GRAHAM HILL'S 69 VAULTS CANADA INTO SECOND AT 2007 COPA DE LAS AMERICAS

- USA holds overall team lead through two rounds -

Aurora, Ont. (RCGA) – After a disappointing opening round, Team Canada bounced back in champions' fashion to vault from fifth into second spot through two rounds at the 2007 Copa de las Americas .

Graham Hill of Bright's Grove, Ont. led the squad with a stellar 3-under 69 to bring the defending champions back into contention.  Team veteran Laura Matthews of Essex, Ont., competing in her third Copa championship, rebounded from her opening-round 87 with a 4-over 76 while teammate Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont. continued her impressive play with a second-round 74.  Keven Fortin-Simard of Roberval, Que. rounded out the Canadian scoring with a 3-over 75.

The United States team of Jonathan Moore, Webb Simpson, Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee shot an impressive team total 3-over during Thursday's second round at Beacon Hall Golf Club to move into the overall team lead at 23-over.  Webb and Simpson fired matching 1-under 71's while Jennie Lee and Stacy Lewis shot 72 and 77 respectively.


With two rounds left to play, Canada sits at 33-over, 10 shots off the US squad's overall team lead.  The opening-round leaders from Argentina dropped two spots and head into Friday's third round at 34-over while Columbia (+49) and Mexico (+54) round out the top five.



With their matching 71's, the US men's team of Simpson and Webb hold a single stroke lead on the Canadian pairing of Hill and Fortin-Simard who were even on the day and sit at 8-over through two rounds.  Argentina's Alan Wagner, the current low individual at 4-under through the opening two rounds, and teammate Luciano Dodda were 5-over on the day and sit alone in third at 9-over. 



On the women's side, the United States duo of Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee shot an impressive team-total 5-over Thursday to sit at 16-over heading into Friday.  With their bounce back effort, Sherlock and Matthews have Canada within nine shots of the women's lead in a tie with Argentina at 25-over.  Sherlock and Jenny Lee of the US hold top individual honours through two rounds at 6-over.



While Graham Hill is helping Canada defend its title against the countries of the Americas this week at Beacon Hall, younger brother Matt is helping lead Canada 's National Junior team halfway across the world at the Toyota World Junior Golf Team Championship in Japan. Matt Hill and teammates Eugene Wong, J.P. Paiment and Mathieu Rivard currently sit 10 th through three rounds at the prestigious international junior championship. 



The following are second-round scores Thursday, June 21 at the 2007 Copa de las Americas :


Overall Team Results – Round 2


1      USA                                          291       +3        +23 


2      Canada                                     294       +6        +33 


3      Argentina                                   306       +18      +34 


4      Colombia                                   316       +28      +49 


5      Mexico                                       319       +31      +54 


6      Peru                                          319       +31      +66 


7      Trinidad and Tobago                   316       +28      +68 


8      Puerto Rico                                333       +45      +83 


9      Guatemala                                 346       +58      +112 


10    Dominican Republic                    354       +66      +129 


Men's Team Results – Round 2


1      USA - Men                                           142      -2        +7 


2      Canada - Men                                      144      E          +8 


3      Argentina - Men                                   149      +5       +9 


4      Mexico - Men                                       149      +5       +14 


5      Colombia - Men                                    151      +7       +16 


6      Dominican Republic - Men                     154      +10      +20 


7      Guatemala - Men                                  163      +19      +21 


8      Puerto Rico - Men                                 152      +8       +23 


T9    Trinidad and Tobago - Men                    151      +7       +24 


T9    El Salvador                                           155      +11      +24 


11    Ecuador - Men                                      153      +9       +27 


12    Peru - Men                                           157      +13      +31 


13    Uruguay - Men                                     157      +13      +37 


14    Venezuela - Men                                  161      +17      +49 


15    Costa Rica - Men                                  171      +27      +54 


Women's Team Results – Round 2


1     USA – Women                                      149     +5      +16 


T2   Canada – Women                                 150     +6      +25 


T2   Argentina – Women                              157     +13    +25 


4     Colombia – Women                              165     +21    +33 


5     Peru – Women                                     162     +18    +35 


6     Mexico – Women                                  170     +26    +40 


7     Trinidad and Tobago – Women               165     +21    +44 


8     Puerto Rico – Women                            181     +37    +60 


9     Guatemala – Women                            183     +39    +91 


10   Dominican Republic – Women                200     +56    +109 




Individual Men Results - Round 2


1       Alan Wagner                                      Argentina                        35   34    69    -3      -4 


2       Graham Hill                                        Canada                           34   35    69    -3      +1 


T3     Jonathan Moore                                  USA                                35   36    71    -1      +2 


T3     Andres Felipe Echavarria Botero          Colombia                        39   34    73    +1     +2 


5       Rafael Campos                                   Puerto Rico                      37   36    73    +1     +3 


6       José Toledo                                        Guatemala                      40   40    80    +8     +4 


7       Webb Simpson                                   USA                                38   33    71    -1      +5 


T8     Rafael Claux                                      Peru                              38   36    74    +2     +6 


T8     Julian Valenciana                                Mexico                           36   38    74    +2     +6 


10     Keven Fortin-Simard                           Canada                           40   35    75    +3     +7 


T11   Yoshio Yamamoto                               Mexico                            37   38    75    +3     +8 


T11   Herbert Day                                       El Salvador                      37   38    75    +3     +8 


13     Carlos Benjamin Arias                        Dominican Republic          38   39    77    +5     +9 


T14   Francisco Santoni                               Dominican Republic          40   37    77    +5     +11 


