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AJGA BANK OF MONTREAL FUTURE
LINKS JUNIOR AT GREENHILLS
Greenhills Golf Club
London, Ontario
August 27-30, 2002
WILLIAMSON FIRES LOW ROUND
FOR LEAD AT GREENHILLS
Bickerton grabs Girls Division lead with bogey-free round
LONDON, Ont. - Kyle Williamson of Midland, Mich.,
fired a 3-under-par 68 Wednesday to capture the lead after
first-round play at the AJGA Bank of Montreal Future Links
Junior at Greenhills, held at the par-71 Greenhills Golf Club.
Ashley Bickerton of Ottawa, Ont., carded a bogey-free 2-under-par
69 for the low score in the Girls Division.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the Bank
of Montreal Future Links Junior at Greenhills features 100
players with boys and girls representing 11 states and three
Canadian provinces. Seventy-one Canadians, including 67 juniors
from Ontario, are competing in the event.
Williamson, who is playing in only his second AJGA event,
got off to a rocky start with a bogey on the first hole. A
birdie on the par-4, 349-yard seventh was all he needed to
move back to even-par on the front side and regain confidence
in his putting stroke.
Williamson caught fire on the back nine, notching a string
of birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 16. The highlight of his
birdie run came on the par-4, 396-yard 16th when Williamson
stuck his second shot to a foot of the cup. The 17-year-old
finished with 25 putts on the day.
"After that birdie on No. 7, I really got going,"
said Williamson, who hit 10 greens. "I missed a lot of
greens on the front and had to get up and down a lot. Once
I started hitting greens, I gained more confidence in my putting
and started sticking them."
Williamson holds a two-stoke advantage over Craig Revell (35-35-70)
of Kingston, Ont. Six players finished the day logjammed in
third place at even-par 71, including Dustin Wetherup of Oshawa,
Ont.; Pat Kelly of Garden City, N.Y.; Nathan Hendriks of Carlisle,
Ont.; Victor Ciesielski of Cambridge, Ont.; Alvin Yeung of
Markham, Ont., and Brad Revell of Kingston, Ont.
In the Girls Division, Bickerton, who won the Lessing's AJGA
Classic earlier this month, had a solid performance on the
front nine, bagging birdies on Nos. 4 and 6. However, the
turning point in Bickerton's round came on the par-4, 296-yard
fifth when the 17-year-old pitched in from 20 yards past the
green to save par.
"I never make shots like that," Bickerton said.
"I got a bit unlucky because the ball rolled in the hazard,
and then my drop was in a nasty lie.
"Today, I put myself in position on all the holes. I
made some putts, and I missed some putts, but I was always
in position. The key was just keeping it in play."
Seema Sadekar of Bradenton, Fla., is six shots off the lead
in second place after shooting 38-37-75. Patricia Hogeboom
of Glenburnie, Ont., and Joanna Periversoff of London, Ont.,
posted 76s to share third place.
Second-round tee times will begin on Thursday, August 29 at
7:30 a.m. off the No. 1 tee at Greenhills Golf Club.
For more information on the AJGA Bank of Montreal Future Links
Junior at Greenhills, contact tournament headquarters at (519)
652-5033, ext. 230.
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