Firecracker Set For Hot Finish

Robert EvansAfter two rounds of play in the 70th Firecracker Open,  Robert Evans holds a one stroke lead over three players.  Evans shot 63-68 and is at eleven under.

One shot back at ten under are Henrik Olsson, Chris Benestante, and Forest Miller.   Both Olsson and Miller play for Westlake High School.   Benestante is a local Mid-Amateur who is just returning to action after being sidelined with an ankle injury.

Jack CersoismoJack Cersosimo is two shots back at nine under while defending champion Nick Cristea and Jake Hendrix are three back.  Cersosimo had the pleasure of playing well in front of his 82 year old grandfather, who was out to watch his grandson play golf on Saturday.

Brian Noonan

Brian Noonan

Brian Noonan, who won the firecracker in 2004, Reid Davenport and Nick Costello are four back.   Davenport and Costello are also Westlake High School golfers.  Costello has graduated and will be playing for the University of Texas.

The field has been reduced to the top 72 players and ties and it took a score of five over or better to make the final round.

Highlights of first two rounds
In the first round, Robert Evans and Jake Ezell both shot 63.  Aside from a 62 several years ago by Michael Cooper, those are the lowest rounds ever recorded in the Firecracker.

Also in the first round, Stratton Nolen, who recently won the Big Twelve individual title at the conference tournament while playing for Oklahoma State,  shot 38-28=66.  He was three over after six holes and played the remaining 12 holes in eight under par.

Chris Benestante

Chris Benestante

Even more remarkable is the second round scorecard of Chris Benestante.  After a first round 68, Benestante was two over after eight holes of his second round and one under for the tournament.  He was in about 35th place.  He birdied nine of the next ten holes to record a 27 on the back nine and 64 for the day.   Ben Carter, who shot 66 in the second round and was playing with Benestante, said “aside from a chip in on number 17, Chris hit it inside 10 feet and made all the putts dead center.  It was awesome”.   Benestante has recorded 31-27=58 on the back nine over the last two rounds.  I call that amazing.

The leaders tee off at noon on Sunday.  The back nine should provide lots of fireworks for the fans.  Come out and watch.  Follow the real time scoring via the free Golf Austin App for IPhones or Android devices or via the GolfAustin.Org website.

