USA CRUISES INTO FINAL ROUND OF 2007 COPA DE LAS AMERICAS - Canada struggles at Beacon Hall to fall back to third - Aurora, Ont. (RCGA) – After three rounds of steady play at the challenging Beacon Hall Golf Club, the United States team of Jonathan Moore, Webb Simpson, Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee looks poised to win the country's first ever Copa de las Americas. The American foursome fired an impressive team-total 6-over par under blustery conditions Friday to head into Saturday's final round with a commanding 23-stroke lead over Argentina . After vaulting into second overall following Thursday's round, the collective struggles of Canadian teammates Graham Hill of Bright's Grove, Ont., Keven Fortin-Simard of Roberval, Que., Laura Matthews of Essex, Ont. and Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont. drops the two-time defending champions into third, 33-shots back of the US team. In the men's division, the Argentina duo of Alan Wagner and Luciano Dodda came out firing Friday to finish at 3-under for the day and 6-over through the opening three rounds. Wagner continued his stellar play at Beacon Hall with his round of 2-under to head into Saturday as the low individual at 6-under for the championship. The US team of Simpson and Moore finished at 2-over for the day and find themselves three strokes back of the Argentines while Mexico moved into third, 11 shots back. After a scorching second-round 69, Hill struggled to a 5-over 77 Friday while Simard finished with an 80 to drop the Canadians back to fourth at 21-over for the championship. On the women's side, the United States takes a commanding 21-stroke lead into Saturday's final round after teammates Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee finished a combined 4-over on the day. Lewis shot the women's round of the day with a 2-under 70 under to sit atop the individual leaderboard at 8-over for the championship while Lee is second at 12-over. After climbing back into contention within nine shots of their American counterparts, the Canadian pairing of Sherlock (+7) and Matthews (+9) stumbled off pace with a third-round, team total 16-over par to head into Saturday's final round at 41-over for the tournament. Rounding out the top-five are Argentina (+46), Columbia (+47) and Mexico (+47). The 2007 Copa de las Americas has been a special homecoming of sorts for Tom Relf, captain of the Mexican team. Relf, who works as Director of Golf for Briggs Ranch Golf Academy in San Antonio , is originally a native of Brandon , Man. His Mexican connection originally began giving instruction at his San Antonio Golf Academy to students from Monterrey and developed into an invitation to help the Mexican Golf Association develop their National Team Program. A CPGA member since 1988, Relf has directed the Mexican National Team Program for the past four years. The following are third-round scores for Friday, June 22 at the 2007 Copa de las Americas : Overall Team Results – Round 3 Men's Team Results – Round 3 Women's Team Results – Round 3 Individual Men Results - Round 3 Individual Women Results - Round 3 1 Stacy Lewis USA 34 36 70 -2 +8 Saturday's final 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 .
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 -30- 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 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
©
2006 Royal Canadian Golf Association