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ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS JUNIOR
Abilene Country Club
Abilene, Texas
Aug. 5-8, 2002
FRYE, LEWIS ATTACK TO GAIN LEAD
Gerlich matches course record
ABILENE, Texas - Jeremy Frye of Palestine, Texas,
was hot right off No. 1, carding three consecutive birdies
to help him edge out the competition for top spot on the leaderboard
at 66-64-130. Stacy Lewis of The Woodlands, Texas, carded
a second-round, 1-over-par 72 to claim the lead in the Girls
Division.
The 54-hole tournament, conducted by the American Junior Golf
Association, features 120 players representing 12 states and
includes 101 Texas natives. It is being held at the par-71
Abilene Country Club. Past champions of the event include
PGA TOUR players Scott Verplank (1981, '82), Phil Mickelson
(1987) and LPGA Tour players Kelli Kuehne (1992, '93), and
Emilee Klein (1990).
Beginning with his warm up on the driving range, Frye was
ready to make his move.
"I felt good on the range this morning, and I hit the
ball pretty well," Frye said. "I didn't worry about
yesterday's scores. I just tried to focus on today."
With near-perfect playing conditions, the 17-year-old felt
confident he could post a low score.
"The course sets up well for me," Frye said. "I
hit 16 greens and didn't have a bogey."
On No. 14 Frye almost had a hole-in-one but his tee shot skirted
about a foot past the hole. He made the birdie putt and advanced
to the 539-yard 15th where he put his second shot within 15
feet from 255 yards out. From there he drained his putt to
card an eagle, bringing him to 7-under for the day.
"I have never played this well back-to-back," Frye
said.
Jeff Gerlich of Austin, Texas, matched the course record and
nabbed the low-round of the day at 8-under-par 63.
Gerlich didn't leave much on the course he carded eight birdies
and parred the rest of the holes.
"I was good with my short game today," Gerlich said.
"This is a short course, so I can hit sand or lob wedge
into every green and be sitting pretty good."
While he had a spectacular round today, Gerlich still feels
he will have to take it deep tomorrow to come up with a win.
"I wasn't really thinking about winning coming into the
event because I haven't been playing well," Gerlich said.
"But apparently I am going to have to shoot pretty low
tomorrow to have a shot at it since I am still a couple shots
back."
Lewis, 17, came off a confident finish in the first round,
1-under-par 70, and made a statement to her fellow competitors
off No. 1 with a birdie.
"Today wasn't as good as yesterday, but I saved a lot
of pars and bogeys," Lewis said. "I was just trying
to stay around par and hopefully I would end up in the top
three after today."
Tomorrow Lewis said she plans to go out and be aggressive,
attacking flagsticks.
Final-round action begins tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. off No. 1.
Tee times will run until 1:21 p.m.
For more information regarding the Abilene Reporter-News Junior,
please contact our headquarters at (915) 692-5588.
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