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Bunched Field After First Round of Coral Canyon Amateur; Simkins Holds Big Senior Lead
The 2012 edition of the Coral Canyon Amateur could have started off two ways. Tournament favorite Zac Blair could get off to a hot start and run away with the tournament or he could find a few troubles and keep most of the Championship field, which features 26 players with a plus handicap, within striking distance. Making the turn at five under, Blair had a runaway in his sights. But with a three-putt bogey on 12 and two more bogies on the 14th and the par 3 17th holes backed the BYU Junior up to the field and he settled for a two under 70.
The tournament leader John Busby, playing in the foursome behind Blair, finished with a three under 69. Busby also got off to a hot start with birdies on the first two holes (both par fives) and two more birdies (holes 7 and 8) and made the turn at four under par. Busby added a birdie on the par 3 11th hole but then bogied the 12th and the 17th to finish with a one stroke lead.
Al Simkins looks to have the Senior Flight firmly in his grasp with an opening round (-4) 68. Tied for second place in the Senior Flight are Jim Kane and Richard Cropper at 77.
For the first nine holes of the tournament it looked as if the Coral Canyon Amateur was going to enjoy sunny blue sky for the day. But as the players were heading into their final nine holes, cold winds blew in and birdies were hard to come by.
The 36-hole tournament, the first Utah Golf Association Player Performance Ranking event of the new golf season, concludes Sunday with a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m..
Day 1 Results Coral Canyon Amateur
1 (-3) 69 John Busby
T2 (-2) 70 Zac Blair
T2 (-2) 70 Ryan Kramer
4 (-1) 71 Daniel Reid
T5 (E) 72 Christian Jensen
T5 (E) 72 Devin Purser
Senior Flight
1 (-4) 68 Al Simkins
T2 (+5) 77 Jim Kane
T2 (+5) 77 Richard Cropper
4 (+6) 78 Mark Gressman
T5 (+7) 79 Randy Reynolds
T5 (+7) 79 Martin Ken