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Even though the defending champion will not be in the field, the 2001 Memorial Fall Classic will still contain a very strong contingent of high school golfers.First-round action in this year's event begins today at 8:30 a.m., at Victoria Country Club, with final-round action on Saturday at Colony Creek, beginning at 9:30 a.m.San Antonio Reagan opened up a 14-stroke lead after the first round last year and coasted home with a 25-stroke victory. However, Reagan will not be back to defend its title, leaving the door open for the likes of Corpus Christi King, San Antonio Churchill and Hardin-Jefferson, along with host Memorial.Other teams participating in this year's tournament include C.C. Moody, St. Joseph, C.C. Ray, S.A. Lee, Galveston, Uvalde, C.C. Miller and Port Neches-Groves.
Memorial's Jason Louth returns to defend his individual title after a one-stroke victory last year over Reagan's Chris Garza.Louth shook off an opening-round 79, before bouncing back to fire a 4-under-par 67 for a two-day 146.Joining Louth on Memorial's A-team will be Wes Hendrix, Caleb Etheredge, Matt Hillyer and freshman Erich Schneider. Louth, Hendrix, Etheredge and Hillyer are all seasoned veterans with two straight regional tournament berths under their belts. Freshman Chris Pribyl will lead the Vipers B-team, along with Lance Hansen, Grant Murray, Marcus Padilla and Jason Cohcrum.The Memroial C-team will consist of Scott Nicol, Ray Pucciarello, Drew Adams, Evan Clark and Roe Ellisor.Jeremy Lee, and Bradley Bongers will be playing as individual medalists. Saturday September 15, 2001 Memorial's Jason Louth was in his zone Friday and teammate Caleb Etheredge also had his game going, but it was not enough to propel the Vipers into the first-round lead of the 2001 Memorial Fall Classic.Louth, the defending champion in the event, recorded seven birdies and finished with a 4-under-par 68 to hold a five-stroke lead over Etheredge. But San Antonio Churchill had four players record rounds in the 70s to take a seven-shot lead over the Vipers.Churchill turned in a 14-over 302, while Memorial finished with a 309 to make the event a two-team race going into today's final round at Colony Creek Country Club.Victoria Country Club played into Louth's hands, however, on Friday as he went out at 1-under 35 and came in blazing with a 3-under 33 for the only under-par round of the day.Louth only had two over-par holes on the day, the first coming at the par-4 No. 7 when he flew the green on his approach and ended up with a double-bogey 6. Then a three-putt at the par-4 14th, stopping a string of three straight birdies with his lone bogey of the day.Louth had birdies at the par-5 No. 1 and No. 4 before his double bogey at No. 7. But he bounced right back by nailing a 6-foot birdie putt at the par-3 No. 8 to get back to 1-under.After starting the back with a par, he strung together three straight birdies at the par-4 11th, par-3 12th and par-5 13th. He finished his birdie run at the par-4 16th.Etheredge, meanwhile, used two birdies and a bogey on the front to make the turn at 1-under as well, but a bogey at the 10th and a double bogey at the 17th erased his red numbers as he finished with a 1-over 73.Wes Hendrix and Erich Schneider added a pair of 84s, but it was not enough to hold of Churchill. Matt Hillyer added an 87.Jimmy Willingham led the Churchill run with a 2-over 74, while Troy Coker, Jeff Irwin and Dan Valdez added a trio of 76s to pull in front of the Vipers. Corpus Christi Carroll was the nearest challenger, 14 strokes behind the Vipers, at 323, while Corpus Christi Ray was in fourth at 325.The Memorial B-team was in eighth place with a 337. Grant Murray paced the squad with an 81, while Chris Pribyl added an 82, Lance Hansen an 86, Marcus Padilla an 88 and Jason Cochrum a 93.Two strokes back was St. Joseph at 339. Pacing the Flyers was Jonathan Perez with a 79, followed by David Perez (81), Kevin Sandoval (89) and Trip Griffin (90).Ray Pucciarello paced the Vipers C-team to a 342 score with an 82. He was followed by Drew Andrews and Scott Nicol, both at 86, Evan Clark at 88 and Roe Ellisor at 91. Other team scores included C.C. King 332, Port Neches-Groves 333, San Antonio Lee 334, Galveston 349, Uvalde 352, C.C. Moody 395 and C.C. Miller 396. |
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