Round One of the Tucson Classic got underway under partly cloudy skies with some windy conditions. Three players carded rounds of even par in the Boys 16-18 division on Friday to co-lead going into round two: Zach Sanders of Overland Park, KS (2009), David Erdy of Boonville, IN (2008), and Brandon Jaffe of Scottsdale, AZ (2009).
On Saturday, Anthony Aicher of Wausau, WI (2009), who made 14 pars on Friday, carded another 14 on Saturday and fired a round of 2 under par 71 to take the lead. He has a two shot advantage over Ben Itterman of Carlsbad, CA (2010), who began the day tied for 5th. Aicher already won this season at Notre Dame and Itterman was a 2005-06 FCWT All-American, so it should be a great final round. Three players are one stroke back of Itterman at 149: Paul McNamara III of Palos Verdes Estates, CA (2009), who began the day tied for 10th, Ben Juffer of West Des Moines, IA (2009), who also began the day tied for 10th, and Philip Bagdade of Eugene, OR (2008), who fired a one under par on Saturday to move from out of the top 10 up the leaderboard. Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, CA (2009) fired a 2 under par (matching our leader) and will start the final round tied for 6th, just one shot out of the Top 5. Also tied for 6th are overnight co-leaders Zach Sanders of Overland Park, KS (2009) and David Erdy of Boonville, IN (2008), and Matt Baum of Albuquerque, NM (2008). Andrew Haggen of Walnut Creek, CA (2008) and Matt Rawitzer of Bellingham, WA (2009) will start the final round tied for 10th at 151.
In the Boys 13-15 division, local player Ben Esparza (2010) took the first round lead with a round of 73 and built on that lead on Saturday by firing a 3 under par 70. Esparza led the field in pars with 25 and has 7 birdies so far for the event. He is 6 strokes ahead of Colin Pratt of Santa Fe, NM (2010). Charlie Marshall of Lake Forest, IL (2010), carded a solid round of even par on Saturday to move from tied for 5th place to 3rd at 150. Nicholas Torrance of East Lyme, CT (2010), remained in 4th place with a second consecutive round of 76. Alex Vetnar of Glendale, AZ (2010) and Peter Marshall of Lake Forest, IL (2010) will start the final round tied for 5th.
Fifteen year old Alexandra Stewart of Carson City, NV (2011) posted the Low Round of the day on Friday at the Tucson Classic. Stewart's round of 1 under par, 72, was the only sub-par round of the 81 players who teed it up for the opening round. On Saturday, Miss Stewart once again fired the Low Round for the field - a seven under par 66 that increased her lead to 8 strokes heading into Sunday's final round. Miss Stewart, a third year FCWT player, is playing in her first event of the season. She will be paired with Paige Spirinac of Monument, CO (2011), who won the Castle Pines event in October and senior Ashley McKenney of Scottsdale, AZ, who won the Sun Devil earlier this month, who are at 146 and 148 respectively. Emma Lavy of Fayetteville, AR (2008) will start the final round in 4th place at 155 and Jacqueline Calamaro of Newtown Square, PA (2010) will begin in 5th place at 156.
|
