PIAA Golf: Haven’s Evans tied for lead after opening round
Schuylkill Haven's Alan Evans putts during the opening round of the PIAA Golf Championships at the Penn State University Blue Course (Photo by Aaron Schock)
STATE COLLEGE — Alan Evans started his day with a chip-in birdie.
His day got even better after that.
The Schuylkill Haven sophomore carded a 4-under-par 68 to grab a share of the Class AA boys’ lead after Monday’s opening round of the PIAA Golf Championships at Penn State University.
The Schuylkill League champion carded six birdies and two bogeys on the par-72 Blue Course to end the first day tied with Quaker Valley senior Ethan Dai. The second day of the two-day competition is Tuesday.
“The putter was hot,” Evans said. “The first hole, I chipped in for birdie. That started it. I was three under through five and I just kept going from that. It was a great day.”
Evans birdied the par-4 No. 1, par-4 No. 2 and par-3 No. 4, quickly climbing atop the leaderboard at 3-under. He bogeyed No. 6 and No. 8 to finish the front nine at 1-under, then birdied No. 13, 14 and 16 to shoot a 33 on the back nine.
Evans’ teammate, Talan Spittler, shot a 10-over 82 and sits in 54th place out of 72 golfers entering Tuesday. North Schuylkill’s Jude Maziekas was right behind with an 84.
Tuesday’s second round of the PIAA Golf Championships tees off at 9 a.m. Live scoring is available by downloading the Philadelphia Junior Golf Tour app or by following the PIAA link at https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/11048070705320069222
Evans’ goal for Tuesday?
“Just having fun,” he said. “I’m playing with some new players, some great golfers. Just have fun again.”
