Gary Finishes T 56th in 2009 Future Masters

On the final day Gary shot six over 76 with six bogeys to finish in a tie for 56th. It was a tough day with difficult pin positions, temperatures in the 90's, and the greens rolling fast. Yesterday he could have given a driving clinic with 12 of 14 fairways hit and today he had four chips within a foot of the hole. He had no double bogeys but birdies remained elusive on the beautiful fast difficult greens. In the three days we saw 216 holes played (foursomes playing 54 holes) with no one sinking any putt greater than 15 feet; and remember, these are teenage kids who can sink any putt. I will update the statistical summary when I find my scorecard.

We congratulate Gary's friend and ofttimes practice partner Charles Silverfield for a fifth place finish. Charles was fourth in the state of Florida high school playoffs a year ago. Charles started the tournament on day one with a chip in eagle on his first hole. A player one group ahead of us today had a hole-in-one on the 11th. We heard the roar of the crowd, but not even the player saw it go in as there is a large mound in front of the green!

Gary showed grit and determination and excellent concentration throughout the tournament in spite of the lack of birdies when opportunity knocked. All the kids were stymied by the difficult greens. The Future Masters is truly similar to The Masters. The course is beautiful, the fairways perfect, the rough short and uniform, the greens are true and fast, there are multiple difficult pin positions, down grain putts can roll off the green, long putts are nearly impossible, three putts are possible often, five and six footers are true, drive landing zones are often narrow, and the tournament organization tops.

Second Day Future Masters 2009

Gary's group tee-ed off today on the back nine. He parred the first seven holes hitting all the fairways and five of the seven greens so five birdie putts didn't fall. Suddenly on the eighth hole he hit an errant tee shot into the trees and had to lay up to the 140 mark on the 407 par four. He made his first bogey and then proceeded to bogey the eighteenth hole and the first hole for three bogeys in a row and three over par. He then reeled off five more pars hitting four of the five greens. Finally, on the seventh (sixteenth hole of the day) he almost holed an eight iron and made a birdie. He hit both of the last two greens but not close enough for a realistic birdie putt so parred both. He finished at two over 72 for the day and seven over for the tournament. He is tied for 44th place making the cut of the low 110 plus ties. He goes off the first tee at 7:32 tomorrow. The scores are available by clicking here. The leader is at minus four, second place is minus one, and third place is even par.

Final stats for the day are as follows: Fairways hit: 12 of 14; Greens in Regulation: 13 of 18; Putts 34. Up and down: 2 of 5; Three putts: one; One putts: three; penalty strokes: none.

First Day Future Masters Report

Gary shot five over 75 today and is tied for 62nd in the 15-18 age group. The highlight of the day was a chip in birdie on the sixth hole, a four putt green on the eighth hole, and hitting 12 of 14 fairways with the driver. The greens are beautiful, slick, and roll about 11 on the Stimp Meter. He had 30 putts for the day and hit six greens in regulation. Birdies did not come easily today. The score board is available by clicking here. In the scoreboard a click on the player's name will show his hole by hole scores.

Press Thornton Future Masters Week

This is Future Masters Week in Dothan, Alabama. Gary's father played in the event many years and now Gary will be playing for his sixth Future Masters and now in the final age group of 16-18. The tournament has already begun in younger age groups and scoring is live on line. Gary's first day of play is Thursday. Click here for live online scoring from the Future Masters 2009.

There are over 60 touring pros who played at the Future Masters in the past including recent US Open winner Lucas Glover who won the 11-12 age group. At age 10 Hubert Green lost a playoff for his age group when the competitor made a birdie. When inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame Hubie said he never forgot that loss and had announced to his Dad that day that he would be a golf professional.

Qualified at Two of Three Qualifying Tournaments

The Florida State Golf Association Boys Junior Championship, the Optimist Junior World Championship, and the USGA Junior Amateur are three prestigious events that require Qualifying tournaments. Each qualifier is 18 holes. The Qualifiers were over the last two weeks. The Tournaments will be later in the summer.