Full Field Scores

Pos Player Today Thru Total R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Robert Evans 12:06 PM -11 63 68 131
T2 Chris Benestante 12:06 PM -10 68 64 132
T2 Henrik Olsson 12:06 PM -10 67 65 132
T2 Forest Miller 11:57 AM -10 67 65 132
5 Jack Cersosimo 11:57 AM -9 68 65 133
T6 Nicholas Cristea 11:57 AM -8 67 67 134
T6 Jake Hendrix 11:48 AM -8 65 69 134
T8 Brian Noonan 11:48 AM -7 66 69 135
T8 Reid Davenport 11:48 AM -7 67 68 135
T8 Nicholas Costello 11:39 AM -7 68 67 135
T11 Jake Ezell 11:39 AM -6 63 73 136
T11 Stratton Nolen 11:39 AM -6 66 70 136
T11 Hagen Fell 11:30 AM -6 69 67 136
T14 Jordan Sanders 11:30 AM -5 68 69 137
T14 Jacob Sosa 11:30 AM -5 64 73 137
T14 Ben Carter 11:21 AM -5 71 66 137
T14 Jay Reynolds 11:21 AM -5 69 68 137
T18 Alex Woodward 11:21 AM -4 69 69 138
T18 Steven Bright 11:12 AM -4 69 69 138
T18 Patrick Shanahan 11:12 AM -4 69 69 138
21 Erik Henson 11:12 AM -3 68 71 139
T22 Michael Cooper 11:03 AM -2 69 71 140
T22 Tony Underwood 11:03 AM -2 71 69 140
T22 Hudson Hansard 11:03 AM -2 69 71 140
T22 Nick Maynard 10:54 AM -2 70 70 140
T22 Chris Shive 10:54 AM -2 69 71 140
T27 Seth Stuart 10:54 AM -1 68 73 141
T27 Nickolai Esau 10:45 AM -1 71 70 141
T27 Steve Paterson 10:45 AM -1 70 71 141
T27 Mike Allen 10:45 AM -1 70 71 141
T27 Michael Ramirez 10:36 AM -1 67 74 141
T32 Steven Landry 10:36 AM E 69 73 142
T32 Barrett Sandefur 10:36 AM E 72 70 142
T32 Mason Wyatt 10:18 AM E 70 72 142
T32 Rip McWlliams 10:18 AM E 69 73 142
T32 Thomas Holtzman 10:18 AM E 65 77 142
T32 Pj Collier 10:09 AM E 75 67 142
T38 Redmond Lyons 10:09 AM +1 73 70 143
T38 Rob Ormand 10:09 AM +1 69 74 143
T38 Trey Gillingwater 10:00 AM +1 72 71 143
T38 Gene Black 10:00 AM +1 75 68 143
T38 Jonathan Alden 10:00 AM +1 75 68 143
T38 Kody King 9:51 AM +1 70 73 143
T38 Cyrus Turner 9:42 AM +1 69 74 143
T38 Paul Romero 9:51 AM +1 70 73 143
T38 Will MacNeill 9:42 AM +1 70 73 143
T38 Matt Fisher 9:51 AM +1 68 75 143
T38 David Collura 9:42 AM +1 72 71 143
T49 Kraig Zimmerhanzel 9:33 AM +2 74 70 144
T49 Charles Neel White 9:33 AM +2 75 69 144
T49 Will Ezell 9:33 AM +2 73 71 144
T49 Daniel Alba 9:24 AM +2 77 67 144
T49 Chris Hartenstein 9:24 AM +2 73 71 144
T49 Josh Luongo 9:24 AM +2 72 72 144
T49 Grady Bruce 9:15 AM +2 70 74 144
T56 Rob Albertson 9:15 AM +3 75 70 145
T56 Moe Rodriguez 9:15 AM +3 72 73 145
T56 Gabriel Vallejo 9:06 AM +3 72 73 145
T56 Randy Reynolds 9:06 AM +3 72 73 145
T56 Scott Roudebush 9:06 AM +3 73 72 145
T56 Jerry Thorn 8:57 AM +3 73 72 145
T56 Hudson Ross 8:57 AM +3 72 73 145
T63 Jeff Williams 8:57 AM +4 72 74 146
T63 Lee Krassner 8:48 AM +4 72 74 146
T63 Mitchell Griffin 8:48 AM +4 73 73 146
T63 Kyle Bailey 8:48 AM +4 76 70 146
T63 Randy Zimmerhanzel 8:30 AM +4 70 76 146
T63 Nick Erickson 8:30 AM +4 70 76 146
T63 Cade Osgood 8:30 AM +4 72 74 146
T63 Payne Wilkie 8:21 AM +4 70 76 146
T71 Daniel Northington 8:21 AM +5 71 76 147
T71 Lucas Garza 8:21 AM +5 74 73 147
T71 Mike Harkins 8:12 AM +5 71 76 147
T71 Luke Condon 8:12 AM +5 75 72 147
T71 Cory Brown 8:12 AM +5 76 71 147
T71 Sam Wallach 8:03 AM +5 74 73 147
T71 Logan Young 8:03 AM +5 72 75 147
T71 Drew Bell 8:03 AM +5 74 73 147
T71 Zach Daroowala 7:54 AM +5 71 76 147
T71 Matt Riley 7:54 AM +5 75 72 147
Missed Cut
MC Trey Caldwell +6
MC Robert Specjal +6
MC Cody Price +6
MC Clark McCollum +6
MC Brandon Babineaux +6
MC Salvador Chavarria +6
MC Winn Smith +6
MC Ryan McGinley +6
MC James Gustafson +7
MC Taylor Greenway +7
MC Austin Cotton +7
MC Dallas Hankamer +8
MC John Perez +8
MC Brent Maples +8
MC Billy Clagett +8
MC Austin Campbell +8
MC Cameron Quinn +8
MC Matt Smith +9
MC Ross Becak +9
MC Kiley Hardy +9
MC Tristan Stalker +9
MC Tyler Gammill +9
MC Gavin Trevino +9
MC Tucker Tovar +10
MC Matthew Jungman +10
MC Mark Baldree +10
MC Andrew McLean +11
MC Eric Garza +11
MC Devon McCarley +11
MC Price Ferchill +11
MC Jon Roseberry +12
MC Peach Reynolds +12
MC Bruce Rawlings +12
MC Miles Hindsman +12
MC Gerardo Diaz +13
MC Clayton Sullivan +13
MC Shane Morris +13
MC Major Gammill +13
MC Myron Jordahl +13
MC Jimmy Hughes +13
MC McKay De La Vega +14
MC David Bosco +15
MC Matthew Stewart +15
MC Jackson Ingraham +15
MC Trevor Spring +16
MC Elliott Reese +16
MC Malachi Montgomery +16
MC Jeff Shell +17
MC Bobby Hughes +18
DQ Matt McAustin +2
DQ Michael Short
DQ Dalton Hankamer
DQ Nick Winborn
JWD James Gonin +17
JWD John Mansour
JWD Jordan Woolf

x

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.