All Pro Tour golf tournament opens locally,
Binny Lee tops women’s field by four strokes
Cory Churchman and Andrew Presley turned in impressive 7-under-par 65 performances Wednesday at Texarkana Country Club during the opening round of the All Pro Tour Texarkana Children’s Charities Open to lead the field.
In the Women’s All Pro Tour event, held at Northridge Country Club, Binny Lee carded four birdies to take an early 4-stroke lead with a 4-under 67.
The golfers for both the men’s and women’s tournaments will switch to the opposing country club course for today’s second round, and after the cuts are made the remainder of the events will be held at TCC on Friday and Saturday.
Churchman, of Abilene, Texas, eagled No. 4 and tapped in six birdies during his opening round. Presley, of Fort Worth, sunk eight birdies.
Churchman birdied Nos. 2, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17 and 18. He is second on the APT 2019 money list coming into this week’s tournament.
Presley had birdies on 1, 2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 17 and 18. He bogeyed No. 3.
Two players are tied at 6-under, two at 5-under and two more at 4-under on the men’s side.
Playing at Northridge, Zach Bauchoa of Forest, Va., shot a 6-under 65 with seven birdies on his scorecard, and Tonu Hakula of Espoo, Finland, shot a 6-under 66 at Texarkana Country Club, carding six birdies.
Texarkana’s Sean Romero is tied with Shelton, Wash., golfer Christopher Evans after both scored a 5-under 66 at Northridge. Romero had seven birdies but a pair of bogeys, and Evans scored five birdies during the opening round.
Trumann Nugent, another Texarkana native, is tied with Sulman Raza of Eugene, Ore., at 4-under 67. Both played the opening round at NCC, a par 71. TCC is par 72.
Two more locals are in the hunt.
Zack Fischer is tied at 13th with a 1-under 71 at Texarkana, and Chuck Gardner, playing as an amateur, scored even-par 71 at Northridge. Gardner eagled No. 6.
Lee, of Frisco, Texas, shot birdies on Nos. 3, 4 and 9 and another on 11.
Behind her is a 4-way tie for second at even-par 71, and there’s a 7-way tie for sixth after the first round at 1-over 72.
Finishing the first round with 71s were Chirapat Jao-Javanil of Houston, Lufkin’s Hannah Arnold, Samantha Stancato of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Reece Feducia of San Clemente, Calif. Mount Pleasant’s Sarah Brown is among the players tied at 1-over-par. Also carding a 72 in the first round were Ann Pamefter of Richardson, Texas; Alazne Urizar Zapata of Venezuela; Riley Rennell of Columbia, Tenn.; Gabby Lemieux of Caldwell, Idaho; Gabrielle Gibson of Temecula, Calif.; and Summar Roachell of Conway, Ark.
Texarkana’s Emma Edwards is in a three-way tie for 18th at 3-over 74.