The opening round of the Duke Open got off to a cold start. Earlier this week the Piedmont of NC was in the 70s, but a cold front came through that dropped the temperatures more than 20 degrees. As players were finishing their rounds on Saturday afternoon it was in the low 40s.
In the Girls division, Whitney Rhodes of Staunton, VA (2010) carded a round of even par to lead all scores. Whitney had 16 pars on the day with 1 birdie and 1 bogey. She will have a four stroke advantage over Brighid Hourihan of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (2009), who has to be freezing at this event. Two strokes back of Miss Hourihan is Kaitlyn Rohrback of Crofton, MD (2010). Three players are tied for 4th at 79: Simone Strauss of Rancho Mirage, CA (2009), Vanessa Koechli of Greer, SC (2009), and Suzie Lee of Long Island, NY (2010).
In the Boys 16-18 division, Jeremy Wells of Prince George, VA (2009) carded an opening round of 73, one over par, to lead by one over Spencer Lawson of Raleigh, NC (2010). Wells, who finished 12th at French Creek in October, will be looking for his first FCWT win in his third season of play. He will need to bring his "A" game to hold off Lawson, who won at Bermuda Run earlier this month with a final round of 69. Three players are just one stroke back of Lawson and tied for third: Bryce Chalkley of Chester, VA (2010), Jack Cottrill of Charlotte, NC (2010), and Aaron Siekmann of Dublin, OH (2009). Chalkey and Garrett Fitzgerald of Arlington, VA (2009), currently T25, led the division in birdies with 4 each. Two players are tied for 6th at 76, just 3 strokes back of the leader: local player Gate Jones (2009) and David Boyce from Charlotte, NC (2008), who led this division in pars with 12. Brett Tomfohrde of Hinsdale, IL (2009) and Matt Buse of Cincinnati, OH (2008) are tied for 8th at 77 and three players are tied for 10th at 78: Luis Thiele of BRAZIL (2008), Ben Kohles of Cary, NC (2008), and Jackson Taylor of Wilmington, NC (2008).
In the Boys 13-15 division, Nick Dennis of Waterford, MI (2011), who thought he was coming South to play golf, found the temperatures to be very much like home, so made himself at home with a 75 and took the lead. He led this division in pars with 12 and will start the final round with a one stroke advantage over John Callahan of Hinsdale, IL (2010), who led this division in birdies with 3. Callahan's round of 76 puts him two strokes ahead of two players tied for 3rd: Jay Pinkos of Clifton, VA (2011) and Alex Ehlert of Raleigh, NC (2011). Stanhope Johnson of Greensboro, NC (2012) will start the final round in 5th place at 79.
|
