Ramstein's Jordan Linder watches his putt roll towards the cup on opening day of the DODDS-Europe golf championships at Wiesbaden's Rheinblick golf course on Thursday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany — The top boys seeds and the top two girls led their respective fields Thursday after the first 18 holes of the 2010 DODDS-Europe high school golf championships at Rheinblick Golf Course.
Mackenzie Bradley of Kaiserslautern held a four-point lead over his closest pursuers, while defending girls champ Hollie Salvo of Wiesbaden and 2009 runner-up Elizabeth Ward of Ramstein were tied at 27 going into Friday’s final round.
The players accumulated their points under the modified Stableford scoring system used in high school golf in Europe. Players earn one point for double-bogey, two for bogey, three for par, four for birdie and six for eagle or ace.
As always on this challenging course, scores on the whole were lower than the averages the top players brought in with them.
“I guess I liked the back nine better than the front nine,” said Ward, a senior who sounded as though neither side was worthy of comment, even though she made up four points on Salvo over the final nine holes.
“My tee shots were OK, I guess, but the rest of my game was down,” she added. Ward came into this event with a 37-points-per round scoring average,
Luckily for her, however, Salvo, who defeated her by 12 points on this course last year, endured a back nine of horrors. Salvo, a 36-points-per-round scorer coming in, picked up on five of the back-nine holes, meaning she had no chance for points. Neither girl carded a birdie.
Neither did boys leader Bradley. But his steady round of 41 points included eight pars and a point-saving bogey on 14, a 364-yard par-4.
“I started out really bad on the hole and had to get up-and-down from the fairway to save bogey,” Bradley said. “I hit an 8-iron within four feet and made the putt.”
Tied for second behind Bradley going into the final round were 2009 runner-up Make Baltich of Heidelberg and Kaiserslautern’s Caleb Hayes. Both scored 37, fueled by two birdies for Hayes and one for Cannon.
Also recording two birdies each were Jordan Linder of Ramstein and Jack Cannon of Heidelberg, who were tied behind the top three with 36 points.
Friday’s play begins at 9 a.m. on Rheinblick’s par-72 hillside layout. In addition to deciding the boys and girls individual titles, team champions will be determined. Ramstein’s girls and Heidelberg’s boys are the defending champs.
Until then, one of Thursday’s leaders will be pondering Thursday’s events, at least momentarily, before preparing for the final round.
“I’ll think about [Thursday] a little bit, then try to put it out of my mind,” Bradley said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
bryanr@estripes.osd.mil
European championships
WIESBADEN, Germany — First-day results Thursday in the two-day 2010 DODDS-Europe high school golf championships played on the par-72 Rheinblick Golf Course, 6,239-yards for boys and 5,631-yards for girls. Scoring is modified Stableford awarding 1 point for double-bogey, 2 for bogey, 3 for par, 4 for birdie and 6 for eagle or ace.
Boys
Individuals
Mackenzie Bradley (Kaiserslautern) 21-20—41
Mike Baltich (Heidelberg) 20-17—37
Caleb Hayes (Kaiserslautern) 18-19—37
Jack Cannon (Heidelberg) 18-18—36
Jordan Linder (Ramstein) 15-21—36
Tyler Gillespie (Bitburg) 16-16—32
Ryan McDonnell (Lakenheath) 15-17—32
Rodolfo DeLeon (Ramstein) 21- 9—30
Joseph Patrick (Heidelberg) 13-17—30
Frank Zachar (Vilseck) 15-15—30
Brennan Dickerson (Kaiserslautern) 15-14—29
Nick Bradley (Ramstein) 14-13—27
James Cho (Ramstein) 10-17—27
James Workman (SHAPE) 14-13—27
David Nakazono (Heidelberg) 14-12—26
Zachary Price (SHAPE) 16-10—26
Joe Broughton (SHAPE) 11-14—25
Christian Gunia (Ramstein) 10-15—25
Lucas Rockwell (Ramstein) 15- 9—24
Stephen Lewis (Kaiserslautern) 7-16—23
Kevin Coffell (Baumholder) 10-11—21
Chris Nelson (Vilseck) 14- 7—21
Kwan Lee (Lakenheath) 11- 9—20
Andi Abel (Ramstein) 12- 7—19
David Gamblin (Ramstein) 7-11—18
Chris Olsen (Ramstein) 5-13—18
Bradley Cho (Ramstein) 7-10—17
Drew Guffey (Ramstein) 8- 8—16
Kenyon Twing (Lakenheath) 4-12—16
Daren Aiken (Bitburg) 2-13—15
Colin McDonnell (Lakenheath) 5-10—15
Eric Ayer (Aviano) 6-7—13
Billy Ellis (Patch) 7-3—10
Nathan Johnson (Heidelberg) 7-5—12
Jason Cahela (Heidelberg) 7-3—10
Kyle Wimble (Patch) 5-3— 8
Girls
Hollie Salvo (Wiesbaden) 16-11—27
Elizabeth Ward (Ramstein) 12-15—27
Lauren Zachar (Vilseck) 6-12—18
Erika Larson (Lakenheath) 3- 6— 9
Katie Cooper (Vilseck) 5- 2— 7
Aileen Donnelly (Heidelberg) 4- 3— 7
Michelle Turner (Ramstein) 1- 4— 5
Katherine O’Connor (Lakeenheath) 2- 0— 2
Celina Frye (Heidelberg) 0- 1— 1