PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA | It’s hard for many golf courses to keep Spencer Painton down.
In his second crack at the Fazio Course at the PGA National Resort & Spa, the Regis Jesuit High School graduate and University of Kansas signee shot 11 strokes better and made the cut as part of 54 players left from a worldwide field of 16-18 boys at the 2014 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships.
Painton — the individual Class 5A boys state golf champion — fired a 1-under-par 71 Monday with a round that included just a single bogey, two birdies on par 3 holes and 15 pars. It was a stark contrast to his first round on the course, which saw him make bogey or worse on nine holes, par six and birdie two.
The third round performance helped lift Painton — who shot a 73 on the Palmer Course Sunday — into a tie for 38th overall, tied with Castle Rock’s Ross Macdonald for best score among the four Coloradans in the boys 16-18 division at plus-10 226. All four Colorado players made the cut, as Boulder’s Grant Rogers and Westminster’s Li Chen each finished at plus-12 228 to sneak in under the cutoff.
The final round is scheduled for Tuesday on the same Fazio Course, with Painton drawing an 8:20 a.m. ET tee time along with Pedro Gil of Mexico and Yu Chuan Hsiang of Indio, California. V. Rattanaphiboonk of Petchaburi, Thailand, is the runaway tournament leader at 14-under 202 through three rounds.
Sydney Gillespie, a senior-to-be at Regis Jesuit, missed the cut by seven strokes in the girls 15-18 classification.
Gillespie carded a plus-9 81 in Monday’s third round to finish at plus-28 244 for the tournament. She also shot an 81 in her previous round and an 82 to open on Saturday.
Only one of five Colorado girls qualifiers made the cut — which sat at plus-21 — as Lakewood’s Gillian Vance rode an even-par 72 in her third round into a tie for eighth overall at plus-13.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2014 OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Boys 16-18 final round (July 29 at Fazio Course, PGA National Resort & Spa)
Tee 10 — 8:20 a.m.: SPENCER PAINTON (AURORA); Pedro Gil (Mexico); Yu Chuan Hsiang (Indio, California)
