Round One of the Tucson Classic under partly cloudy skies with some windy conditions. Three players carded rounds of even par in the Boys 16-18 division on Friday. Zach Sanders of Overland Park, KS (2009), David Erdy of Boonville, IN (2008), and Brandon Jaffe of Scottsdale, AZ (2009) will be the co-leaders entering Saturday's Round Two. Erdy, who won the Purdue Open in October, led the field in birdies with 5 on Friday. Sanders made 4 birdies on the day and Jaffe made 3. They have a one shot lead over Andrew Haggen of Walnut Creek, CA (2008) who is playing his first event of the season and will be starting in 4th. Five players are tied for 5th at +2 including Anthony Aicher of Wausau, WI (2009), who made 14 pars on Friday along with Ethan Fine of Albuquerque, NM (2009) and Shayne Yoon of Chandler, AZ (2009) to lead the field in pars. Also tied for 5th are: Mike Basco of Scottsdale, AZ (2009), Ben Itterman of Carlsbad, CA (2010), RayVaun Christenson of Ozark, MO (2012), and Riley Kirkpatrick of San Diego, CA (2009). Eight players are tied for 10th at 76, 3 strokes back of the leader: Taylor Koser of Rice Lake, WI (2009), Ben Juffer of West Des Moines, IA (2009), Reid Martin of Mukilteo, WA (2009), Chun Ji Kim of Chandler, AZ (2010), Robbie Pitts of Eugene, OR (2008), Ethan Fine of Albuquerque, NM (2009), Joshua Granger of Monrovia, CA (2009), and Paul McNamara III of Palos Verdes Estates, CA (2009).
In the Boys 13-15 division, local player Ben Esparza took the first round lead with a round of 73. Esparza led the field in pars with 14. One stroke back is A.J. Cadamagnani of Athens, OH (2009). Peter Marshall of Lake Forest, IL (2010) will start in 3rd place after an opening round of 75 (+2). Marshall tied his brother Charlie, currently tied for 5th, and Nicholas Torrance of East Lyme, CT (2010), currently in 4th, in birdies with 3 on Friday.
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. Miss Stewart, a third year FCWT player, is playing in her first event of the season. She has a three-stroke advantage over Senior Ashley McKenney of Scottsdale, AZ, who won the Sun Devil earlier this month, Paige Spirnac of Monument, CO (2011), who won the Castle Pines event in October and Jacqueline Calamaro of Newtown Square, PA (2010), who is playing her first event of the season. Miss Spirinac led the girls division in birdies with 5 on Friday while Miss Calamaro led in pars with 14. Emma Lavy of Fayetteville, AR (2008) will start round two in 5th place, 5 shots back of Miss Stewart. |
