Round 1 Recap

Mission Hills saw record rainfalls yesterday.  It started raining around 8am and didn't stop until 3 am this morning.  Three players share the lead in the Boys 16-18 division after opening with rounds of 1 under par 69. 

Justin Edwards of Westlake Village, CA (2009),

Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos, CA (2010), and

Marshall Colby of Thousand Oaks, CA (2009) will be paired together for the final round.  Not only will they need to be concerned with their playing partners, but also the 3some in front of them.  Those three players will begin the final round tied for 4th at 71.  They are Joshua Granger of Monrovia, CA (2009), Tyler Weworski of Carlsbad, CA (2008) and Chris Russo of Westlake Village, CA (2009).  Four players are tied for 7th at 72:  Raymond Gillip II of Las Vegas, NV (2009), Chun Ji Kim of Chandler, AZ (2010), Tad Murray of La Quinta, CA (2010), and Cole Pickavance of San Ramon, CA (2010).

The Boys 13-15 division also has co-leaders.  Mark Hicks of Bermuda Dunes, CA (2010) and

 Bryan Lichimo of North Vancouver, BC (2010) are tied for first after opening rounds of 1 under par 69.  Both young men had 4 birdies on the day to lead this division.  Hicks carded one more par than Lichimo, but an 8 on # 11 offset that so they will begin the final round all square.  Macgregor Hoobery of Santa Maria, CA (2011) will begin the final round in 3rd place after opening with a round of 72, that puts him 3 strokes back of the co-leaders.

In the Boys 11-12 division, 7 players came out for a swim -- or a round of golf - of course, on hole # 3, it was take your pick!  Because of the enormous rainfall "we had to play it as a 121 yard par 3 instead of the 528 yard par 5 because the water hazard took over the entire fairway" said Tournament Director Tina Thatcher.  The photo below shows the black and white pole, the 150 yard marker in the water.  (a larger picture is available on the Tournament information page - click on Tournament Photo Gallery).

In any case, Ben Doyle of San Diego, CA (2014)

is leading the Boys 11-12 division after opening with a 2 under par 68.  Twelve year old Ben is a 2nd year FCWT player who won twice last season.  This is his first event of this season and he is looking to win again.  He leads Randy Ross of  Phoenix, AZ (2014)

by 2 strokes.  Eleven year old Ross is a first year FCWT player playing in his 2nd event.  He finished T5 at the Sun Devil last month.  Ross tied Doyle for the most birdies in this division - 4 each and Evan Mcleod of Pebble Beach, CA (2013) tied Doyle for the most pars with 12.  Mcleod will begin the final round in 3rd place at 72.

Nicole Zhang of Calgary, AB (2010) fired a 1 under par 69 to open the Mission Hills Open.  The Mission Hills golf course received a tremendous amount of rain on Friday, putting part of the golf course underwater.  Miss Zhang carded 17 pars on her way to the leading round and will begin the final round with a 2 stroke advantage over

 Kelsey Vines of St. George, UT (2009).   Miss Vines carded 2 birdies on the day as did third place golfer

Taylor Doyle of San Diego, CA (2008).  Miss Doyle carded a 73 on Saturday and will start 4 strokes back of our leader Miss Zhang.