PARATORE LEADS BOYS BY TWO, HENDERSON AND LEE SHARE GIRLS' LEAD IN FLORIDA

 RENATO PARATORE ... Picture by Cal Carson Golf Agency.

JUNIOR ORANGE BOWL REPORT
FROM DAVID MACKINTOSH

CORAL GABLES, Florida: Going into Monday's final round of the Junior Orange Bowl, Italy’s Renato Paratore leads the Boys' Division by two strokes at eight-under par 205 while Canada’s Brooke Henderson and first-round leader Soyoung Lee (South Korea) remain tied at even-par 213 in the Girls' category.

Much of the day’s outcome was the result of double-bogeys at the penultimate hole.

Paratore pulled his drive into left-hand water, then added his first three-putt of the championship. Henderson decided to take on an ‘iffy” lie from right-hand trees at 180yds out and didn’t quite pull it off, thus offering rivals a much clearer sight of the main prize.

In the Boys' division, these rivals include Germany’s Domenic Foos who repeated his second round 68, moving him to solo second place.

Chile’s Guillermo Pereira and Venezuela’s Jorge Garcia are one shot further back at five-under par 208.

In the Girls' Division, first-round leader Soyoung Lee equalled Brooke Henderson’s 73, fighting back strongly after a double-bogey at the 15^th with birdies at 16 and 17.

Linnea Strom was the only girl to break 70 on a day of occasional rain sputters but virtually no wind, her 69 vaulting the young Swede into solo third, a stroke ahead of USA’s Megan Khang.

Paratore was nine under par overall going into the 17^th and, give him full credit, after that double he valiantly birdied the 18^th to gain that two-shot advantage.

“I have to say that the 17^th hole has treated me very badly so far,” he said, “perhaps because every day we’ve had a long wait on the tee. I’ve gone bogey, bogey, double, so I’m hoping that in the final round I can settle the score. 

"Today I hit the driver well, the irons not so good so I didn’t have as many birdie chances as the first two days.”

The underlying feature of the day was the difficulty everyone had on the greens.  Foos and Pereira both hit 16 greens in regulation and although Foos made three birdies early, after that it was a dry run home. 

Pereira counted back his 34 putts, shook his head and said: “I had another solid ball-striking day but that putts-number never means a really good round. The hardest for me is when the slope goes one way and the grain goes in the opposite direction. I end up by having to guess the line, not a good thing.”

Brooke Henderson brings a year of confidence to this year’s event and the Canadian Ladies Amateur Champion shrugged off the 17^th as, “just one of those things. I hit the trees with my drive, decided to take on a somewhat risky shot that didn’t come off. A little annoying but it will happened. The objective is to go out tomorrow, play smart and hope some putts drop.”

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