Round 2 Recap

On Friday the Mission Hills Golf Club saw record rainfalls.  It started raining around 8am on Friday and didn't stop until 3 am on Saturday.  The substantial rains forced the 3rd hole to be altered from a par 5 to a par 3 for Saturday's round, thus changing the par to 70 from 72.  On Sunday, the 3rd hole was again playable as a par 5 and thus the par for Round Two was 72.

At the end of Round One, three players shared the lead at 69 in the Boys 16-18 division. 

Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos, CA (2010),

Justin Edwards of Westlake Village, CA (2009),

and

Marshall Colby of Thousand Oaks, CA (2009) began the final round as co-leaders.  There was a 3some in front of them tied for 4th at 71: Joshua Granger of Monrovia, CA (2009), Tyler Weworski of Carlsbad, CA (2008) and Chris Russo of Westlake Village, CA (2009). 

On Sunday, 15 year old Patrick Cantlay fired a round of 2 under par 70, one stroke better than his co-leader Colby to win his first FCWT event.  It was a back and forth "match" of sorts for the two with each making birdies and bogeys throughout their final round at opportune and inopportune times.  It came down to the 18th hole.  They had both made birdie on the 17th and Colby held a one shot advantage.  Cantlay was able to card another birdie, his 5th of the day.  Colby had already carded 5 birdies, but on the 18th, found himself succumbing to a bogey and a 2 shot swing that gave Cantlay the win.

Justin Edwards and Tyler Weworski finished tied for 3rd at 142, 2 strokes back of Colby.  Jeffrey Stevens of Del Mar, CA (2008) fired the Low Round of the day with a 3 under par 69 that allowed him to finish tied for 5th with Joshua Granger of Monrovia, CA (2009) and Chris Russo of Westlake Village, CA (2009). Chun Ji Kim of Chandler, AZ (2010), who co-led this division in pars with 27 along with Chase Patten of Simi Valley, CA (2009) (finished T21), SeungRok Cheon of Indio, CA (2009), and Eli Cole of Beverly Hills, CA (2008) finished tied for 8th.

 The Boys 13-15 division also began the final round with co-leaders.  At the end of Round One 

 Bryan Lichimo of North Vancouver, BC (2010) and Mark Hicks of Bermuda Dunes, CA (2010) were tied at 69.  Both young men made 4 birdies on Saturday to lead this division.  Hicks carded one more par than Lichimo, but an 8 on # 11 offset that so they began the final round all square.

On Sunday, Lichimo carded a round of 70 that coupled with his 69 allowed him to win his first FCWT event and his second Top 3 of the season.  The Low Round of the day went to Mark Anguiano of Whittier, CA (2010) who fired an unbelievable round of 7 under par to finish at 142 - even par for the event.  Hicks' final round of 74 placed him in 3rd for the event at 143.

In the Boys 11-12 division, Ben Doyle of San Diego, CA (2014)

led wire-to-wire after opening with a 2 under par 68.  Twelve year old Ben is a 2nd year FCWT player who won twice last season.  On Sunday, he earned his first win of this season with a final round of 71 that put him at -3 for the event.   Doyle carded 8 birdies to lead this division.

Finishing in a tie for second place were Randy Ross of  Phoenix, AZ (2014)

 a first year FCWT player who finished T5 at the Sun Devil last month and Evan Mcleod of Pebble Beach, CA (2013), who began the final round in 3rd place at 72.  Gavin deFisser of Gilbert, AZ (2015) and Tyler Moore of Escondido, CA (2015) co-led in the most pars.  Each had 24 for the event.

Nicole Zhang of Calgary, AB (2010) fired a 1 under par 69 to open the Mission Hills Open and never looked back.  The Mission Hills golf course received a tremendous amount of rain on Friday, putting part of the golf course underwater.  On Friday, the par 5 3rd hole was converted to a par 3 because the hole was underwater.  It returned to a par 5 for Sunday's final round.

 Miss Zhang led this division in pars with 30 for 36 holes.  She finished 4 strokes ahead of Kelsey Vines of St. George, UT (2009).

 Miss Vines carded 4 birdies and 25 pars on the weekend, finishing 2nd in those categories as well as the overall tournament.  Mayko Chwen Wang of TAIWAN (2011) tied Miss Zhang for Low Round honors with a final round of 73.  She also led this division in birdies with 5 for the weekend, 3 of which she made on Sunday.  Her round of 73 allowed her to finish 3rd, in this her first FCWT event.