White, Barry Lead Open and Senior Divisions After Day One at Normandie
St. Louis, MO – Jason White and Tom Barry each shot 7-under 64s to lead the Open Division and Senior Division, respectively, at the 35th Normandie Amateur.
White came out of the gates with four straight birdies to quickly tie the clubhouse lead. He carded birdie on No. 7 to make the turn at 5-under and the solo lead which he had the rest of the day. A birdie on No. 13 came before the lone bogey of the day on the par 4 14th, but it was quickly erased with two birdies on the next two holes. Pars the rest of the way got him in at 7-under.
“I had really good tee shots to start, a lot of really short wedges in and was able to put it within five to ten feet all of those holes,” White said. “Tomorrow I just have to hit fairways and greens, that’s really it, just have to avoid the big numbers.”
Corey Choate fired a 4-under 67 early in the morning to get the clubhouse lead. With the only mistake coming on the last, Choate went bogey-free his first 17 holes with five birdies, including back-to-back on holes 12 and 13.
“I played really well, rode a hot putter all day,” Choate said. “I had a great pairing to play with in Sully and Chris, we had fun out there. My game has been pretty up and down, so just trying to hit it well again tomorrow.”
Austin Fauser went 4-under his last five holes to tie Choate on the leaderboard in a tie for second. Fauser made 11 straight pars before going birdie-bogey on 12 and 13. An eagle on 15 and another one on 17 got him into red figures at 4-under.
“All day, the putter wasn’t really that hot,” Fauser said. “It was okay on the front and same to start the back. When I got to 15 I knew I needed something to happen. On 17, I had 230 left, hit a 4-iron to the left of the green and chipped it in. Things like that could help and it really did today.”
Chad Niezing fired a 3-under 68 and is alone in third place. Neizing went bogey-free 3-under his first 13 holes and even par the rest of the way (two birdies, one par, two bogeys) got him in at 3-under just three shots back.
Chris Kovach matched Niezing on the leaderboard at 3-under. Kovach made the turn at 1-under and was able to make three birdies on the back with one bogey to get into a tie for fourth.
Tom Barry fired a 7-under 64 at his home course to take a five-shot lead in the Senior Division. Barry made the turn at 4-under thanks to an eagle on the par 4 9th where he found the bottom of the cup from 148 yards out. Three birdies down the stretch, including back-to-back on the 15th and 16th that saw him post a 7-under.
“I hit it well, hit a lot of greens with just that one bogey,” Barry said. “I played the par 5s at 3-under which is good out here. Just a solid round of golf today.”
Buddy Allen sits alone in second after a 2-under 69. Allen carded four birdies and just two bogeys, and went bogey-free 3-under on holes 4 through 13.
Robert Meeh shot even par and is in third. Meeh, Allen and Barry were the only par or better rounds in the Senior Division.
Final round gets underway tomorrow morning with starting times beginning at 7:00 a.m.
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