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Letter to the editor

No rest or worries for PHU's Sobel

By DAVE THEALL
Published June 17, 2007

On Monday, Zach Sobel of Clearwater Beach led a strong field of 11 qualifiers at Wentworth into the June 21-24 State Amateur Championship at Innisbrook.

Sobel, a former club champion at Wentworth at age 14, shot 4-under 67 for medalist honors by making five birdies, offsetting a single bogey and needing only 28 putts.

"My iron play was good and my putting was really good, " said Sobel, who will be a junior at Palm Harbor University. "I'm happy with where my game is right now although I'm still trying to improve all the parts of it."

The other Pinellas qualifiers were Peter Kolosvary, Safety Harbor, 69; Dan Humboldt, Clearwater, 73; David Niles, Tarpon Springs, 73; Jeremy Evans, Palm Harbor, 75; and John Crum, St. Petersburg, 75. Safety Harbor's Rick Kerper (77) is the first alternate.

Sobel was back in action Wednesday at Saddlebrook, qualifying for the State Junior tournament. He shot 71 in the 16-18 division, three behind medalist Nich Buccina (68) of Tarpon Springs. John Valenty of Seminole qualified with 71, as did Mike Myregaard (74) of Safety Harbor and Preston Knox (76) of Dunedin. In the boys 13-15 division at Saddlebrook, Largo's Kollin Woodbury shot the group's low round (69), two ahead of qualifiers Taylor Hancock of Clearwater and five up on Travis Huston of Palm Harbor. Andy Quintero (75) of St. Petersburg won in a five-way playoff for the last qualifying spot.

AMERICAN JUNIORS: The AJGA conducted the Birks & Mayors Championship in Palm Beach Gardens and 2006 state high school champ Vicky Hurst of Melbourne won with 206 (66-71-69). Hurst also played her way into the June 28 U.S. Women's Open, shooting 65-72-137 at Heathrow Country Club. Belleair's Evan Jensen (220) was the top area finisher at Palm Beach Gardens, tying for seventh. Largo High teammate Andrea Messer finished 10th (225), followed by Meghan Chapman, 11th (227) and Courtney Harter, 21st (237).

ROLEX GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP: Four Pinellas players are in the prestigious 54-hole tournament. Oldsmar's Whitney Wenglasz opened with 78 but followed with 83 on Day 2. She is followed by Jensen (85-79), Harter (79-86) and Messer (84-87). Final scores were unavailable at press time.

COLLEGIATE PLAYERS TOUR: Seminole's Danielle Jackson (Northside Christian/Stetson) finished fourth in the tour's recent match at Orange County National in Winter Garden. The sophomore-to-be shot 71-80-77-228 to finish 16 behind LSU-bound winner Megan McChrystal.

CGA: Three-under 69 won both the regular and senior divisions in the better-ball match at Countryside on Monday. Sean Martin and Tony Ciccotti prevailed among the younger set and Mike Sanderson teamed with Larry VanderBie to take the senior title. Rick Clemens and Len Authier (61) won the net division by two over the teams of John Munk and Kurt Demarr, Larry Deavers and Robert Hathaway plus Frank Chotechuang and Jim Campoli.

LARGO GOLF COURSE: The new and improved par-62 public course held its bi-weekly scramble Tuesday and it took 13 under to win. Largo's John O'Hair and Danny McCurdy were teamed with Greg Farrey of Seminole and Ron Sellers of Pinellas Park for the win over 10 teams.

JUNIOR FLORIDA CUP: Four Pinellas juniors contributed to Thursday's win for the 20 member North team, which defeated the South in Naples. Meghan Chapman and Ryan Ashburn of Seminole played on the winning team, 14.5 to 5.5, as did M.J. Maguire of St. Petersburg and Travis Ralph of Redington Beach.

[Last modified June 16, 2007, 21:20:35]