JUSTIN LEONARD/DELOITTE JUNIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Northwood Club
Dallas, Texas
June 28 – July 1, 2004
DEFENDING CHAMPS OSBORNE & HOLLAND TIED FOR LEAD AT NORTHWOOD
Ward & Cox shoot 6-under-par 65, Barton & Burlison lead Girls Division
DALLAS – Will Osborne of Wichita Falls, Texas, and Charlie Holland of Dallas, wasted no time in defense of their title Tuesday, jumping out to a 6-under-par 65, but Christopher Ward of McKinney, Texas, and Jordan Cox of Redwood City, Calif., matched their score to force a two-way tie for the lead in the first round of the Justin Leonard/Deloitte Junior Team Championship. In the Girls Division, Lila Barton of Dallas, and Sydney Burlison of Salinas, Calif., lead by three strokes after teaming for a 2-under-par 69.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the Justin Leonard/Deloitte Junior Team Championship is being held at Northwood Club in Dallas, the site of the 1952 U.S. Open. The 54-hole event features 72 players from 11 states and Mexico, including 48 players from Texas.
The players competed in a modified scotch format, under which each player hits his/her own tee shot, then plays his/her teammate’s ball for the second shot. The team then chooses which ball it would like to play out and continues under alternate shot format until the ball is holed.
Osborne and Holland, winners of the 2003 Justin Leonard/Deloitte Junior Team Championship, took advantage of their experience as a tandem to put together a bogey-free round.
“We work really well as a team,” Holland said. “We have similar games – we both have good short games.”
The teammates agreed that a win this year would be even sweeter than the year before.
“We want it more than last year,” Osborne said. “You don’t see many defending champions – it’s one of the hardest things to do in golf.”
Ward and Cox shot a 5-under-par 31 on the front nine and coasted in to grab a share of the lead.
“We got each other’s backs out there,” Cox said. “If one of us missed the fairway, the other would put it in position to hit the green.”
“He saved us a lot,” Ward said, pointing to his teammate.
Ben Herrera of Waukee, Iowa, and Kevin Grabeman of Springboro, Ohio, are one stroke back along with Kevin Schultz of Richardson, Texas, and Trent Leon of Dallas, who also shot 66. Scott Barton of Dallas, and Jeffrey Edelman of Southlake, Texas, are two strokes back at 67.
In the Girls Division, the duo of Barton and Burlison was the only team to finish in red numbers.
“We played well but we also had a bunch of near-birdies,” Barton said.
“We left a lot of shots out there,” Burlison said. “But we covered for each other when one person hit a bad shot.”
Katy Barrett of Las Vegas, and Brooke Todare of Paradise Valley, Ariz., shot a 1-over-par 72, and sisters Andrea and Sarah Zwartynski of Allen, Texas, are four strokes back at 73.
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 an AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.
Second-round tee times begin at 9 a.m., Wednesday off the No. 1 tee. For more information about the Justin Leonard/Deloitte Junior Team Championship, please contact Northwood Club at (972) 934-0544.
