The Blue Devil Junior Golf Classic defending champion, Elizabeth Alger of Tequesta, FL, came alive on Saturday and put herself in position to defend her title. Miss Alger who is coming back from injury earlier this year, showed her pre-injury form as she posted a round of 1 over par on Saturday, despite the frost delay and cold morning temperatures. The weather warmed up as the day progressed and Miss Alger warmed up right along with it. After a tough start on #1 with a double bogey and then bogeys again on 3 and 4, Elizabeth found her groove and made birdie on 7 and 9. After making the turn she played the back nine at 2 under par for a round score of 73 (+1) on the day. An 8 stroke improvement over her opening round. She will enter the final round with a 9 stroke lead over Julie Saleeby of Raleigh, NC, who also made a big move on the leaderboard on Saturday. Miss Saleeby posted a second round of 75, 13 strokes better than round one. Saleeby is tied with thirteen-year-old Christine Meier of Rochester Hills, MI (2010) going into the final round. They are just one stroke ahead of Louisa Shu of West Bloomfield, MI (2007). In a tie for 5th place are Sarah Whitney of Hingham, MA (2007) and the first round leader Marissa Glew of Gibsonia, PA (2007).
Hunter Howell of Raeford, NC (2007), playing in his first FCWT event, has carded rounds of 73-72 to lead by one over Adam Long of St. Charles, MO and Zachary Drescher of Landisville, PA (2007). Steady, consistent play is what put Howell at the top of the leaderboard for the final round - not leading in birdies or some other statistic, just solid play! Consistency seems to be the key to this event as Long and Drescher both have carded two rounds of 73. When the weather starts cold as it has for the past few days, a player has to adjust - they have to use their mental game to keep themselves in the "hunt." These 3 players, thus far, have been able to do that.
Another player demonstrating his consistency of play is 16 year old Matthew Neely of Ashland, VA (2007). Neely, who is playing in his first FCWT event, has carded rounds of 76-73 to put himself 3 strokes back of second place. Ward Minton of Raleigh, NC (2007), started Saturday's round T4, but managed to remain in the top 5 going into Sunday's final round.
Donnie Shin of Columbia, MD (2007) and Kris Keiser Jr. of Winston-Salem, NC will start the final round in 6th place at 152.
Evan Beck of Virginia Beach, VA (2009) overtook thirteen year old Richard Werenski of South Hadley, MA, in the boys 13-15 division with a second round score of 75 added to his opening round of 77 puts him on152. Beck leads Werenski and Alex Lyall of Novi, MI (2008) by one stroke. John Weldon of Pilot Mountain, NC (2008); Christopher Walker of The Woodlands, TX (2008); and Daniel Stringfellow of Roselle, IL (2010) are tied for 4th at 161.
Eleven year old Michael Werenski of South Hadley, MA fired a round of 75 on Saturday including an eagle on #10 to take over the lead in the boys 11-12 division from twelve year old Noah Walker of Norwell, MA (2011). Walker began the day with a 5 shot lead, but a second round of 87 puts him 7 strokes back of Werenski going into the final round. Alexander Kane of Topsfield, MA is in 3rd place. |