The FSGA Junior Qualifier was at Cypress Creek in Rustin, Florida, just south of Tampa. The course slope was 149 and the rating was 74. Gary shot an even par 72 with four birdies and four bogies to qualify second with the low qualifier at 69. Qualifier events were held in six sites in Florida and Cypress Creek was so tough that a score of 84 qualified.
Click Here for the Florida State Golf Association Boys Junior Championship

Next at the Optimist Qualifier at Palm Beach Gardens, home of the PGA Tour's Honda Classic, a player needed to shoot lower than six over par and finish in the top three to move on to the Optimist Junior World Championship. There were qualifying tournaments going on all over the world for this event that will take about 600 players and over a hundred in Gary's 16-18 age group. On the front nine Gary was five over par and then quickly had a couple of bogies to go seven over. He just couldn't make a birdie on the 7000 yard course. Finally at the eighteenth a 456 par four he knew he needed a long drive so he leaned on the driver and hit it 300 yards only to roll into the fairway bunker. From 156 yards out of the sand he hit a seven iron "all over the pin" which landed on the front of the green and spun back to the frog hair about 20 feet from the cup. He rolled in the chip/putt for a birdie three and six over par and third place. He qualified! Our good friend Bill Newton (who is like another uncle to Gary)is always good for a great quote. Bill said, "You might want to start your 'charge' a little sooner next time!"
Click Here for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship

The USGA Junior Amateur held qualifying at Lake Wales Country Club, a 6600 yard par 72 course. Like the US Open, the USGA elected to call two par fives par fours and call the par at 70. Gary shot 75 (birdied the eighteenth) and 74 and missed the qualifying by four shots. In the second day round Gary was three over for the last two holes with some "tree trouble" on his approach shots. This was unusual as he has been very accurate with driver and approach shots.

This Fathers Day he and his Dad will once more defend their Father-Son Championship at Emerald Greens Country Club, their home course. Gary, III, has not lost in this event since his grandpa (me) had to fill in for his Dad four years ago! Grandpa shot 25 strokes higher than his Dad usually shoots. I just don't know why Gary III couldn't make up for that!

The next tournament is next weeks Future Masters in Dothan, Alabama a three day event of national ranking. There are 224 players in Gary's 15-18 age group and he has a 6:46 first day tee time off number one in the third group of the day. Like Tiger Woods and his Dad, he is a morning person so this will be a good time for him.
Click Here for Press Thornton Future Masters Information

Gary is now ranked 1801 by the National Junior Golf Scoreboard and 833 by Golf Week Magazine. Here are links to the two major ranking systems:
Click Here for Golf Week Junior Rankings
Click Here for National Junior Golf Scoreboard Rankings

Gary Begins Summer Season Strongly

Knocking the rust off after the off season of baseball playing Gary made some strong showings this spring. Playing in South Floida for the first time he and his mother traveled to the Miami area in April and he tied for first and lost in a playoff to finish second. At this tournament out of district he met some new strong south Floirda players.

Then he played in a Tampa area event the next weekend and tied for first and won in a four hole playoff.

Next came the Greater Tampa Junior Golf Association match play event in which 67 players played two nine hole matches each weekend. Gary won the first two matches, lost the third, and won the consolation division with a final match win. Gary was seeded second.

Then in the GTJGA Tournament of Champions he was second in his age group and eighth overall with the 13-15 group turning in the best scores. Gary is 16 and in the 16-18 group. He hit the ball well, felt rusty, and had two penalty strokes (both unplayable lies) in this tournament.

Florida Junior Golf Tour

Gary competed with 84 other top junior players in the Florida Golf Association Junior Tour near Orlando. This tour requires qualification and the field is strong. The course hosted the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament this past year and the boys played essentially the same tees at 7000 yards with the rating at 74 and the slope at 134. These are very high ratings and slope. On the first day he shot 79 with four birdies and one double boggie. He finished strongly with a birdie on the 18^th, but overall was disapointed with his play. On day two he shot one over 73 and at the eleventh was four under par with birdies on the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 10^th. He finished in 23^rd position for this his first major competition of the year.

Recently he had a spring tune up golf lesson with his coach Aaron Fagan (Click Aaron's name for his profile) at the David Leadbetter Academy at Champions Gate in Orlando. Some minor swing and grip changes were instituted and he feels he is hitting the ball solidly and in better control. Putting was a strong point. He has been practicing putting diligently on a new SouthEastern putting Green in the back yard.