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Pozzuto, Vivo lead after GGOV junior 1st round
By Steve WILAJ
VIENNA
RJ Pozzuto barely snuck into the championship in the first place.
But after one finals round of the 2016 Flynn Automotive Group Juniors Greatest Golfers of the Valley championship, the Wilmington High sophomore sits in, ironically enough, first place.
Pozzuto notched a 71 at Squaw Creek on Friday to jump out to a lead in the boys 17-U division.
“I’m pretty confident,” Pozzuto said. “I played well, obviously. The putter was working today. Hopefully I can keep that up tomorrow.”
He holds a three-shot lead on Cole Christman and Ken Keller, who each shot a 74 for a second-place tie. They’re followed by Cade Kreps and Brian Terlesky, who both notched 75s, while Bobby Jonda took a 78.
Jenna Vivo shot an 84 to sit atop the girls 17-U leaderboard. Trailing Vivo were Sydney Heinbaugh with an 85 and Emily Koehler with an 86. Hannah Keffler, Gillian Cerimele and Britney Jonda all took a 90.
The second and final round takes place today at 12:30 p.m. at Avalon Golf and Country Club.
“I’m excited to play Avalon — that’s one of my favorite courses and I usually do well there,” Heinbaugh. “So I’ll be ready to play.”
BOYS
Pozzuto — who was one of the final point-total qualifiers from the six-round regular season — went two-under on the front-nine and nailed four birdies.
“I was hitting it straight off the tee,” Pozzuto said. “I was hitting the fairways and hit some greens and then I made a couple putts.
“I kind of collapsed on the back early, but recovered and managed to get a good score. I think I’ve given myself a good chance at winning [today].”
While temperatures sat in the 90s on Friday, the golfers will have to deal with the same hot conditions today.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Pozzuto said. “I thought it was going to be worse. But I kept hydrated out there and turned out all right.”
Keller, who had one birdie and was another final point-total qualifier, is also confident heading into today’s play.
“I hit the ball really well, but putted terrible to be completely honest,” he said. “I had eight birdie putts inside of 12 feet, but only made one of them.
“So that was pretty disappointing.
“But I’m gonna be in the last group tomorrow, so that should be pretty exciting. I look forward to the challenge and hopefully playing well.”
Rounding out the 17-U scores: Jimmy Graham shot an 83; Joey Vitali, Bryan Kordupel and Anthony Graziano shot an 84; Zach Jacobson took an 85; and Dean Austalosh notched an 86.
GIRLS
Heinbaugh, a senior at Ursuline High, expressed confidence despite an interesting past few weeks.
“All month, my drives have been pretty messed up,” she said. “But I got them back on track today.
“And then my shots onto the green were pretty good, but the putting was difficult. The greens were insanely hard — I give props to anyone who even two-putted.”
For the girls, Kaci Carpenter took a 92, Erika Hoover shot a 94, Jenna Jacobson a shot 95, Emily Marcavish notched a 98, Carmel Cerimele shot a 101 and Victoria Messuri a 108.
The girls 17-U will tee-off from 1:10-1:40 p.m. this afternoon. Additionally, nine golfers will compete in the boys 14-U, teeing-off between 1:50-2:10 p.m.
Three golfers will play in the girls 14-U, teeing-off at 2:10 p.m.
This is the seventh season for Greatest Golfer, and it has grown from an event serving 90 golfers to now impacting 3,000 golfers, 12 golf courses and 24 charities.