Sixteen year old Marshall Talkington of Jackson, TN (2010) fired a bogey-free one under par on Saturday to take the lead in the Boys 16-18 division. Talkington, a 2nd year player, has consistently finished in the Top 20 this season, but he will be looking for his first win on Sunday. His 17 pars led this division on Saturday. He will have a one stroke advantage over Trent Hillis of Poplar Bluff, MO (2010), who already has one top 10 finish this season. Hillis is a first year player, but was familiar with the FCWT as his older brother Tyler is a former player who now plays golf at the University of Missouri. Two players are tied for 3rd at +1 (73): Jan Ryba of the CZECH REPUBLIC and Cheng Tsung Pan of TAIWAN. Seventeen year old Ryba led this division in birdies with 5. Sixteen year old Pan already won once this season at the Naples Open as well as finishing 3rd at the Mission Hills Invitational, so watch for him on Sunday. Four players are tied for 5th at 74: Ryan Frederick of Lockport, IL (2009), Lucas Leibel of Toronto, ON (2008), who carded the only eagle in this division on Saturday on the par 5 12th hole, Jordan Duffy of Calgary, AB, and Pablo Serna of COLOMBIA (2009). Fifteen year old Rocky Khara of Sebring, FL (2010), who finished 2nd in last weekend's event at IMG Academies, will start the final round in 9th place. Jason Del Rosso of Orlando, FL (2009) is currently in 10th place at 76, just 5 strokes back of our leader with 18 holes left to play.
In the Boys 13-15 division, fourteen year old Tanapol Vattanapisit of Rayong, THAILAND (2011) carded a round of even par to lead by one over James Yoon of Asuncion, PARAGUAY (2012). Tanapol, who has two top 3s already this season, will be looking for his first win this season; Yoon has won twice this season so far, Naples and Sawgrass. He leads the boys 13-15 points race and would like to become the first in that division to earn a 3rd win. Both young men will need to keep an eye on Meechai Padungsiriseth of Bangkok (2011), who finished 2nd at Tiburon, and Brandon Baerwaldt of Bradenton, FL (2010), who has two top 3s already this season. Those two young men are currently tied for 3rd at 75. Jason Zhou of Skillman, NJ (2011) is currently 5th and already has two Top 5s this season. Joshua Lee of Orange Park, FL (2013) who won at Sea Island last weekend, will start in 6th place at 78, 6 strokes back of our leader.
In the Boys 11-12 division, Rigel Fernandes of Dubai, UAE (2013) opened with a round of 79 to lead by 4 strokes. Fernandes, who led this division in pars with 11, has two wins already this season but would like to add another. He will need to hold off 12 year old Lucas Schlossberg of ARGENTINA (2014) who will start the final round in 2nd place at 83. Timmy Hanzelko of Longwood, FL (2014) is currently 3rd at 85. Bradley Beazant of Leigh, ENGLAND (2012), who is currently 4th, tied Schlossberg for the most birdies with 2 each.
Christina Miller from Ackworth, GA (2010) took the first round lead at the Mission Inn Las Colinas Open. Miss Miller, who attends IMG Academy in Bradenton, carded a one over par 73 on Saturday to lead the Girls 13-18 division. Her three birdies led the way and will allow her to have a one stroke lead heading into Sunday's final round. Once again 12 year old Karen Chung of Livingston, NJ (2013) is in the hunt. She is tied for 2nd place with Taylor Schmidt of Kincardine, ON, CANADA (2009) at 74, just one stroke back of Miss Miller. The three will be paired together for Sunday's final round. Another 12 year old Annie Park of Levittown, NY (2013), led this division in pars with 15, and is in 4th place at 75. Susana Benavides of BOLIVIA (2009) and 13 year old Ying Yun of CHINA are tied for 5th at 77. Miss Yun carded the only eagle in this division with a hole-in-one on the 11th hole.
In the Girls 14 and under division, Sofia Molinaro of Torino, ITALY (2012) carded her lowest round of the season to date and took a two stroke lead over Samantha Wagner of Easton, PA (2015). Molinaro led this division in birdies with 3 and tied for the most pars with 10. Gudrun Peturndottir of ICELAND (2013), who is currently tied for 3rd with Regan Simeone of Milton, MA (2011), also carded 10 pars. |
