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Reily, Lane, Dossey and Fojtasek lead 20th Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship
DALLAS – Austyn Reily, Gaven Lane, Luke Dossey and Randall Fojtasek fire 4-under-par 67s to lead the 20th Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship following Round 1.
Reily of Pottsboro, Lane of Argyle, Dossey of Austin and Fojtasek of Dallas share a one-shot lead over the field of 90 players.
Dossey, who won the 2017 Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship, got off to a hot start this morning. The 2019 Baylor University signee opened with a 4-under-par 32 on the front nine. He followed with a 25-foot birdie on the par-4 10th to quickly set the pace at 5-under.
“If I enjoy myself on the greens then I can get a good round going,” Dossey said. “My putter is one of my favorite clubs in the bag.”
Dossey gave two away on the back nine with bogeys on holes 11 and 15. However on the 16th, he played a beautiful wedge from inside 100 yards to make his sixth birdie of the day and get back to 4-under.
The 2017 champion has the chance to join Jordan Spieth and Ryan Baca as the only players in history to have multiple Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship titles.
“The 2017 win definitely ranks as number one in my wins,” Dossey said. “This is my last junior event so to finish in style would be really, really cool.”
Fojtasek stayed patient on the greens as well. The 2020 University of Texas commit carded five birdies including three on the back nine.
“I just made a couple putts coming in which is really nice,” Fojtasek said.
The rising senior at Highland Park High School mentioned a win at the Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship would be a great way to kick start his last summer of junior golf.
“It’d be great obviously,” Fojtasek said. “Love the course. Love the event.”
Reily, a recent Pottsboro High School graduate, brought his game to Lakewood Country Club for the first time this year. He won the 2019 3A Texas State High School Championship in May for back-to-back individual state titles. The solid form continued in Round 1.
“My irons really kept me in play today,” Reily said. “If you stay patient the putts will fall.”
He had no shortage of birdie chances. Reily hit 16 of 18 greens en route to his 4-under-par 67 and hopes to complete one of his career goals this week.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to reach this tournament. With this being my first year and last year I’d like to go out with a bang,” Reily said.
The last player to card 67 is a 14-year-old rising freshman in high school. Lane, who will attend Argyle High in the fall, played aggressive. He carded a total of eight birdies, five coming on the back nine.
“I had some three-putts and bounced back with some birdies,” Lane said. “It started to heat up on the back and put it all together for a good round.”
The 2023 Oklahoma State University commit finished tied second in last year’s Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship. He posted 4-under par for the tournament and lost to Pierceson Coody by three strokes. Now back in contention, Lane hopes to hoist the trophy this year.
“Last year I played really good and just couldn’t do much about it, just got beat,” Lane said. “I played the best golf I could, so hopefully can do the same this year and get the win.”
Jacob Borrow of Lake Jackson sits one-shot back after an opening round 68. Michael Heidelbaugh of Dallas and Lewisville’s Junwoo Park are tied sixth at 2-under par.
Lakewood Country Club is playing host to the Veritex Bank Byron Nelson Junior Championship for the eighteenth time. The field will be cut to the top-36 and ties following Round 2 Wednesday.
For more information on this year’s championship and full leaderboard, click here.
