Rain eventually causes suspended play in first round of 15-18 age division of Future Masters (2024)

Rain played havoc during the first round of the 15-18 age division of the 75th Annual Press Thornton Future Masters as only 17 of 58 foursomes completed play Thursday at the Dothan Country Club.

When play was called for good around 6:40 p.m. after several delays, Jayk Altic of Houston, Texas, was atop the leaderboard at 3-under par through 17 holes.

Joshua Durthaler of Dunwoody, Ga., was in second place at 2-under, also after 17 holes, tied with J.P. Groat of Fort Payne, who had only played two holes with a birdie on each.

Those who were on the course when play was halted are scheduled to return to play for a 6:45 a.m. shotgun start on Friday morning to complete their first round. Those who haven’t even teed off for their first round will also do so at 6:45 a.m.

When the original Thursday afternoon wave finishes round one, they will head back to the tee box to begin round two. The Thursday morning wave will tee off for round two at approximately 4 p.m.

Altic made eagle on the second hole and then had back-to-back birdies to go 4-under in a hurry. He made bogeys on holes 14 and 15 and made birdie on 17 before play was stopped for the day.

Durthaler, starting on the back nine, was even at the turn following two birdies and two bogeys and then made bogey on No. 1 to go 1-over. However, Durthaler then birdied three straight holes to get to 2-under. He bogeyed No. 5, but then birdied 7 and had a par on 8 before play ended.

The four sons of PGA players who have drawn plenty of attention – Charlie Woods, Jacob Immelman, Liam Curtis and Henry Kuehne – each got their rounds in, but only Curtis shot below par at 1-under 69.

Woods came in at 3-over, while Kuehne was 6-over and Immelman at 12-over.

Starting on the back nine, Curtis birdied his first hole and then play was halted for rain at 9:30 a.m. When he returned to play with the others at 12:45 p.m., he made bogey on 11, 14 and 15 to go 2-over before a birdie on 16 got him back on track.

“The swing felt a little rusty going in (on 11) and then on 16 I hit two good long shots and then a good putt and kind of settled in from there,” Curtis said.

After making the turn, Curtis made birdies on holes 1, 4 and 6 before a final bogey on 8 for his 1-under finish.

Defending champion Carson Baez of Windermere, Fla., had a tough round, coming in at 6-over, which included two double-bogeys on his first nine holes and another one on his final nine.

“To be brutally honest, I feel embarrassed,” Baez said. “Didn’t capitalize on the good shots and made some really bad shots.

“I mean, starting the day in the rain, I didn’t hit a great drive, but I punched it out and started off with bogey on a hole (No. 10) that I thought I should have been making eagle or birdie. On the second hole, a super easy par 3, I was getting ahead of myself thinking it was a birdie hole and I missed in the worst spot you could and double chipped and couldn’t get up and down.

“I did hit some good shots, but the putter wasn’t making up for it either. I mean, I had four straight 18-footers on my first nine and I didn’t make a single one … and I three-putted one of them as well. I was compounding the errors and missing in the wrong spots.

“I feel like this is the worst day I can ask for. Sure, I’m going to keep my head up for sure going into tomorrow thinking I could shoot 6-under, because it really is out there … just one or two more putts fall or one or two less mistakes is the difference in me leading right now and me sitting where I am.”

Early morning rains delayed the first tee times scheduled for 6:45 a.m. Those players finally teed off at 8:15 a.m., but then more rain caused another delay at 9:30 a.m. Play resumed at 12:45 p.m. and continued until the final stoppage when the rains returned early in the evening.