Good break

LITTLE ROCK — Questions about the foot long scars running along Brad Schneider’s left leg came after he walked off the course at the end of the first round of the Southern Amateur Championship on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old delivered a quick version of the story Thursday after the second round.

In November 2006 during a pickup football game with friends, Schneider caught a pass and was dragged down from behind. His right leg was pinned and snapped in five places - the outside of his right foot ending up near his face.

Eight hours of surgery repaired the break, but swelling in his left leg compressed the nerves and tissue of his calf muscle.

The result: Another surgery removing the bulk of his calf and leaving two scars on his leg.

Sitting in a three-way tie for second place after the second round with Hunter Howell at 6 under par, Schneider said the topic of conversation never stays solely on golf.

“Playing partners always ask,” said Schneider, a recent graduate of Central Florida. “People that come to watch ask. If I play well, reporters ask, too. I have no problem talking about it. It’s something I’ve dealt with for the past six years now. I’m still lucky to play good golf.”

Schneider’s 3-under 69 on Chenal Valley Country Club’s Bear Den Course has him only two shots behind leader Keith Mitchell, who is 8 under after a second consecutive 68 Thursday.

Alabama’s Bobby Wyatt was also at 6 under, but he was one of 37 players who were unable to complete their second round before play was stopped because of darkness at 7:50 p.m. Those players will resume their second rounds at 7 a.m. today.

After opening the round with a birdie on No. 1, a 444-yard par 4, Schneider spent the better of the front nine - which played easier than the closing stretch - around even par.

Leaving his drive short on the bunker-protected fourth hole, he failed to get up and down before settling for a bogey. But he sank an 8-foot uphill birdie putt on No. 5 - a 525-yard par 5 - to make the turn at even par.

Schneider resembled the bulk of the field in taking advantage of Bear Den’s four par-5 holes, which have been the four lowest-scoring holes in relation to par and yielded more than 44 percent of the 171 birdies in the first two rounds.

“Most of them set up pretty well for longer players, who can usually reach them in two,” Schneider said. “I’ve laid up on a couple and gone after [the pin] on a couple.”

On the back nine, Schneider birdied No. 12, a relatively straightforward 390-yard par 4. He set up a workable wedge shot within 10 feet of the pin.

Three holes later, he made his second birdie in as many days on the 566-yard par-5 15th hole to reach 5 under. Then he knocked a 115-yard wedge shot within 7 feet for a closing birdie putt on No. 18.

“I’m a good wedge player, and I know I can putt it pretty well,” Schneider said. “I can give myself some birdie chances, and anytime you have a wedge in your hand with greens like these, you can be aggressive.”

Meanwhile, circumstances left Mitchell, who is from Chattanooga, Tenn., with a a potential case of mistaken identity and a strange set of clubs.

The Georgia junior had his clubs stolen from the trunk of his car a week ago and was forced to use an older driver, borrow a set of woods from his Bulldogs teammates and use a courtesy set of wedges from Nike.

As for his bag, Mitchell borrowed an older model belonging to former Georgia player Harris English, who won the Southern Amateur last year before joining the PGA Tour.

“He does,” Mitchell said when asked if English, who is playing in the British Open this week, knew of his bag being commandeered. “But this is his bag from a while ago.”

Despite not playing with his own clubs, Mitchell made back-to-back birdies - twoof five for the round and nine total over two days - on Nos. 5 and 6.

“I played solid both rounds,” Mitchell said. “I was just consistent, and nothing really stands out. But that’s a good thing out here. If I can just keep that going into the weekend, I can keep playing well.”

Similar to Schneider, Mitchell took advantage on the par 5s, where he made three of his birdies, including a 12-foot putt on the 566-yard 15th that borders a creek on the left side of the fairway and bunkers along the right flank.

“These greens are really pure, but they’re receptive,” Mitchell said. “You can take it right at the hole without it bouncing off. You’ve got to take dead aim.”

Howell, who is from Raeford, N.C., and attends North Carolina State, opened the second round at 1 under, but made five consecutive birdies after teeing off on No. 10 to quickly join the pack atop the leaderboard.

Finding the rough at the front of the green, Howell made a 50-foot chip to the back left pin position. He then added birdie putts between 10 feet and 15 feet over the next four holes.

“They weren’t playing easy,” Howell said. “The wind was blowing a little harder this morning than it was this afternoon. I was just hitting it pretty close.”

For Schneider, sitting in contention is a long way removed from the seven months it took him to start walking again, or the 11 months that followed where he regained his swing.

“Physical rehab and working out every day took up most of my time,” Schneider said. “But still, I managed to get out, and slowly worked my way up from the wedges, to the irons, to the woods.”

In the meantime, he took a medical redshirt, joined Central Florida for the 2008-2009 season to regain his form and gained 50 pounds that the 5-6, 150-pound player had lost. Over that span, he worked with swing coach Tod Anderson at Sea Island Golf Learning Center in Simmons Island, Ga.