Uihlein shines like the Sun!
A picture perfect day -- there is no other way to describe the weather here at Bermuda Run. The sun was shining, the temperatures were in the upper 70s and the wind was near calm; a perfect day for golf at the Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, NC. The biggest challenge on the course were the lightning fast greens. Ninety players from 13 states teed it up for two rounds here at one of the Wake Forest Deacon "home" courses.
Just as the North Carolina weather has experienced a warm-up this week, so too, many of the competitors in this and other November events on the FCWT are "warming up" their game for the POLO GOLF JUNIOR CLASSIC. One of those competitors is Chesson Hadley of Raleigh, NC. Chesson, will be honored as a Rolex All-American on November 20, 2005, fired a 2 under par 70 on Saturday to be the early leader in the clubhouse for the Boys 16-18 division. Chesson, who finished T23 at this event last season, has made great strides in his game, including a win at the FCWT Blue Devil Junior Classic in November of 2004. That Duke win along with two other top 5 finishes on the FCWT in 2004-05 earned Chesson 2nd Team All-American honors.
Chesson's tour at the top of the leaderboard was short-lived for this event as last season's runner-up Peter Uihlein of Bradenton, FL, came charging into the clubhouse with a bogey-free round of 4 under par 68 on Saturday. Uihlein, who was recently named the Rolex Player of the Year is playing in this event for the third year in a row. Last year he lost in a playoff to Bank Vongvanij after finishing T10 in his first Bermuda Run event in 2003. Peter, like Chesson, will be honored on November 20th for his accomplishments over the last year in junior golf; accomplishments that have ranked him as the number 6 player in the country on the Golfweek/Titleist rankings. Last season on the FCWT, Peter was awarded 2nd Team All-American honors for this three Top 3 finishes on the year. Peter will enter the final round with a 2 stroke advantage over Hadley and with the experience of 5 rounds of tournament golf on this course. Peter's bogey-free round puts him exactly where he wants to be going into Sunday's final round.
Following closely on Chesson's heels with a round of 72 was Donnie Shin the winner of the FCWT Back Creek event last month. Shin, a junior from Columbia, MD, had 3 birdies on the day to finish at even par. Tied with Shin for 3rd is Alex Frankel a sophomore from Atlanta, GA. Dana Spitz from Chapel Hill, NC (2008) and Hunter Townsend from Glen Allen, VA (2006) are tied for 5th at 73 (+1). Kyle Sonday of Cary, NC and Joe Monte of Chantilly, VA, are tied for 7th at +2, 74 and rounding out the top 10 in a tie for 9th are: Tripp Brizendine of Morrisville, NC (2007); Paxton Davis of High Point, NC (2006); and Henry Zaytoun, III of Raleigh, NC (2007).
Thirteen year old Michael Cromie of Cary, NC (2010), fired a 3 under par 69 on Saturday to lead the Boys 13-15 division by 8 strokes. Cromie, who finished 3rd overall at the Back Creek event in October and 1st among the 13-15 boys, took to the Bermuda Run Golf Course with a vengeance - carding only one bogey on the day. Cromie leads 13 year old David Sessions of Winston-Salem, NC (2010), (the 2004 Boys 11-12 division winner of this event) and 15 year old Brent Whitehead of Marietta, GA (2008) by 8 strokes. Sessions and Whitehead both carded rounds of 77, 5 over par. Cromie and Whitehead tied for the most birdies in this division on Saturday with 4 each. In a tie for fourth place are Isaac Spencer of Winston-Salem, Gate Jones of Durham, NC and Shay Womack, Jr. of Marietta, GA at +6.
Just as the temperatures heated up, so is the race in the girls division. For the first time in recent memory we have a six-way tie entering the final round of an event. Sydney Burlison of Salinas, CA (currently ranked 17th in the Girls Golfweek/Titleist rankings) Courtney Ellenbogen of Blacksburg, VA, who finished T2 at this event last season, Hunter Ross of Manakin-Sabot, VA (2008), who finished T7 at this event last season, FCWT newcomer Megan Smith of Atlanta, GA (2008), 14 year old Elizabeth Brightwell of Alexandria, VA, and Abby Bools of Hickory, NC (2006) all posted rounds of 79 on Saturday. Miss Burlison, 16, carded the only birdie in the girls division with a 3 on the par 5 4th hole. Sydney Wilson (9th) led this division in birdies with 3 with Mary Mattson (T7) led the pars with 12. The Top 10 are within 3 strokes of the lead - should be an exciting finish! |
