What a difference a year makes. Parker Clowers of Jacksonville, FL (2008) came to the Sea Island event last year and struggled. He opened with a round of 83 and then finished with an 86, putting him at T55 out of 70 in the Boys 16-18 division. Not so this season. Clowers fired an opening round of even par on Saturday and sits atop the leaderboard heading into the final round. He led this division in birdies with 6 on Saturday and hopes to carry that momentum into Sunday's final round. William Bazzel of Atlanta, GA (2008) and Jeremy Wells of Prince George, VA (2009) are just one stroke back of Clowers and tied for 2nd. Bazzell is playing his first event of the season; Wells' best finish of the season so far is 4th at the Duke Open. Dykes Harbin of Augusta, GA (2009) and Sean Dale of Jacksonville, FL (2008) are currently tied for 4th at 75, just 3 strokes back. Dale has won each of the three events he has played this season, including most recently the FCWT Sawgrass Golfweek Invitational, so one can never count him out. Harbin's best finish so far this season was T2 at the Amelia Island Open. Six players are tied for 6th place at 76 (4 shots back of our leader): Micahel Birmingham of Ashburn, VA (2009), Ben Kohles of Cary, NC (2008), Michael Boyd of Windermere, FL (2008), Jan Ryba of CZECH REPUBLIC, Jamey Salmon of Jacksonville, FL (2009), and Andrew Marco of Charlotte, NC (2008). Three players are just 5 strokes back and tied for 12th: David Boyce of Charlotte, NC (2008), Thomas Bradshaw of Columbia, SC (2010) and Edward Fenwick of York, ENGLAND.
In the Boys 13-15 division, Joshua Lee of Orange Park, FL (2013) fired a 4 under par round of 68 to lead all scores. Lee, who was the 2006-07 FCWT Player of Promise after winning 4 regular season events in the Boys 11-12 division and then went on to win the Boys 11-12 National Championship, has been close to a win at the 13-15 level a couple of times this season, but this one is looking like it may be his first title. He will have a 6 stroke advantage over 15 year old William Buchanan of Greensboro, NC (2011), who is playing in his first FCWT event, as they tee it up on Sunday for the final round. Trey Valentine of Melbourne, FL (2011) will start the final round in 3rd place. Valentine, who finished 3rd at the PGA National Open in November, tied local player Billy Shuman of St. Simon's, GA (2012), for most pars on Saturday; each carded 13. Shuman is tied with Ryan Fricke of Raleigh, NC (2010) for 4th place at 76. Jonathan Gerrard of Highland Park, IL (2012) and Cyrus Stewart of Raleigh, NC (2011) will start the final round tied for 6th at 77. |
