Round 3 Recap (Tiburon - Gold Course)

Sterner fires back with 3 under par and wins!

On Friday, Round One of the Holiday Challenge at Tiburon got underway on the Gold Course under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-70s.  Fifteen year old Patrick Sterner of Rydeback, SWEDEN (2010), a first year FCWT player, posted an even par to lead all scores.  On Saturday he began Round Two with a 3 stroke advantage over 5 players who were tied for 2nd at 75:

Brant DeLongy of Winter Park, FL (2009),

Brian Fister of Lexington, KY (2008),

Joshua Cabrera of BERMUDA (2009), James Dewling of Brighton, MI (2008), and

Michael Beddow of Weston, FL (2008). 

The second round was played on the Black Course and Beddow, who carded a round of 76 despite a triple bogey 7 on # 17, came away the leader after 36 holes of play.  Michael began Sunday's final round at 151 - just one stroke ahead of DeLongy. 

Carson Weinand of Naples, FL (2009) carded the Low Round on Saturday and moved from tied for 8th to tied for 3rd place at 153 with Sterner.

On Sunday, Round Three returned to the Gold Course, which was much more to Sterner's liking.  His three under par 69 catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard and his first FCWT win by 5 strokes.  Weinand finished in 2nd place at 227, followed by DeLongy, who led this division in birdies with 10, in 3rd at 229.

Three players finished tied for 4th at 231:

Brian Fister of Lexington, KY (2008), who carded a final round of 71,

Yi-Hsiu Luo of Fengyuan City, TAIWAN (2008) and

Alex Walker of Carmel, IN (2008), who carded a final round of 73.

Beddow finished in 7th place followed by Namsub Padungsiriseth of North Augusta, SC (2009),who led this division in pars with 40.  Sterner's younger brother, Peter (2011), came on strong on Sunday to finish with a 72 which allowed him to finish tied for 9th with Joshua Cabrera of BERMUDA (2009), Zi Ting Wang of CHINA (2010), and Tyler Smith of Brentwood, TN (2010).

At the end of Round One of the Boys 13-15 division, Meechai Padungsiriseth of North Augusta, SC (2011) and Kevin Liu of St. Albans, MO (2012) were co-leading at 76 after Friday's round on the Black Course.  Meechai, playing in his 3rd event of the season, was leading this division in birdies with 4.  Thirteen year old Kevin was playing in his 5th event of the season with his best finish coming at Bobcat Trail where he finished 2nd.  Right behind them at 77 were two players who began round two tied for 3rd: 

 Chad Merzbacher of Dublin, OH (2012), who already had three top 3s this season and

Nicholas Torrance of East Lyme, CT (2010) who had two 2nd place finishes already this season.

On Saturday, Merzbacher took over the lead with a second consecutive round of 77, this time on the Black Course. At that time, Merzbacher was leading this division in pars with 25.  He entered Sunday's final round with a 5 stroke advantage over Padungsiriseth who began the final round at 159.  Chad's final round of 76 was enough to earn him the win, his first of the season.  Padungsiriseth and Torrance tied for Low Round honors with final rounds of 73, finishing 2nd and 4th respectively.

 Jared Howard of Dublin, OH (2011) earned his second 3rd place finish of the season.

Chipper Hughes of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (2010)  and Liu finished tied for 5th at 239, followed by thirteen year old Michael Werenski of South Hadley, MA (2012).