DAVIS, W.Va. — Argyle Downes failed to get up and down for birdie on the par-5 ninth hole to conclude his opening round Monday in the West Virginia Junior Amateur Championship at Canaan Valley Resort.
The ending was part of what Downes, a Charles Town native, described as “a couple sloppy things” that transpired through his opening 18 holes, yet he still managed to card a 3-under par 69 that leaves him in a two-way tie for the lead with McCartney Hinkle, a Bluefield, Virginia native and rising junior at Graham High School.
“The course is interesting. It was definitely tougher in the morning and it was pretty cold when we got out here,” said Downes, who made just one bogey after opening with one on the 10th hole. “The ball is not flying in the morning, so everything is a little bit different. You can hit driver, wedges into a lot of greens and the greens seemed to be holding a little bit more than I thought they were. You can kind of be aggressive with that.”
Then came a more blunt assessment from Downes, who played high school golf at Mercersburg Academy (a boarding school in Pennsylvania) and in the near future, will begin his college golf career at Rutgers.
“I didn’t play great,” he said. “A couple three putts, a couple sloppy things and missed some short looks for birdie. It’s golf and hopefully I can get those dropping tomorrow and go from there.”
The ninth hole was the only one of the four par 5s Downes failed to birdie, while he also added birdies on a pair of par 4s — No. 1 and 13. His second and final bogey came on the par 4 15th, and Downes was 3-under par over his final 12 holes, including a bogey-free, 34 on the front nine.
Less than an hour after Downes wrapped up his round, Hinkle worked his way into a tie for first place. That came about as a result of three birdies on his last six holes — the 13th and par 5 14th and 17th holes. Like Downes, Hinkle made bogey at the par-4 10th and birdied each par 5 with the exception of No. 9.
Hinkle is six weeks removed from winning the West Virginia Junior Match Play Championship at Parkersburg Country Club.
Downes and Hinkle will start the second round with a one-shot lead over Wheeling native Adam Gill and Clarksburg native Carson Higginbotham.
WEST VIRGINIA JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
Gill, a rising senior at Linsly, and Higginbotham, a Clarksburg native who’s home-schooled, played alongside Downes and came within one shot apiece of matching his score.
Gill made birdie on every par 5 but No. 9 and shot a bogey-free 34 on the back, while Higginbotham scored a 35 on each nine and closed with a birdie on No. 9 — his fifth of the round to tie Downes and five other golfers for the round high in that category.
“Putter was keeping me in it. I couldn’t hit a fairway all day,” Higginbotham said. “Chipping and putting are key here. If you miss greens, you have to make sure you can get up and down.”
Jackson Woodburn, a recent Winfield graduate, was the fourth golfer in the group with Downes, Gill and Higginbotham, and the Scott Depot native also made five birdies. Woodburn, who will play golf at Marshall, is in solo fifth place after firing a 1-under 71 in the opening round.
“My irons weren’t very good, but my short game was good today,” Woodburn said, “and that’s how I scored decent.”
William Johnson, Rocky Frye, Cameron Fallon and Lucas Riggleman are tied for sixth at even par, one shot ahead of Jonah Wilson, Caleb Young, Sammy Shy and Solas Chhin-Kreiner, a quartet that each finished with an opening round 73.
“I struck the driver well and hit some nice long irons,” said Chhin-Kreiner, a rising junior at Morgantown High School. “I hit three greens on the par 5s in two and that was nice to get birdies off of two putts. Definitely some poor wedge shots that I left out there and my putting was OK, but could’ve been better.”
In the girls championship, two of the state’s more successful recent prep golfers — Savannah Hawkins and Kerri-Anne Cook – share the lead after opening with a 77.
Hawkins, a Marshall signee who starred at Hurricane and won the WVSSAC Girls Golf Invitational as well as the state’s Junior Match Play Championship in May, played the four par 5s at 1-under par, highlighted by birdies on No. 3 and 17.
Cook, who became the first girl in the history of West Virginia prep golf to finish the state match as medalist by claiming low honors in Class AA last October, also recorded birdies on the third and 17th holes, but finished even on the par 5s as a result of a double bogey on 14.
Hawkins and Cook are eight shots clear of their next closest competitor.
Parker O’Dell holds a three-shot lead in the boys 13-14 division after his opening round 74, while Jude Walker leads the way by an equal amount in the boys 12 and under division after his first round 75.
Round 2 begins at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The boys and girls championships won’t be settled until the third and final round Wednesday.