GRIFFIN TAKES TWO-SHOT LEAD AFTER 67 IN EDMOND
Arseneault, Dodson lead Girls Division at 3-over
EDMOND, Okla.— Red numbers were hard to come by during Tuesday's first round of the OSSO Junior at Oak Tree, despite calm conditions. Will Griffin, 17, of San Antonio, Texas, charged into the lead with a 3-under-par 67 to sit two shots clear of the field. Jennie Arseneault, 17, of Grinnell, Iowa, and Sarah Dodson, 17, of Tulsa, Okla., were tied at three-over-par 73 to lead the Girls Division by three shots.
The OSSO Junior at Oak Tree is a 54-hole event conducted by the American Junior Golf Association on the East Course at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Okla. This is the 22nd year for the event in Edmond, and the 10th at Oak Tree. A field of 102 boys and 42 girls, including 55 players from Oklahoma, are competing in the event this week.
Griffin credited his leading score of 67 to hitting the ball straight all day. Griffin made four birdies and his only bogey came after three-putting the 8th green, which was his 17th hole of the day.
“I just hit it solid all day, and hit a lot of greens,” said Griffin, who hit 16 of 18 greens-in-regulation during his round.
Two strokes behind Griffin and alone in second place is Ben Bench, of Oklahoma City, after shooting a 1-under-par 69. Tied for third after even-par scores of 70 are William Kropp of Edmond, Hunter Stensrud of Dallas, and Jordan Woolf of Arlington, Texas.
Arseneault, who recently gave a verbal commitment to play collegiate golf at Tulane University, managed to stay at 2-over-par 37 on her front nine despite three penalty shots.
“I scrambled really well out there and my putting was better,” said Arseneault, who credited her strategy of rotating between four different gloves to helping her beat the heat during her afternoon round.
Dodson said she likes the course setup because her long tee shots make for shorter approaches into the greens, where her putter was rolling well today.
“My putter is the club that saved me today,” she said.
Tied at three strokes behind the leaders after scores of 6-over-par 76 are Lucy Nunn of Lawton, Okla., Christine Song of Fullerton, Calif., Meghan Gockel of Dallas, Rashelle Fetty of Enid, Okla., Andrea Sellmeyer of McAlester, Okla., and Megan O'Connell of Odessa, Texas.
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA, the largest Association of its kind, has a junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of approximately 5,000 junior golfers from 50 states and 30 foreign countries.
Titleist, the AJGA's National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association's success since 1989. Rolex Watch USA, a supporter of the AJGA since 1983, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. More than 160 former AJGA juniors currently play on the PGA and LPGA Tours and have compiled more than 300 wins. AJGA alumni include Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Mike Weir, Charles Howell III, Jim Furyk, Dottie Pepper, Grace Park, Cristie Kerr and Beth Bauer.
The second round of the OSSO Junior at Oak Tree will begin Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. For more information about the OSSO Junior at Oak Tree call AJGA Tournament Headquarters at (405) 340-1010 ext. 569.
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