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66's Reign the Day at the Jimmy Demaret JC
SPICEWOOD, Texas – The number of the day at the ninth annual Jimmy Demaret Junior Classic was 66 – that’s 5-under-par 66. There were seven such scores at Lakecliff Country Club Thursday afternoon. In the Boys 15-18 division, four players fired the number –Mission’s Jun Min Lee, San Antonio’s Garrett Martin, McKinney’s Jake Kuwitzky, and Granbury’s Tucker Allen.
Sugarland’s Shaheen Momin leads the Boys 14 & Under division after also firing a 5-under-par 66. Austin’s Madelyn Jones and Kingwood’s Jackie Barry both carded 5-under 66’s in their opening rounds to sit atop the leaderboard in the Girls 12-18 division.
Conducted by the Legends Junior Tour, the ninth annual Jimmy Demaret Junior Classic features 84 players from across Texas, playing the Arnold Palmer designed Lakecliff Country Club in Spicewood, Texas. Nestled in Texas’ hill country along Lake Travis, Lakecliff features wide fairways with bent grass greens, allowing players numerous scoring opportunities. The Boys 15-18 division is playing 6,676 yards, the Boys 14 & Under division is playing 6,157 yards and all girls are playing 5,888 yards.
Kuwitzky carded the first 66, playing in the third group of the day off the 10th tee. He played the par-5’s 6-under par, including two eagles. Allen carded the next 66. He had six birdies against just one bogey, coming on the 12th hole, the 202-yard par-3.
Two of the low scores came from the same group, the final group off the 10th tee. Lee and Martin each carded six birdies against one bogey. They each had a streak of three birdies in four holes, both coming on holes one through four.
The four players tied heading into Sunday’s round only have a one stroke lead over Brendan Powers. The Spring Preview champion, Powers, bogeyed the 462-yard par-4 18th hole, his ninth of the day, for the lone bogey on his card. He had 5 birdies on the day. Damin Strydom and Mark Reppe sit in a tie for seventh place, just two shots back of the group of four at the top. Brian Boles, Jansen Smith, Vishnu Sadagopan and Ben Dunne are tied for eighth place, three shots back of the leaders.
Momin carded a bogey-free 66 in the Boys 14 & Under division. The 14 year old, playing in his second Legends Junior Tour event, opened his round with a birdie on the first hole, a 377-yard par 4. He never looked back, carding four more birdies, including holes 15 and 16 coming down the stretch. His 5-under leaves him a four-stroke lead heading into Friday’s final round.
Lubbock’s Eli Tran and San Antonio’s Shoichiro Kato sit in a tie for second place after both carded a 1-under 70 in their opening round. Tran had the steadier day, carding four birdies against three bogeys. Kato had six birdies against five bogeys, but they both equal 1-under 70. Truett Burns sits in fourth place, seven shots back of Momin.
In the Girls 12-18 division, Jones was red-hot on her opening nine, going out in 6-under 30. She had six birdies and no bogeys. She bogeyed the par-4 11th hole, but quickly made up for it with a birdie on the par-3 12th. She had one more bogey coming in, but sits atop the leaderboard with Barry.
The winner of the 2015 Texas State Junior Championship in the Girls 14 & Under division, Barry had a great front nine as well, highlighted by a hole-out eagle on the short par-4 eighth hole. She had two birdies on the back nine, but bogeyed the very difficult 18th hole, the hardest of the day.
Jones and Barry sit only one shot ahead of Houston’s Denise Pan, who fired a 4-under 67 in Thursday’s opening round. Reigning two-time LJT Girls Player of the Year, Hailey Jones sits three shots back in fourth place. She carded a 2-under 69. Sara Camarena sits in fifth place at 1-under 70 and Macy Fox’s even-par 71 puts her in sixth place.
Friday’s final round of the Jimmy Demaret Junior Classic is scheduled to start at 8:00 AM off the first and 10th tees.
Please click here for full first round results.
