Rinker Fires 66 At PGA
Junior Series Event
State College,
Pa., - The 2010 PGA Junior Series
witnessed a first today during the opening round of their eighth event of the
summer held at the Penn State Golf Course.
Brett Rinker of Slippery Rock, Pa., shot a 6-under-par
66 to be leading the Boys’ 13-15 Division.
The field of over 160 juniors from 16
different states as well as Canada
are competing in a 54-hole stroke play competition on the Blue Course in
State College, Pa.
Rinker, who played in last year’s
PGA Junior Series event at Penn
State and did not play
well, attributes his success today to his ability to have a lot more short
irons into greens. He has matured and
grown over the last year and hits the ball a lot farther.
His round got off to great start when he made eagle on his
second hole when he holed out from 105 yards with a pitching wedge. He continued on to shot a 5-under-par 31 on
his first nine holes of the day that included 1 eagle and 4 birdies.
“I made a lot of putts today and just wanted to play a solid
tournament this week,” said Rinker.
Grant Weaver of Wooster,
Ohio is leading the deep field
for the Boys’ 16-18 Division after shooting a 3-under-par 69. The Ohio State University bound player was happy with
how he hit the ball today.
“I made some mid-range putts today that got me going and
allowed me to score well,” said Weaver.
“I would love to go out and win this week.”
He has a one stroke lead over John Chaney of Shaker Hts., Ohio.
In the Girls’ 16-18 Division Aurora Kan of Boothwyn,
Pa., who has won the overall Girls’ title the
last two years at Penn
State, is in familiar
territory as the round one leader this year.
She shot a 3-under-par 69 to be leading the Girls’ 16-18 Division by
four strokes.
Samantha Swinehart of Lancaster, Ohio and Katlyn Elliott of Canada are both tied for second
after shooting a 1-over-par 73.
Kan
made her presence known to the field right from the beginning when she birdied
the first hole as well as the easy No. 9 par-5 to shoot a 2-under-par 34 on the
front nine.
She played consistent all day with hitting fairways and
greens. With her knowledge and
experience here at Penn
State, she is going to be
hard to beat this week. She came wanting
to earn the exemption into the 35th Junior PGA Championship later
this summer.
Jessica Porvasnik of Hinckley, Ohio
took hold of the Girls’ 13-15 Division lead after shooting a 1-over-par
73. She has a two stroke advantage over
Ashley Cassidy of Doylestown,
Pa.
Round two commences tomorrow morning with the Boys’ 16-18
Division in the morning wave and the other three divisions in the afternoon
wave. Many players have the ability to
move up the leaderboard tomorrow and should be
interesting to watch who can calm their nerves and make a move.
