Around the Green

Jacobs, Hawkins Share First-Round Lead at Fifth Annual Flodder Financial Shootout

KATY, Texas – Andre Jacobs and Tristan Hawkins each carded a 4-under-par 68 in the opening round to share the lead in the Boys 15-18 division at the fifth annual Flodder Financial Shootout.

Katy’s own Treed Huang leads the Boys 14 & Under division after firing a 2-under-par 70 Tuesday afternoon at Meadowbrook Farms Golf Club. In the Girls 12-18 division, Caroline Storm, Macy Fox, Leah Alberto and Isha Dhruva are all tied for the lead at 1-under-par 71 heading into Wednesday.

Katy’s Meadowbrook Farms Golf Club is playing host to the fifth annual Flodder Financial Shootout for the fourth time in the event’s history. 2016’s edition was played at the Golf Club at Cinco Ranch. This year’s event features 78 players from across Texas playing the Greg Norman designed golf course.

League City’s Jacobs went out in even-par 36 on his front nine, carding one birdie and one bogey. He bogeyed the par-3 sixth, but immediately followed it up with a birdie on the par-5 seventh. His back nine was flawless. He fired a bogey-free 32 with birdies on holes 12, 14, 15 and 18 to have a share of the lead heading into Wednesday’s final round.

Magnolia’s Hawkins card was similar, but included three birdies on his front nine after bogeying the opening par-4 first hole. He had three birdies on the back nine, including the last two holes, the par-3 17^th and the par-5 18^th.

Jacobs and Hawkins have a three-shot lead heading into the final round. Austin’s Brandon Hoff sits alone in third place after a 1-under-par 71 Tuesday. Hoff carded an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. A group of five players – David Tietz, Matthew Riedel, Peyton Pope, Luke Dossey, and Nikolas Keratsopoulos sit four shots back of the leading duo.

In the Boys 14 & Under division, Huang, 12, started out hot at his home course. After bogeying the difficult par-4 second hole, Huang rattled off 5 birdies on his last 7 holes on the front side. The Boys 12-13 regional Champion in the Drive, Chip, and Putt Championship played masterfully Tuesday.

He leads by one shot over Houston’s Carson Ezell. Ezell had a consistent day, making 3 birdies against only two bogeys. He sits alone in second place. Braeden Hoyt sits in third place, three shots back of Huang heading into Wednesday’s final round.

Playing in the first Girls 12-18 division group of the day, Caroline Storm set the pace, making four birdies and only three bogeys. Fox, the 2015 Girls Flodder Financial Shootout champion, was the second girl to shoot  1-under 71. She had three birdies, including two on the back side to card her number.

The last group of the day saw the other two 1-under-71s. Isha Dhruva, sister to two-time champion at the Flodder Financial Shootout, Ashni Dhruva, had a double-bogey on the par-4 second hole, but never had another hiccup throughout the rest of her round. She had three birdies in a four hole stretch. Alberto, on the other hand, started out hot, carding birdies on holes three, five, and eight. She had two bogeys coming home, but still managed to shoot 1-under.

Ava Schwienteck, Kaylee Vesely, and Christine Wang sit in a tie for fifth place. Their even-par 72s leave them one back of the leaders. Zoe Slaughter and Haley Vargas sit two strokes back at 1-over 73.

The final round of the Flodder Financial Shootout is scheduled to begin at 7:30 AM Wednesday morning. For more information on the Legends Junior Tour, please visit www.TXGA.org.

For full first round results, click here.