf West’s Arrowood Open.

Former University of Nevada golfer Justin Peters of Stuart, FL is in solo-third place at 12-under 131 following rounds of 66-65.

Peters, who won Golf Channel’s inaugural “Big Break” in 2003 and recently competed in the televised Big Break Invitational, has two top-25s to his name this year on the eGolf Tour. The 37-year-old competed on PGA TOUR Canada this summer, where he made five of 11 cuts and posted a season-best T23 at the Bayview Place Island Savings Open in June.

Four players sit tied for fourth at 11-under par, including longtime PGA TOUR member Craig Barlow of Henderson, NV, and former world No. 1-ranked amateur Chris Williams of Moscow, ID.

The 36-hole cut fell at 5-under 138, with 64 players making it through to the final two rounds of play.

Third-round play in the Championship at Red Hawk will begin at 9:30 AM on Friday morning, with players competing in threesomes off of Nos. 1 and 10 on the Lakes course. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.