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Michael Sim is on a mission. The 19-year-old Australian aims to play on the PGA Tour one day, and he figures the best way to prepare is to find a little competition while he’s still an amateur. Sim knew there was only one place to go.

“America,” Sim said. “This is where all the players are. If you want to test your game against the best, you come to the States.”

Sim has done exactly that this summer, traveling the country and playing the top amateur events. Already he’s finished fifth in the Sunnehana, 36th at the Northeast, seventh at the Dogwood, and, last week, third at the Sahalee in Seattle. In between, he found time to shoot under par in British Amateur qualifying and advance to the round of 36 in match play.

“I’ve been on the road a while,” understated Sim, who placed his name high atop a leaderboard yet again on Thursday. Make that very high. Sim leads the Southern Amateur after a second-round 6-under-par 66 at The Honors Course. Coupled with his opening-round 71, shot without the benefit of a practice round, Sim is seven under par for the tournament, two shots ahead of Reed Darsie of the University of North Carolina, who is at 139 after shooting a second-round 69.

Ryan Baca, an All-American from Baylor University, is another two shots behind after a 67. Chattanooga’s Andrew Black, the first round leader, slid to a 76 after an opening 67, but he’s still 1-under for the tournament along with Heath West of Dothan, Ala.

Chattanooga’s Adam Mitchell and Ricky Honeycutt were in a group bunched at 144.

Sims shot a fairly tidy round, making an eagle and six birdies against just two bogeys and shooting 33 on both nines. But the most impressive thing he did all day was force Honors greens superintendent David Stone and his staff to change the hole location at No. 10. How many times have you heard of that happening?

The change was necessitated by a crisp swing of Sim’s 8-iron. The shot, which traveled 156 yards, was so high and true that it came down on the lip of the cup, ripped it beyond repair, bounced off the flagstick and settled into the hole for an eagle 2.

“I thought I’d hit it well,” Sim said. “I drew it around nicely. Then there was sort of a delayed reaction. We heard it hit the pin, and then didn’t see the ball. I said, ‘I think that went in the hole.’ When I saw it, I was pumped.”

The eagle helped Sim shoot the low round of the tournament.

“I’ve been playing some good golf lately,” Sim said. “But my game is usually around par. I’ll take 66 though. It doesn’t come very often.”

Darsie, entering his sophomore season at UNC, has surely impressed his coaches with his showing so far. “If you’d have told me before the tournament that I’d be five under par and in second place after 36 holes, I’d have been pleased,” said Darsie, coming off a third-place finish in the North-South Amateur at Pinehurst.

Darsie had as close to a flawless ball-striking round as you can get before the final two holes. Heading to the 17th tee, he had hit 15-of-16 greens in regulation and converted six birdies. He bogeyed the only green he’d missed to that point, No. 11.

Unfortunately, the par-5s would continue to extract a toll on Darsie, who pushed his 220-yard second shot into the trees at No. 17 and made bogey. He had to drain a 10-foot bogey putt at No. 18.

Black’s 76 took him all around the golf course, in direct contrast to the day before, when he made just one bogey, that coming at the 18th hole. Black’s scorecard had just seven pars. The other 11 holes were filled out with seven bogeys, four birdies and a double-bogey.

“It was just a different day,” Black said. “That’s why they have four rounds, though. Maybe I got my bad round out of the way early and can finish strong the final two days.”

Finish strong is one thing Black didn’t do on Thursday. He had a chance to salvage a 74 out of the day, but bogeyed No. 8 and 9, his final two holes.

“That was disappointing to finish like that,” Black said. “But things could have been a lot worse today. I could easily have shot 80.”

McCallie senior Adam Mitchell was steamed after finishing his round with a double-bogey at the par-4 9th hole, but he nevertheless put himself in decent shape.

Actually, Mitchell could have lived with one dub, but two left his shaking his head. The other came at No. 5, but he seemed to have regrouped nicely with birdies at No. 6 and the tough par-4 7th. He slipped past No. 8 with a par, but he couldn’t escape the ninth, surely one of the world’s most difficult short par-4s.

Mitchell pushed his drive behind the mound right of the fairway. He briefly considered having a go at the green, but decided to lay up well short of the pond. His pitch came up about 30 feet short, and from there he three-putted.

“The thing that makes me mad is I tried to do the right thing,” Mitchell said. “I probably could have hit it on the green from where I was, but I decided to lay up. And I still make double-bogey.”