Round 2 Recap

Roberto Francioni of SWITZERLAND (2008) thought it would be nice to see what desert living was like.  Only it isn't very desert-like right now.  The mountains may remind him a bit of home, but he would probably prefer to be back at school in Bradenton, FL, right now as the temperatures in Arizona are a bit chilly - not quite Switzerland, but not the balmy Floridian weather to which he has become accustomed.  In any case, Francioni did like the ASU golf course and thus fired a 2 under par on Saturday to lead all scores in the Boys 16-18 division.  Francioni led this division in birdies on Saturday with 4.  He will be looking for his 2nd win of the season on Sunday, having won at ChampionsGate over the Thanksgiving holiday.  He is three strokes ahead of a threesome for 2nd at 71:

  Chun Ji Kim of Chandler, AZ (2010),

 Maxwell Scodro of Chicago, IL (2008), and Mike Basco of Scottsdale, AZ (2009). Kim finished T8 at the Mission Hills Open last weekend and is playing well.  Scodro finished 2nd on this course in October at the Sun Devil Classic.  As part of Team USA, he is helping lead the FCWT team in its competition with team Canada, represented by the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour.  Basco has shown tremendous consistency with a scoring average this season of 74.57.  This is the first time he has found himself this close to the top of the leaderboard, but he seems to be ready for the challenge.  Two players are tied for 5th at 72 (+2).  Christopher Walker of The Woodlands, TX (2008), a 6th year player, won this event last year and led Team USA to victory.  He is representing Team USA again this year.  Luis Thiele of BRAZIL (2008) has been very close to a win a couple of times this season and just continues to improve as a player.  H.J. Roberts of Albuquerque, NM (2008) will start in 7th place, 5 shots back of our leader.  Eighth place is occupied by Team Canada's top player Kody Fawcett of Selkirk (2008).

In the Boys 13-15 division,

Nicholas Torrance of East Lyme, CT (2010) and

David Lowe of Paradise Valley, AZ (2011) are co-leading at 70.  Torrance, who led this division in birdies with 2, finished 2nd at the Tucson Classic a couple of weeks ago, but will be looking for his first win on Sunday.  Lowe, who led this division in pars with 16, is playing in his first event of the season.  He did finish T5 on this course last season at the Sun Devil Classic.  Chad Merzbacher of Dublin, OH (2012) has two top 3s already this season and will start in 3rd on Sunday, just one stroke back of the co-leaders.  Parker Middleton of Phoenix, AZ (2010), who finished 2nd on this course in the Sun Devil in October will begin in 4th place at 73. just 3 strokes back.

Elisa Aoki of JAPAN (2009) fired an opening round of 1 under par 69 on Saturday to lead all scores in the Girls division.  Miss Aoki, a 5th year player and former FCWT All-American, is well on her way to All-American status again, having won already this season at the PGA National event where she fired a final round of 67.  Elisa led this division in pars with 15 on Saturday.  She will not make it easy for this field to catch her, but she knows she hasn't wrapped this up yet!  Just one stroke back of Miss Aoki are Paige Spirinac of Monument, CO (2011), who won at Castle Pines and has two other Top 3s this season, including a 2nd place finish on this course in October at the Sun Devil, and Tessa The of Los Altos, CA (2011) who won last month at Coyote Creek.  In 4th place at 71 is Ashley McKenney of Scottsdale, AZ (2008) who won on this course in October.  Miss McKenney and Miss The both had 3 birdies for round one as did Dana Stapleton of Scottsdale, AZ (2009) to lead this division.  The two young ladies tied for 5th place, Jackie Chang of Paradise Valley, AZ (2010) and Dottie Ardina of the PHILIPPINES (2012), are just 5 strokes back at 74.  Miss Ardina won at Eagle Creek last month.

Due to illness, the Boys 11-12 division was reduced to 2 players, but they are battling it out! 

Eleven year old Daniel Jaramillo of Medellin, COLOMBIA (2014) and

twelve year old Christopher Petefish of Danville, CA (2014) both opened with rounds of 80 on Saturday.  Jaramillo made the only birdie in this division and both young men carded 9 pars.  Christopher won on this course in early November at the Sun Devil Classic and then went on to win Coyote Creek last month as well.  Daniel has two 2nd place finishes and a win at the World Golf Village in November, making both of these young men excellent candidates for our Faces of the Future Award.