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Ashley McKenney of Scottsdale, AZ (2008) accomplished what she set out to do this weekend. Miss McKenney, a 5th year FCWT player, earned her first win and will be able to add to the family FCWT awards collection started by her older brother Tim (now playing at the University of Florida). But this weekend wasn't about Tim; it was about Ashley, a young lady who has literally grown up on the FCWT. She has won the Low Round award multiple times and has finished in the Top 3, but today the award was Champion. Her rounds of 71-72 were enough to hold off a Sunday charge from 14 year old Paige Spirinac of Monument, CO (2011) who won in October at the Castle Pines event. Ashley's 8 birdies were enough to offset Paige's 26 pars and allow her to win by 2 strokes. No doubt Paige, like Ashley, will earn many more FCWT awards as time goes by. FCWT newcomer Jordan Ontiveros of Alamo, CA (2009) took home 3rd place at 150.
Leaderboard Shuffle: Grant Rappleye of Elk Grove, CA (2008) comes out on top ~ earns first FCWT win!
After round one of the Sun Devil Classic, there were 17 players within 5 strokes of first round leader Ryan Thornton from Chattanooga, TN (2008), who fired an opening round of 3 under par 69. Thornton began the final round with a 2 stroke advantage over Brandon Jaffe of Scottsdale, AZ (2009), who was playing in his first FCWT event and Cole Pickavance of San Ramon, CA (2009). Pickavance, a 4th year FCWT player, was named an All-American last year after winning the Teal Bend event at the 13-15 division.
On Sunday, Grant Rappleye of Elk Grove, CA (2008), who began the day tied for 4th with Alec Pakzad of Bellevue, WA (2009), a 2006-07 FCWT All-American; Brian Walker of Nipomo, CA (2008), an FCWT newcomer; Jordan Adams of St. George, UT (2008) and Maxwell Scodro of Chicago, IL (2008), carded a final round of 2 under par which was only matched by his brother Cameron (whose Low Round was 10 strokes better than his opening round and allowed him to finish in the Top 20) and won the event by one stroke over Scodro. Cameron, Grant and Maxwell all carded 9 birdies on the weekend to lead this division. Ryan McQueen of Carlsbad, CA (2008) finished in 3rd place, 2 strokes back of Scodro. Four players finished tied for 4th at 146 including overnight leader Thornton, Kevin Gillick of Lincoln, NE (2008), Taylor Koser of Rice Lake, WI (2009) and Jordan Adams of St. George, UT (2008). Four players also finished tied for 8th at 147: including Jaffe and Pickavance along with Paul McNamara III of Palos Verdes Estates, CA (2009), who posted a final round of one under par to move into the Top 10 and Chase Patten of Simi Valley, CA (2009), who also posted a final round of -1.
On Saturday Parker Middleton of Phoenix led the boys 13-15 division by 2 strokes after opening with a round of 71 in his first FCWT event. On Sunday, Brett Patterson of McMinnville, TN (2010) fired a bogey-free round of 4 under par 68 to win his first FCWT event. The 15 year old Patterson led this division in pars for the weekend with 29. He has now earned exempt status for the remainder of the season and an automatic exemption to the National Championship in May. Middleton, who carded 6 birdies on the weekend finished in 2nd place at 147, just one stroke ahead of 3rd place finisher Bryan Lichimo of North Vancouver, BC (2010). Andrew Cornella of Colorado Springs, CO (2011) finished 4th at 149 followed by Bennett Lavin of Deerfield, IL (2011) and John Weyenberg of Menasha, WI (2011), who posted a final round of -1 to finish in the Top 5.
Christopher Petefish of Danville, CA (2014) fired a final round of one under par to break away from overnight co-leader Ethan Freeman of Littleton, CO (2013) and win the Boys 11-12 division. Twelve-year old Petefish is a second year player who had two Top 5s last season, including T4 at the National Championship. Thomas Felling of Florence, AZ (2013), who turned 13 today (Happy Birthday, Thomas) finished in 3rd place. |
