The story at Innisbrook: the WINDAs the players headed to the tee at 7:30am at the Innisbrook Golf Course, the sustained wind was 25 mph with wind gusts in the 40-50 mph range, not your first choice for a leisurely day of golf, but this was not leisure golf. One of the things that makes a fall-winter-spring tour unique is that players test their golfing skills in a variety of conditions; conditions more similar to college golf than can be experienced by only playing in the summer. Even here in "sunny" Florida, winter has its moments - today was one of those days. Four players were fortunate to keep enough control over the ball that they arrived in the clubhouse at only 6 over par. Colin Van Es of Granger, IN (2007), Ryan Crum of South Salem, NY (2007), James Field Jr. of Pinecrest, FL (2007) and Jonathan Randolph of Brandon, MS (2007) will head into Sunday's round two as co-leaders and one stroke ahead of the group who finished day one at +7: Preston Knox of Dunedin, FL (2007), Diego Tamayo of Venezuela (2007), Cameron Peterson of Grove City, PA (2007), and Jhared Hack of Heathrow, FL (2007). A third group of players are at +8 (79) and tied for 9th: Eric Shaw of Longwood, FL (2007), Nathan Sutherland of Wyomissing, PA (2007), Mike Harman of Windermere, FL (2006), Stewart Dula of Salisbury, NC (2007), and Peter Kolosvary of Safety Harbor, FL (2006). Marc Hensel of Tampa, FL (2006), carded the only eagle in the Boys 16-18 division with a 2 on the par 4 328-yard 2nd hole. Colin Van Es and James Field Jr. both carded 3 birdies in round one to lead this division. And on a day when pars were not taken for granted, Jonathan Randolph and Nathan Sutherland led this division with 12 pars each. The top 40 players are within 10 strokes of the leaders with 2 rounds left to play and a forecast for a much improved weather situation, things could change significantly on Sunday. In the boys 13-15 division, Peter Meeks of Sarasota, FL ( ) is out to the first round lead after an opening round of 75. He leads Jordan Rizzo of Sarasota, FL (2009) and Hugh Lindstrom of Wesley Chapel, FL (2008) by 5 strokes. Lindstrom already has one FCWT win this season at Naples and a top 5 finish at World Woods. Fourteen year old Richard Werenski of South Hadley, MA (2010) is in 4th place after an opening round of 83. Jace Striplin of Centerville, OH (2008) is in 5th place at 84 (+13). In the boys 11-12 division, eleven year old Michael Werenski of South Hadley, MA (2012) leads by two strokes over Joshua Lee of Orange Park, FL (2013). Werenski is looking for his 4th win of the season, having previously won at Newport National, Duke, and Amelia. 
WONG overcomes the WINDAs the ladies headed to the tee at 9:18 am on Saturday at the Innisbrook Golf Course, the sustained winds of 25 mph+ had been blowing for hours. All up and down the East Coast, the isobars were in close proximity creating wind gusts in the 40-50 mph range. Many players would choose a day on the couch over a day on the links, but these young ladies aspire to more than a casual acquaintance with the game of golf. So off they went to battle the winter wind in "sunny" Florida. While the conditions of the day made it a struggle for most and would have challenged even the seasoned PGA tour player, one young lady came away from round one victorious. Kristina Wong of Vestal, NY (2009), who is currently ranked # 32 in the Golfweek/Titleist rankings, demonstrated today how a 14 year old has achieved such a strong national ranking. Miss Wong managed 3 birdies and the lowest score of the day of any of the 90 competitors at the Innisbrook Classic: 72 (+1). Miss Wong, who won last season at both the Back Creek event and the Penn State event and finished 2nd in the 2005 Sawgrass event, is playing her first event of this season. She is out to an 11 stroke lead as she pursues her first FCWT win of the season. In second place, is thirteen year old Justine Knox of Dunedin, FL (2011). Justine, playing in her first FCWT event, held her own against some FCWT veterans and will enter round two with a 1 shot advantage over senior Meghna Bal of INDIA. Meghna is battling a neck injury but still managed to card the third lowest score of the day. She leads local favorite 12 year old Dakota Dowd of Palm Harbor, FL, (2012) by 2. Senior Leslie Grabeman of Springboro, OH will start the second round in 5th place after an opening round of 89. In the Girls 13 and under division, 9 year old Yueer Tang of Shenzhen, China (2014) leads after an opening round of 83. At this age, these girls golf bags are often bigger than they are, but make no mistake about it, these young ladies are the future. Miss Tang is not a rookie; she has already won the 2004 Callaway Junior World Championship at her age level and the 2004 US Kids Golf World Championship. She leads 10 year old Simin Feng of Beijing, CHINA by 6 strokes. Miss Feng who has been playing golf for less than 2 years also comes with a resume of experience: Aug 2004 3rd China Junior Golf Championship; Jan 2005 3rd China Open Junior Golf; July 2005 Callaway Junior World Golf Championship; July 2005 13th U.S. KIDS Junior Golf World Championship. In third place is Heather Proctor of Silver Springs, FL (2012). |
