Albany Herald

Albany’s Walt Mathews hits a drive at Doublegate during the second round of the Georgia Junior Championship on Tuesday. (joe.bellacomo@albanyherald.com)

ALBANY — Albany’s Jacob Joiner and his brother Tyler may be too far behind to catch overall leader Andy Shim with one round left to play at the Georgia Junior Championship, but make no mistake that there’s still plenty left to play for heading into today’s final round at Doublegate Country Club.

Namely, extra housework.

“There’s always a bet going between us,” Jacob Joiner, 16, said his sibling rivalry with his 15-year-old brother. “Basically, we bet chores. And neither of us wants to lose.”

After two days, it’s a dead heat when it comes to determining who will be picking up the others’ dish and laundry duties as the brothers sit tied for 24th place overall at 5-over, some 14 shots behind Duluth’s Shim, who is 9-under and running away with the title.

Shim is an impressive seven shots ahead of Augusta’s Greyson Sigg (2-under), while the Joiner brothers were the only two Albany players — of the six in the field — who made Tuesday’s cut. Moultrie’s Andrew Eunice is still in the hunt in 35th place overall.

Tyler was tied for fourth overall after Day 1, but fired a 78 on Day 2 to fall down the leaderboard. Jacob went the opposite way Tuesday, shooting a 74 to pull even with his brother.

“I didn’t hit the ball or putt great (Tuesday),” Tyler said. “But I went to the range after my round and worked on a few things, so I hope to finish strong (today).”

The brothers, who are home-schooled, say their goals are to shoot “67 or 68” today and end in the Top 8, which would qualify them to compete in the upcoming Georgia-South Carolina Challenge Match in July.

“I missed it by five shots last year, so I don’t want to come close and not make it again,” Jacob said.

Their home course is Grand Island, and they’ve found Doublegate to be far more difficult to navigate.

“We don’t play here a lot, and we’re finding it’s a totally different course,” Jacob said. “Grand Island is wide open and Doublegate is tree-lined everywhere. It’s fun, though.”

Tyler tees off today at 8:30 a.m., followed by Jacob at 8:40.

Seventy players made the 36-hole cut at 11-over-par 155 or better, but only three of the 70 players are under par after 36 holes.

The shot of the day belonged to Jim Beatty of Stephens as he recorded a hole-in-one on the Par-3, 191-yard second hole with a 4-iron.

Full score list available at: http://www.ghintpp.com/gsga/TPPOnlineScoring/Default.aspx?id=211