HARLINGEN — McAllen’s Esteban Gonzalez is making the most of the last junior golf tournament of his career.
Gonzalez, a UTRGV commit, shot a 69 on the first day of the Gillman Auto Group South Texas Junior Golf Classic on Saturday at Harlingen Country Club.
Par for the course is 72. Gonzalez’s 3-under was the only score under par. Weslaco’s Nick Luna and Edinburg’s Ryan Romero trail Gonzalez by seven strokes after both finished with a 76. McAllen’s Rex Flores and Harlingen’s Krish Bhakta round out the top five with scores of 77.
“I started off strong with birdies on the first two holes,” Gonzalez said. “And then it was a bit shaky. I made just a couple of mistakes … it got really windy, so it got kind of tough, so I was just playing percentage shots all day. My game was feeling good, though.”
The wind aided Gonzalez immensely on the par-5 holes, he said. The McAllen found the green in two shots at 14 for an easy birdie, and followed that up with a birdie on 15, a par-3 hole.
“The course was not playing hard,” Gonzalez said. “But the wind just kind of gets to you and gets to your head. You start overthinking some easy shots. (Today) is going to be different — it is not supposed to be windy — so there can be a lot of varying scores.”
Gonzalez does not have any other junior tournaments on his schedule before he goes to UTRGV in the fall.
Robstown’s Brooke Caldwell leads the girls 15-18 group after posting an 83. Caldwell is in front of Isabella Pace (85), Bella Bullock (89), Andrea Juarez (90) and Jordan Hernandez (91) heading into Day 2.
Adam Segura is up three strokes on A.J. Rincones in the boys 13-14 flight. Segura finished the day with a 74. Karina Rios leads the girls 13-14 flight after finishing with an 84.
Miguel Castillo IV is leading the boys 11-12 flight, Sienna Barbosa is up in the little linksters girls 9-10 flight, Alejandro DeLeon leads the little linksters co-ed group, Jonathan Torres is leading in the little linksters boys 9-10 group and Uriel Solis leads the little linksters boys 11-12 flight.
Golfers begin teeing off at 7:30 a.m. today at Harlingen Country Club.