After an 1 1/2 hour frost delay, it warmed up at the Kampen Course. By noon it was in the high 50's. The course is in excellent condition with green speeds running to an 11 on the stimp meter.
Fletcher Coonan of Maitland, FL (2006) made the most of it by firing a 2 under par round of 70 to take the early lead over Christopher Williamson of Johnston, IA (2007). Coonan began his day birdie-bogey-birdie then settled into a nice rhythm of pars before making his 3rd birdie on #8, making the turn at 2 under par. He made 2 more birdies on the back nine to lead this division in birdies with 5. Williamson who posted a round of even par had 3 birdies on the day and will enter Sunday's round with a one stroke advantage over Joe Smith of Champaign, IL (2008). Five players are at +2 and tied for 4th, 1 stroke back of Smith: Zachary Kozuchowski, Fraser, MI, 2007, Klinton Krieger, Cheyenne, WY, 2007, Matthew Stauch, Dublin, OH, 2006, Ben Bellville, Granger, IN, 2007, and Kenny Wittenberg, Glen Ellyn, 2006. Another group is on +3 (75) and tied for 9th. Raj Nahal, Chris Duffy, Michael Cress and the 2004 Purdue Champion Kyle Thomas are all 5 strokes back of Coonan but still in the hunt. Ben Boyer carded the only eagle of the event on the par 4 11th hole. This field of 67 boys will tee it up on Sunday for the final round of play.
In the boys 13-15 division, last season's 11-12 Champion is leading. Al Jennings III, of Fort Wayne, IN (2010) took the first round lead with a round of +3, 75 to lead by one stroke over 14 year old Alex Lyall of Novi, MI (2008), playing in his first FCWT event. Jennings led this division with 3 birdies on the round. Scott Blosser of Columbus, OH (2008) and Adam Sumrall of South Bend, IN (2009) are in a tie for 3rd at +7.
The 2004 Purdue Champion came out ready to defend her title. Ellen Mueller of Evansville, IN (2007), carded a round of even par to lead the field by 8 strokes at the Purdue Junior Golf Classic. Miss Mueller, who won at Cog Hill last weekend, is playing in her 3rd event of the season and has been in contention each week. At Notre Dame, Aimee Neff edged her out in a playoff, but last week it was Ellen's turn as she finished 3 strokes ahead of Aimee to win at Cog Hill. Without Aimee in this field, the only participant with any shot at preventing Miss Mueller from defending her title is Caitlin Fortner of Greeneville, TN (2007). Miss Fortner is 8 shots back of Miss Mueller, but is 11 shots ahead of the group tied for 3rd. Ellen's round of even par included 2 birdies and 2 bogeys along with 15 pars. Ellen was a 2004-05 FCWT 2nd Team All-American and is already working her way towards nomination again this season. |
