Pablo Posts a Final Round 70 for the win

It was a foggy, foggy start to the FCWT/Golfweek Invitational at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course.  On Saturday, players in the Boys 16-18 division had a 15 minute delay waiting for some visibility.  When all was said and done, visibility didn't seem to be a problem for

Michael Sorenson of Hartland, WI (2009) who fired a 2 under par on Saturday to lead the Boys 16-18 division.  Sorenson, a 3rd season player on the FCWT, was an All-American last year.  He began the Final Round trying  to hold off probably the "hottest" Boys 16-18 player so far this season on the FCWT: 

Patrick Rodgers of Avon, IN (2011).  Rodgers had won 4 times this season at the start of this event, with one additional T3.  Patrick fired a bogey-free round of one under par on Saturday and began the final round tied with

Kevin Dougherty of Murrieta, CA (2009).  Dougherty led TEAM USA to victory and won the individual title at the ASU Challenge in December. 

But Sunday proved to be the more challenging day for many players.  But not all of them.  Pablo Serna of Armenia, COLOMBIA (2009) opened with a 77 then fired a 2 under par 70 on Sunday to come from behind and edge out Rodgers, who led this division in pars with 28, by one shot to earn his second win of the season.  Rodgers' second place finish is his 6th Top 3 of the season.  Dougherty finished tied for 3rd with first round leader Sorenson.

Brant DeLongy of Winter Park, FL (2009),  finished in 5th place at 150, just 3 shots off the pace.  Zhong Yang Fu of Beijing, CHINA (2010) finished with a 74 to move up to tied for 6th with Sean Kelly of Staten Island, NY (2011).

 Tyler Sluman of Huntington Beach, CA (2010) carded the second best final round - an even par - to finish tied for 8th with Isaac Spencer of Winston-Salem, NC (2009),

Nicholas Grubnich of Crown Point, IN (2011), and

Stephane Dubois of CANADA (2010).  The Top 10 finishers earn automatic exemptions to the 2009 FCWT National Championship over the Memorial Day weekend.

Yoon comes from back in the pack to Win

James Yoon of PARAGUAY (2012) started the final round back in the pack, but fired a final round of 2 under par 70 to earn his 3rd win of the season and defend his title.  Yoon won here last season with rounds of 74-72-146.  This year, he must have realized the competition wouldn't allow that final score, so he improved it by 2 strokes (74-70-144) and finished at even par for the event edging out

Alex Piacente of Montreal, QC, CANADA (2011) by one stroke.  Alex, who carded an even par round on Saturday, led the field in birdies with 10 for the weekend, on his way to his 2nd place finish, up from T9 at this event last year.

Overnight leader, Clancy Waugh of North Palm Beach, FL (2013) who opened with a 3 under par 69 to lead all scores finished in 3rd place at 146, after finishing T13 here last year.  One of the great things about these events is watching players improve from season to season.

Daniel Pizetoski of Davidson, NC (2011), who is a first season FCWT player, finished in 4th place.  Daniel, who won the Bermuda Run Open, played the back side at 3 under par and finished at 1 in Round One.  Bailey Truesdell of Grand LeBlanc, MI (2012) finished in 5th place, 6 places better than last season's T11.

In the Boys 11-12 division,

Kristian Perry of Boca Raton, FL (2015)  carded two consecutive rounds of 81 to win over

Philip Loeb of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (2014) by 3 strokes.

Marisa Kamelgarn of Mahopac, NY (2009) came from 2nd place to earn her first FCWT win.

In the Girls 11-14 division Gudrun Pettursdottir of ICELAND (2013)  carded two consecutive rounds of 81 to win  

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Granger Goes Low ~ Grabs Title

Joshua Granger of Monrovia, CA (2009) started the final round of the PGA West Classic in 4th place after posting a 74 on Saturday on the TPC Stadium Course.  On Sunday he tied Trevor Simsby of Carlsbad, CA (2010) for Low Round honors with his round of 71 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course.  His total of 144 Even par for the event was enough to allow him to win by one stroke over the overnight leader

Ben Itterman of Carlsbad, CA (2010)\.  Itterman, the defending Champion of this event, set the pace when he fired a 2 under par 70 on Saturday to take the lead.  Itterman finished tied for 2nd with

Chris Russo of Westlake Village, CA (2009). Russo, who carded the only eagle on Saturday in this division, earned his second Top 10 finish of the season after a T7 at the Mission Hills Challenge in December.  Trevor Simsby's Low Round allowed him to finish tied for 4th with

Chris Gilbert of Simi Valley, CA (2009).  Gilbert, a 3rd season FCWT player, finished T3 at the Classic Club earlier this season.

Other notables:  Tad Murray of La Quinta, CA (2010) carded a final round of even par to finish in the Top 10.  Granger and Russo each carded an eagle in this event.  Pete Fernandez Jr. of Bakersfield, CA (2010) led this division in birdies with 8.  Simsby led in pars with 26.

Koo conquers "Wild" West ~ wins by 3 over Kit Carson and Tex-eira

Thirteen year old Peter Kyo Won Koo of Chandler, AZ (2014) is in his first FCWT season, but is quickly establishing himself as a force to contend with on the FCWT.  Peter has played 5 events this season and has finished in the Top 5 every time except one, when he finished 6th.  Sunday marked his 2nd win of the season after winning at Grayhawk in December.  After starting the final round in 3rd place, Koo posted a final round of 74 and won by 3 strokes over Kit Carson of Galt, CA (2012).  On Saturday the players teed it up on the TPC Stadium Course, but on Sunday they moved to the Nicklaus Course and some found it more challenging.  Koo carded rounds of 75-74, making him one of the only players in the entire field who was able to manage both courses equally well - thus earning him the title.  Peter led this division in pars with 27, while Ben Steinen of La Quinta, CA (2011) led in birdies with 7.

Carson, who started the day tied for 8th, also posted a final round of 74 to move into a tie for 2nd with

Jonah Texeira of Solano Beach, CA (2014) who started the final round tied for 5th.  Overnight leader,

Ben Doyle of San Diego, CA (2014) finished in 4th place.  Jonathan Keedy of Newport Beach, CA (2012) earned the 5th spot with a final round of 76.

Thirteen year old Rico Thome of GERMANY (2011), playing in his first FCWT event, already made a name for himself.  Thome carded the only eagle in this division on Saturday on the par 4, 9th hole, which, by the way, is the # 1 handicap hole on the Stadium course card. On Sunday, he again carded the only eagle in this division with a 3 on the par 5, 11th hole on the Nicklaus Course.  Rico finished in 6th place.

 Boys 11-12 division. 

Tyler Moore of Escondido, CA (2015) fired a one under par round of 71 to lead all scores on Saturday and carded the Low Round for this division on Sunday with a 76.  Some of Tyler's competitors may be wondering "when will this young man age up?"  In time, but not this season, as Moore hasn't been 12 for long.  In any case, Moore has proven he is a force with which to be reckoned winning 5 times in 7 events.  Moore led this division in birdies with 7 and took the title with ease.

Tiger Lee of Queensland, AUSTRALIA (2015), who carded the only eagle in this division - a 2 on the 10th hole of the Nicklaus Course, posted 2 rounds of 78 to earn 2nd place for the second time in as many events.

Gavin deFisser of Gilbert, AZ (2015) finished in 3rd place, just 2 strokes back of Lee.

 Lori Harper of Manhattan Beach, CA (2009) pulled away from her co-leader to win in the Girls 13-18 division (more).