On Saturday, senior Brad Nicholson of Chandler, AZ, opened the ASU Jr. Golf Classic with a round of 3 under par 69. Nicholson led the Boys 16-18 division with 6 birdies on the day and had a one shot lead over Michael Garden of Scottsdale, AZ (2007), Chase Hite of Tucson, AZ (2006) and Steven Schmid of Pewaukee, WI (2006) going into Sunday's final round. Four players began the day tied for 5th at -1: Jed Dirksen of Coral Gables, FL (2007), Josh Anderson of Murrieta, CA (2007), Jeff Grant of Coto de Caza, CA (2006), and Ben Klaus of Edmond, OK (2007). On Sunday, Garden fired a 3 under par 69, to go five under for the event and win by 1 over Jed Dirksen, who also shot a final round of 69. Garden led the boys 16-18 division with 9 birdies for the event and earned his first FCWT victory! For Dirksen, it was his 2nd Top 5 finish in as many weeks after T5 last weekend at Grand Cypress. Overnight leader Brad Nicholson of Chandler, AZ, finished in 3rd place after a final round of even par. Jeff Grant of Coto de Caza, CA (2006) and Chase Hite of Tucson, AZ (2006) finished T4.
In the 13-15 division, Trent Sanders of Scottsdale, AZ (2008), fired an opening round of 4 under par on Saturday and led by 8 strokes going into the final round. He increased that lead to 10 strokes on Sunday with a final round of even par. Stefan Richardson of Renton, WA (2008) tied him for the Low Round of the day and moved into 2nd place. Kevin Ormiston of Snoqualmine, WA (2008) finished in 3rd place at 151.
Natalie Sheary of West Hartford, CT (2007) carded two rounds of even par (72) to win the girls division. This is Natalie's second FCWT win of the season and her third Top 5 finish. Last season Natalie finished in 4th place at this event at +6. Nicole Schachner of Libertyville, IL (2006) remained in 2nd place adding a 75 to her opening round of 74. And once again Ashley McKenney of Scottsdale, AZ (2008), came on strong in the final round to finish in 3rd place. Miss McKenney's strong final round at Tucson gave her 2nd place honors. |
