Cole Leads the 19th Metropolitan Open After Round 1
St. Albans, MO - The first round of the Metropolitan Open at the Country Club of St. Albans is officially complete. The day started with overcast skies and developed into a beautiful afternoon for golf with sunny skies and a slight breeze. The course was wet this morning due to a storm last night, but it began to dry out throughout the day. The field consisted of 148 players representing 29 different states, including 36 local amateurs. They played in two waves - morning and afternoon - off of holes 1 and 10. The first groups teed off this morning at 7:30am and the afternoon wave began at 12:30pm.
As players battled it out, there were a few front runners that took a stand early on. Mid-day, David Erdy of West Jefferson, OH was three-under (-3) through nine holes, which was the top of the leaderboard at the time. Erdy did not sit alone, though, as Ryan Cole of Midlothian, VA was also three-under (-3) par through six holes. Checking back in at 12:30pm, Cole had sprung into a solo lead at five-under (-5) through eleven holes. Coming up the leaderboard, Wesley Hunter of Birmingham, AL was just two back at three-under (-3) par through twelve, along with Logan McCracken of Tulsa, OK who was through eleven holes. Players continued the good fight throughout the first wave, and by the time all had finished, Ryan Cole tacked two more strokes onto his number to finish the round with a bogey-free seven-under (-7) par. Wesley Hunter had doubled his score to sit in second at six-under (-6) par..
With scores of six and seven-under par posted on the leaderboard, the afternoon wave had their work cut out for them. This did not deter the afternoon players from giving it their all. A few came close, but were just not able to match the lead. Christian Salzer of Raleigh, NC earned himself a spot in the top three of the first round with a round of five-under (-5) par. Then, the leaderboard started getting stacked. David Perkins of East Peoria, IL was the first to come in with a score of four-under (-4) par, followed by Alex Schaake of Omaha, NE who had an eagle on Hole 2. Also coming in at four-under (-4) were Cristian DiMarco of Tampa, FL and Rovonta Young of Huntsville, AL. DiMarco’s round featured an eagle on Hole 14, and Young carded two eagles on Holes 2 and 5.
Once the final putt had dropped at 8:08pm, 44 players finished Round One under par and 13 finished even. Ryan Cole leads after Round 1 at seven-under (-7) par. Round 2 will begin at 7:00am.