Wiggins leads 13-14 age group

Victor Wiggins of Gastonia, N.C., had such a scrambling day on the golf course, he was at first confused on which hole he shot an eagle.

“I made a mistake,” Wiggins corrected several minutes after describing the eagle. “It was on No. 14, not 13.”

But there was no mistaking his sizzling score of 4-under par 66 to lead the 13-14 age division of the 60th Annual Press Thornton Future Masters at the Dothan Country Club on Sunday.

Wiggins led 10 golfers who shot below par in the first round of the three-round tournament.

Branson Davis of McKinney, Texas, Jacob Harper of Valley and Nicholas Robert of McKinney, Texas, are just behind at 67, while Preston Heyward of Duluth, Ga., Fred Meyer of Nicholasville, Ky., Ben Dietrich of Conover, N.C., and Clancy Waugh of N. Palm Beach, Fla., follow at 68.

Last year’s 11-12 champion, Robby Shelton of Wilmer, and Ryan Celano of Naples, Fla., shot 69.

Wiggins made bogey on his final hole by three-putting, but he wasn’t going to let that get him down.

“I misread the first putt — don’t know what happened,” Wiggins said. “I’ll think about it a little bit, but I shot a 66 and I’ll take it.”

Starting on the front nine, Wiggins hit his drive left onto the backside of the driving range. He eventually scrambled back to sink a 20-footer to save par and get the day off to a promising start.

“It was that way all day,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins finished the front at 1-under, then after making par on 10 and 11, dropped a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 12.

On the 14th hole, he used an 8-iron from 131 yards out to make eagle on the par 4.

“It landed two feet from the hole and spun back into it,” Wiggins said.

After finishing fifth in the 13-14 age division a year ago, Wiggins came into the tournament confident.

“I putted great — just 28 putts today,” Wiggins said. “I love this course. The greens are just perfect, the fairways are good and the rough thick.”

With the heat conditions tough on golfers Sunday, Harper shot his 3-under 67 despite getting sick to his stomach during the round.

“I started throwing up on No. 13,” Harper said.

But before that, Harper had a hot streak of birdies on No 9, 10 and 12. He made bogey on 13 after getting sick, but finished strong — which included a birdie on 17.

“The course is playing overly fast,” he said. “The greens are fast, and all the fairways roll hard. I made a lot of short putts. I’m going to try and make 18 pars tomorrow (Monday) and see how that goes. That was my game plan today.”

Davis, also at 67, had a bogey-free round and made birdies on holes 4 and 10, along with finishing his round by sinking a 15-footer on No. 18 for birdie.

“I hit a lot of good shots on the back, but didn’t make anything until the last hole,” Davis said. “My short game was pretty good. I hit a number of good irons.

“As long as you avoid trouble on the water holes, there are a lot of birdie opportunities here.”

Robert had to make some adjustments to shoot his bogey-free round of 67, getting birdies on 2, 9 and 11.

“I was hitting the ball to the right off the tee all day, so I had to aim to the left to make it go right,” Robert said. “I’m just going to stay aggressive.”

Dietrich said the key to his round of 68 was consistency.

“I just wanted to make pars all day long,” he said. “I just kept in my mind one shot at a time and try to make par. These greens are puttable. You can make it from anywhere.”

Heyward, also at 68, got some help from his putter — draining a 40-footer on No. 18 after starting on the back nine, and later making a 15-footer uphill for birdie on No. 4.

What was most impressive in Heyward’s round was making three straight birdies after a double-bogey on No. 5, a par 3.

“I hit it right into the wind, it hit the bank and popped back into the water,” Heyward said.

He quickly regained his composure.

“I just knew I was swinging good and putting good, and I knew there were some birdie holes ahead,” he said.

Meyer, also at 68, said good putting was also the key to his round.

“If I had a decent shot of birdie, I made it,” Meyer said.

So what’s the key for the second round?

“Hitting it straight, keeping it out of the trees and being able to putt,” Meyer said.