Northpinellas: Three county players to lead Bulls in 2004

Three county players to lead Bulls in 2004

DAVE THEALL
Published September 14, 2004

The University of South Florida men's golf team will be represented by three former Pinellas high school standouts.

They are seniors Brad Quiri and Ryan Shears, by way of East Lake High, and freshman Jason Elliott, a May graduate of Palm Harbor University High.

Quiri is coming off his best year of competition, highlighted by his impressive victory at the Florida State Amateur Championship in June. At Naples, he shot a third-round 5-under 67 en route to a 72-hole total of 281 and two-stroke victory.

Shears had the second-best average for the Bulls last season, 73.6. The team's 2003-04 season was capped with a fifth-place finish at the Conference USA championship hosted by the Bulls at Lake Jovita in Dade City. Texas Christian won among 14 schools.

Elliott was the dominant high school player last year, earning Times all-Pinellas player of the year honors. He finished ahead of Shears at this past summer's Florida Amateur by four strokes.

Coach Jim Fee, in his ninth season at USF, is a former player at his alma mater. He earned All-America honors in 1985, the year he graduated, when USF was a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Next year, USF moves to the Big East Conference.

Fee said he is optimistic about the season.

"Winning the state amateur was a big confidence booster for Brad," Fee said. "It doesn't bother him now when he hits bad shots. As for Elliott, his swing looks real good."

David Cosper (Countryside High), the Times 2000 all-Suncoast player of the year, returns to Rollins hopeful of returning it to the NCAA Division II national title. Golfweek pegs the Tars 10th in its fall preview behind No. 1 South Carolina-Aiken. The Tars open their season on Oct. 3 at the Lake Jovita Intercollegiate in Dade City.

St. Petersburg's Mike Barbosa (Bradenton St. Stephen's) has ambitions of helping his Georgia Tech team to a higher finish than its fifth place at May's NCAA tournament. The Yellow Jackets have their top six players back. Barbosa, tentatively, is the No. 2 man. He's coming off a big win this summer, the prestigious Cardinal Amateur in North Carolina.

Barbosa tees off on Sept. 26 at the NCAA Golfweek/Ping Preview in Owings Mills, Md., where defending champion UCLA takes on the top 14 teams in the nation, including coach Buddy Alexander's Florida Gators.

Golfweek pegs Kentucky's John Holmes, winner of January's New Year's Invitational at St. Petersburg Country Club, as the No. 2 college player behind UNLV's Ryan Moore.

CGA: Mangrove Bay hosted the County Golf Association last week, and the better-ball winners were JR Robertson of Belleair Bluffs and Ernie Muschner of St. Petersburg. They shot 5-under 67. In the senior division, Jim McKnight of Trinity teamed with Clearwater's Bill O'Hara for the win with a 69. There was a five-way tie for first in the net division. JUNIORS: Preston Knox of Dunedin won the boys 5-18 division of the FSGA's Back-To-School Classic at Mission Inn last month. He shot 72-74-146 on the 6,710-yard layout in Howey-in-the-Hills. Kyle Olson of Seminole was a stroke back at 75-72-147.

Zack Sobel of Tarpon Springs won the boys 12-14 division at 70-73-143 on a 6,039-yard course. David Resovsky, also of Tarpon, finished at 77-75-152.

Clearwater's Courtney Harter, a sophomore at PHU, traveled to Aurora, Ore., for the Sept. 4-5 Nike Junior Championship. She finished fourth among 21 at 79-73-77-229, earning her a spot on the Nike All-Star girls 15-under team, an honor earned by only eight Americans.

Harter has taken individual honors at PHU's first two matches - both team wins - of the season with nine-hole scores of 2-under-32 and 34 at Chi Chi's in Clearwater.

Teaching pro Phyllis Lewellyn, the girls coach at PHU, has been named executive director of the First Tee Program of Clearwater. The youth program will be conducted at Chi Chi's starting in October. For details, call her at 742-7307.

RELOCATION: Ken's Golf House has moved a few doors south on U.S. 19 in Clearwater to No. 18481, between Nursery and Belleair roads. The phone is 531-8871. COMING UP: The annual St. Paul Youth Choir Tournament, a scramble, will be at 1 p.m. Sept. 25 at Belleview Biltmore. The $75 entry fee includes lunch, range balls and an awards dinner. Call Mike Eaton at 446-3044 for details. He will help put singles into foursomes.

Seminole Lake Country Club will host the postponed season opener of the Pinellas County Men's Association at 1 p.m. Sept. 30. For further information, call Bob Detlor at 343-0578.