Jolly leads 15-18 Future Masters, field struggles with course

It looks so easy. The Dothan Country Club golf course is gorgeous and it’s in great shape, but it’s no Bethpage Black.

It’s not long. There isn’t a lot of water. But the golf course earned some respect after the 60th Press Thornton Future Masters 15-18 age division attacked it Thursday.

Five players in the standout field of 224 broke par. Stewart Jolly of Birmingham set the pace with a blistering 5-under-par 65.

Two Floridians, Charles Silverfield of Tampa and Taylor Hancock of Clearwater, are three strokes back at 68. Jimmy Beck of Columbus, Ga., and Witt McLeod of Vestavia Hills are next at 1-under-par 69.

So par was a very good score in the opening round. The best way to accomplish that was hit fairways and greens.

“I just got it rolling,” said Jolly, who will be a junior at Mountain Brook this fall. “I hit it close and made a lot of putts.”

Playing in the morning and teeing off on the back nine first, Jolly jumped to a fast start. He birdied Nos. 10, 13, 14 and 17. His birdie on 14 was a hole out from the bunker. He said a long par putt on No. 18 was key.

“After the turn, I thought it was going to be a good day,” Jolly said.

He made a 15-footer on No. 2 for birdie to go 5-under. His only bogey was a three-putt on No. 8, but he got that shot back with a sand wedge to two feet for a birdie on No. 9.

Jolly said he didn’t play particularly well in the high school season.

“But I’ve been playing good all summer,” he said.

Silverfield and McLeod were the only players in the afternoon wave to break par. Silverfield’s 68 featured a nice start — an eagle-3 on the 10th hole.

“It was lucky,” he said. “I drove it into the right rough and hit a 4-iron short and right of the green on the cart path. I took a drop and had a bad lie, but it rolled up, hit the stick and went down.”

This is Silverfield’s first Future Masters.

“Playing the practice round yesterday I realized how important hitting the fairway is,” he said. “If you’re a little left or a little right you could be in trouble.”

Silverfield said he thought he was in trouble after bogeying 12 and 13, but may have saved his round with a 12-footer for par on No. 14.

He later chipped in for birdie on No. 7.

Hancock shot a 2-under 68 after bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3.

“I birdied No. 4, which was big,” he said.

He added birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 16. Hancock was the exception to the fairways and greens rule Thursday.

“I missed the green at 11, 12, 13 and 15 and got up-and-down for par on all of them — a couple with 15-foot putts,” he said. “The greens are just perfect. I got some good breaks today. I hit four or five shots that looked right at the flag and ended up 10 yards too long. I don’t know if it was adrenaline or what.”

Beck took the steadier path to his 1-under 69.

“I hit a lot of fairways and greens, like you’re supposed to do out here,” said Beck, playing in his sixth Future Masters. “I was putting good today.”

Beck had birdies on Nos. 2 and 10 and bogeyed No. 11.

McLeod, playing here for the third time, said solid driving was the key to his 1-under-par 69. He hit 11 of 14 fairways.

“I made a shot out of the bunker at 17,” he said. “That turned a bogey into a birdie.”

He also two-putted from 50 feet or longer twice.

Four other golfers shot even-par 70 — Ian Phillips of Acworth, Ga., Major Lee of Montgomery, Peyton Vitter of New Orleans and Brett Patterson of McMinnville, Tenn.

Lee, who will be a junior at Montgomery Academy, didn’t miss a green on the front side. He birdied No. 7 and No. 9.

“You’ve got to hit fairways. The rough is thick,” he said. “From the fairways you can get to some pins. You can’t go at them from the rough.”

Ryan Benton of Dothan and Trey Mullinax of Mount Olive are in a group of 10 at 1-over-71.