Davis Riley
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THE WOODLANDS, Texas – It
didn’t take long for
Davis Riley, the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur
Championship runner-up, to
make his presence felt in this year’s
championship at The Club at
Carlton Woods’ Nicklaus Course.
The 17-year-old from Hattiesburg, Miss.,
began his round at 7:30 a.m.
CDT and polished off a bogey-free, 5-under 67
before the searing
Texas heat took full effect. He holds a one-
stroke lead over Sam
Horsfield, of England, and Joshua Sedeno, of
Roseville, Calif., in the
race for stroke-play medalist.
The second round of stroke-play qualifying will
be conducted on
Tuesday, with the top 64 finishers advancing
to the match-play portion
of the championship.
Riley’s sterling round included five birdies and
virtually no stress, which
is an accomplishment on this challenging par-
72 course that was set up
at 7,219 yards.
“Starting the round, I just told myself fairways
and greens and make a
few putts here and there,” said Riley. “I hit a
ton of greens, had about
five or six shots up there to within 10 feet of
the hole and took
advantage of my opportunities.”
This is the last year that Riley will be eligible to
play in the U.S. Junior,
and while there is still a long way to go, he
hopes to apply the lessons
he learned when this championship shifts to
match play starting on
Wednesday.
“Last year was a really good learning
experience,” he said. “I learned
that a lot of fairways and greens are going to
win matches, so let the
other guy make the mistakes. Just the
experience of the past two
years really helped me out a lot.”
As good as Riley’s round was, he has good
company on the leader
board. Shrugging off the heat and the difficult
course, 29 players
posted under-par rounds today, displaying the
depth of talent in the
junior ranks.
Horsfield and Sedeno both shot their 68s in the
afternoon. Horsfield, a
quarterfinalist in the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur
who also reached the
round of 32 in last week’s U.S. Amateur Public
Links Championship,
came into today with good form and a positive
attitude.
“When you’re playing well, you feel like you
know what you’re going to
do,” said Horsfield. “You just have a lot of
confidence when you’re
playing well and especially against good
competition.”
While Horsfield has lived in Orlando, Fla., since
he was 5 years old and
is used to the heat and humidity, he’s looking
forward to his morning
starting time for Tuesday’s second round.
“I like playing in the morning. I feel like the
greens are pure since
nobody has walked on them,” he said. “I have
the first tee time out, so
there should be some good birdie opportunities
and I’m looking forward
to it.”
In contrast to Riley and Horsfield, Sedeno is
making his USGA
championship debut. He got off to a somewhat
shaky start with bogeys
on two of his first seven holes, but then
proceeded to birdie four holes
in a row (13-16) and add a closing birdie at
the par-5 18th to post his
4-under round.
Among the group of seven players at 3-under
69 is Jacob Solomon, of
Dublin, Calif., who had a memorable start to his
first USGA
championship.
“I actually birdied the first hole, chipped in
from right off the green and
that was pretty cool to get the nerves away
and start with a birdie,”
he said.
Joining Solomon at 69 are Cheng Jin, of the
People’s Republic of China;
Braden Thornberry, of Olive Branch, Miss.;
Tony Gil, of Canada; Brad
Dalke, of Hobart, Okla.; Thomas Longbella, of
Chippewa Falls, Wis.; and
John Mancinotti, of Toledo, Ohio. All are well-
positioned to reach match
play with another good round Tuesday.
Three notables in the field who shot 1-under
71 are 2014 U.S. Open
qualifier Will Grimmer, of Cincinnati; 2013 U.S.
Junior Amateur
quarterfinalist Cameron Young, of Scarborough,
N.Y.; and five-time
U.S. Junior participant William Zalatoris, of
Plano, Texas.
Two more quarterfinalists from last year,
Zecheng Dou, of the People’s
Republic of China, and John Augenstein, of
Owensboro, Ky., finished at
72 and 73, respectively.
Players from the Houston area who are
competing include Brady Price
(73), of The Woodlands; Zach Tracy (77), of
Houston; and Kyle Hogan
(81), of Cypress.
View results for U.S. Junior Amateur