Paul Haley is the first to admit he wasn’t ready for the Porter Cup in summers past.

This year, he’s ready to contend for the championship.

A moderate hitter with a deft short game who is currently 111th in the Scratch Players amateur rankings, Haley came on strong at the end of his senior year at Georgia Tech, earning first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors. He carried that momentum in to the four events he’s played so far this summer, finishing in the top 10 each time and proving himself worthy of a spot in the 53rd Porter Cup.

“It’s a big tournament, one I always wanted to play in, but to be honest, wasn’t good enough to be in before this year,” Haley said. “So it was nice to get the invitation.”

“He was one of the later guys we got into the field,” tournament director Steve Denn said. “He had a solid year at Georgia Tech. I followed him and he played a lot of the early summer events, the Sunnehanna and the Northeast, and played his way in.”

On Wednesday, Haley played his way to the top of the leader board at Niagara Falls Country Club, spreading six birdies around a bogey-free round to shoot 64. Haley enters today’s second round with a one-stroke lead over Daniel Nisbet and Garrett Rank, and a two-stroke advantage over fellow Dallas native Cody Gribble.

“The golf course really suits my kind of game,” Haley said. “I’m not a long hitter, but I feel I’m pretty good around the greens and with wedges in my hands, I hit the ball really good tee to green today. I probably hit inside of 15 feet seven or eight times.”

With sun-scorched rough reduced to stubble and little to no wind coming off the escarpment, 30 players came in under par, though many of the pre-tournament favorites shot in the 70s.

Haley took the lead in the second hour of the tournament, nesting birdies on the second, third and fourth holes. On the back nine, he birdied No. 11, then closed with a 40-foot up-hill putt on No. 15, and a 20-footer on No. 18 for his sixth birdie.

Eating his lunch before the featured groups even made the turn, Haley wasn’t expecting his score to hold up.

“I could see somebody shooting 62, 63, easily,” he said.

Nisbet, Rank and Gribble posted their scores early. Nobody got close to 6-under in the afternoon. There’s talk that Brian Harman’s tournament record of 22-under could be in jeopardy if the weather cooperates. But right now, Haley is the only player on pace to better that.

Even he wouldn’t have expected that a year ago.

“It’s the nature of the game,” Denn said. “Some guys get good earlier, and some guys get good later. Some guys peak early and then they plateau. Paul’s obviously on the upward side of the bell curve right now.”

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