T14   Ben Martin                                         Trinidad & Tobago           36   39    75    +3     +11 


16     Juan Felipe Aegerter                           Ecuador                          40   38    78    +6     +12 


T17   Carlos Baynes                                    Trinidad and Tobago         36   40    76    +4     +13 


T17   Luciano Dodda                                   Argentina                        40   40    80    +8     +13 


19     Marcelo Rozo Rengifo                          Colombia                        44   34    78    +6     +14 


20     Juan Antonio Serrano                          Ecuador                          36   39    75    +3     +15 


21     Robert Moore                                     El Salvador                      38   42    80    +8     +16 


22     Sebastian Fernandez                           Guatemala                      41   42    83    +11   +17 


23     Pablo Carrere                                    Uruguay                          41   41    82    +10   +18 


24     Pablo Faget                                        Uruguay                          40   35    75    +3     +19 


25     Alfred Colon                                       Puerto Rico                      39   40    79    +7     +20 


26     Pascual Andrés Cicenia                       Venezuela                      41   40    81    +9     +23 


T27   Manuel Jimenez                                  Costa Rica                      42   42    84    +12   +25 


T27   Philip Reiser                                       Peru                              40   43    83    +11   +25 


29     Daniele Vittorio Cabriles Impera          Venezuela                      43   37    80    +8     +26 


30     Antonio Bruna Jr.                                Costa Rica                       45   42    87    +15   +29 


Individual Women Results - Round 2


T1     Stephanie Sherlock               Canada , ON                             38    36    74      +2     +6 


T1     Jennie Lee                            Usa, TX                                   35    37    72      E        +6 


T3     Stacy Lewis                          Usa, AL                                   37    40    77      +5     +10 


T3     Agostina Parmigiani               Argentina, AL                           40    37    77      +5     +10 


5       Kiara Hayashida                    Peru                                        38    39    77      +5     +12 


6       Paola Moreno Perez               Bogota- Colombia                    37    44    81      +9     +13 


7       Victoria Tanco                       Argentina, AL                           40    40    80      +8     +15 


T8     Laura Matthews                     Canada, OK                             38    38    76      +4     +19 


T8     Liliana Alvarez                      Mexico, AL                               40    44    84      +12    +19 


10     Maria José Uribe Duran          Bogota- Colombia                    41    43    84      +12    +20 


T11   Monifa Sealy                         Trinidad & Tobago , AL                42    42    84      +12    +21 


T11   Diana Cantu                         Mexico, AL                               44    42    86      +14    +21 


T13   Martine de Gannes                Trinidad and Tobago, ON           38    43    81      +9     +23 


T13   Maria Salinas                        Peru                                        40    45    85      +13    +23 


15     Kyle Roig                              Puerto Rico, AL                         46    44    90      +18    +28 


16     Patricia Garcia                      Puerto Rico, AL                         43    48    91      +19    +32 


T17   Anne Mette Brunn                  Dominican Republic                   46    50    96      +24    +40 


T17   Mariana Rodas                      Guatemala                                43    48    91      +19    +40 


19     Maria José Camey                 Guatemala                                48    44    92      +20    +51 


20     Alba Garcia                           Dominican Republic                   54    50    104    +32    +69 


Friday's third round of the Copa de las America gets underway at 8:00 am at Beacon Hall Club.


Conducted this year by the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) and hosted for the first time ever in Canada, The 2007 Copa de las Americas welcomes teams representing 15 countries from North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.


The third bi-annual Copa de las Americas will see teams compete over four rounds of stroke play with both team and individual titles up for grabs.  The event is proudly supported by both the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA) through funding to offset the travel costs of participating countries.


For more information including a full field of competitors, start times and post-round results please visit the Royal Canadian Golf Association website at www.rcga.org . 
 
ABOUT THE RCGA NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
The RCGA delivers a world-class high performance program through its National Team initiative. The National Team Program annually identifies the best 32-35 players through published selection criteria. The program, comprised of both a National Junior Team and National Amateur Team, is designed to offer players a year-round program incorporating state-of-the-art coaching, sport science expertise, training camps and world-class competition. The RCGA allocates over $1 million of its resources annually to the National Team Program encompassing strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutrition, biomechanics and technique development. Players who are selected to the National Amateur and National Junior Teams will also represent “Team Canada” at 6-10 internationally-sanctioned golf competitions throughout the year. The intent of this aggressive program is to aid Canada’s top up-and-coming amateur players in all areas of their development to help Canada produce the best golfers in the world.                           

ABOUT THE ROYAL CANADIAN GOLF ASSOCIATION
The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) is the governing body of golf in Canada, representing 377,000 members at 1650 clubs across the country. Some of the RCGA’s core services include the Rules of Golf, handicapping and course rating, support of turfgrass and environmental research, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum and CN Future Links, Canada’s national junior golf program. In addition, the RCGA conducts Canada’s most prestigious golf championships. The Canadian Open and CN Canadian Women’s Open attract the best professional golfers in the world, while six regional junior championships, 10 national amateur championships and the CN Canadian Women’s Tour showcase the best of Canadian golf. For more information please visit www.rcga.org.

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For more information please contact:


Dan Pino
Manager, Media and Public Relations
Royal Canadian Golf Association
(t) 1-800-263-0009 x 406
(c) 416-434-5525
(e) dpino@rcga.org


Michael Grobe
Senior Coordinator, Media and Public Relations
Royal Canadian Golf Association
(t) 1-800-263-0009 x 230
(c) 905-467-2944
(e) mgrobe@rcga.org


 
 
     
 
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