FOOTJOY BOYS INVITATIONAL
Forest Oaks Country Club
Greensboro, North Carolina
June 14-18, 2004
FOUR TIED FOR LEAD AT DAMPENED FOREST OAKS COUNTRY CLUB
Twenty-nine players in the clubhouse at par or better in Greensboro
GREENSBORO, N.C. – A star-studded group of the nation’s best junior golfers are jam-packed near the top of the leaderboard chasing Tuesday’s leaders at 4-under-par 68. Georgia natives Brian Harman and Chase MacFarland, both of Savannah; Matthew Swan of Montgomery, Ala.; and Christopher Ward of McKinney, Texas, all hold a one-shot advantage over the field.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the FootJoy Boys Invitational features 101 players – ages 12-18 – from 24 states, Chile, Japan, China and South Africa. The tournament field includes 41 Rolex Junior All-Americans, and 14 competitors from the host state of North Carolina. The 72-hole stroke play event is being held at the par-72 Forest Oaks Country Club, home of the PGA TOUR’s Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.
Intermittent late morning rain showers made conditions tough for much of the field during the first round. Harman, last year’s FootJoy Boys Invitational champion and the reigning Rolex Junior Player of the Year, could not avoid his share of trouble.
“I had a bunch of birdies, but I made some mistakes,” Harman said. “I should have shot a 62 or 63 today. I have a bitter taste in my mouth, and I wish we could start tomorrow’s round right now.”
Swan also found trouble throughout the round, adjusting to the inclement weather as he was in the middle of No. 14 green when the rain came.
“You can’t do much in that kind of downpour,” Swan said, who earlier this year tied for second at the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Chateau Elan. “I was just trying to make pars the rest of the way, and a few of my putts just happened to fall.”
Not allowing the weather effect his performance, Ward finished his round without a 3-putt, and only one bogey on the day.
Unlike Harman, Swan and Ward, MacFarland was able to finish his round just as the first rains began to fall. He collected seven birdies including a string of four-in-a-row on Nos. 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Rounding out the top-10 one stroke behind the leaders with 69s are Florida natives Robert Gates, Jr., of Gainesville, Cornelius Carroll of Windermere and Jon McLean of Weston; California natives Cameron Tringale of Laguna Niguel and Daniel Miller of Santa Maria; and Cole Peevler of Keokuk, Iowa.
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 has a 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.
The second round of the FootJoy Boys Invitational begins Wednesday at 7 a.m. off the No. 1 tee at Forest Oaks Country.
For more information about the FootJoy Boys Invitational, please contact tournament headquarters at (336) 674-4070.
