Saturday's opening round of the Mission Hills Invitational proved to be nice day for golf despite the winter freeze felt throughout the country. Even the desert Southwest, the temperatures are below normal with highs in the low 60s instead of the 70s.
Sixteen year old Reid Martin of Mukilteo, WA (2009) enjoyed his round. Reid, the 2007 FCWT National Champion for the boys 13-15 division, fired a 5 under par 65 on Saturday, with only one bogey. His 6 birdies led this division and he enters the final round with a 3 stroke advantage. He will be paired with the two players currently tied for 2nd at 68: sixteen year old Cheng Tsung Pan of TAIWAN and Maxwell Scodro of Chicago, IL (2008). Scodro, who has two top 10s this season, carded 5 birdies on Saturday as he looks to earn his first win. Pan won the only event he has played so far - the Naples Beach Open. Three players are tied for 4th at 69 (-1): Joseph Stewart of Palm Desert, CA (2009), Chris Russo of Westlake Village, CA (2009) and Tad Murray of La Quinta, CA (2010). Three players are also at even par 70 and tied for 7th: Eli Cole of Beverly Hills, CA (2008), Ben Itterman of Carlsbad, CA (2010), and Mario Clemens of Beverly Hills, CA (2009). Glen Scher of Calabasas, CA (2009) will begin the final round in 10th place at 71 (+1). Two eagles were carded on Saturday in the Boys 16-18 division. Justin Edwards of Westlake Village, CA (2009) made a 3 on the par 5 12th hole and Niall Platt of Santa Barbara, CA (2010) made a 2 on the par 4 4th hole. Chris Crownover of Pleasanton, CA (2008) led this division in pars with 15 and is currently tied for 15th at 73.
Parker Middleton of Phoenix, AZ (2010) will be looking for his first win on Sunday and his third Top 3 of the season. Middleton, who finished 2nd at the Sun Devil and T3 at the ASU Open, is leading the Boys 13-15 division after an opening round of 73. He leads Mark Hicks of Bermuda Dunes, CA (2010) and Jacob Gralitzer of Agoura Hills, CA (2010) by 2 strokes. Hicks finished 3rd at the Mission Hills Open a couple of weeks ago and Gralitzer is playing in his first event.
Three young ladies are co-leading in the Girls 13-18 division. Nicole Zhang of Calgary, AB, CANADA (2010), Danielle Kang of Oak Park, CA (2010) and Joi Pentin of Pleasanton, CA (2009) all opened with rounds of 72 to lead the field by 3 strokes.
Three young ladies are co-leading in the Girls 13-18 division.
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Nicole Zhang of Calgary, AB, CANADA (2010),
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Danielle Kang of Oak Park, CA (2010) and Joi Pentin of Pleasanton, CA (2009) all opened with rounds of 72 to lead the field by 3 strokes. Miss Zhang, who won the Mission Hills Open a couple of weeks ago on the Gary Player Course, led the field in birdies with 3. Miss Kang is playing her first event of the season, but finished 3rd in this event last year. Miss Pentin is also playing in her first event of the season and is off to her best start in an FCWT event. The three co-leaders will be paired together for Sunday's final round. The next to last group will have
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Jordan Ontiveros of Alamo, CA (2009), who finished 3rd at the Sun Devil in November; Kaitlin Drolson of Rancho Santa Fe, CA (2008), who finished T6 here in 2005; and 14 year old Marika Liu of Beverly Hills, CA (2011), who has been playing events in Florida where she attends school. Miss Liu carded an opening round of 77 to put her 5 shots back of our co-leaders. |
