NEWTON – It perhaps wasn’t the low score Landon Fox was hoping for but he is still in the hunt.

The Barton Community College sophomore opened the NJCAA National Golf Meet with a 79, putting him in 70th place as he chases at a top 20 finish and All-American honors.

It may be a tall task for Barton’s only golfer to climb his way back into the top 20 but he is still in the hunt with three more rounds to play on a course where he has shot good scores before.

In fact the 79 was the worst of the competitive rounds he has played at Sand Creek Station this year. At the Jayhawk Conference Championships this year Fox finished tied for fourth with rounds of 72-72-76.

Fox was cruising along at 1-over par after his birdie on the 467-yard, Par 4, 6th hole but a double bogey on eight put him at 3-over 39 for the front side. The back side saw six pars along with a pair of bogeys and a double bogey six on the 14th hole for a 40.

Chase Coble of Hutchinson has the first round lead with 3-under par 69 followed by a trio of golfers at 70 including Dodge City’s Ben Maskus.

Indian Hills (Iowa) and Wallace State (Ala) are tied for the lead with 289 on the opening day. Hutchinson is fourth and Dodge City seventh after the first round.


Top 10 Individuals – Par 72
1 Chase Coble (Hutchinson), 69
2 Ben Maskus (Dodge City), 70
2 Cooper Brown (Wallace St), 70
2 PJ Shields (Faulkner St), 70
5 Luis Acevedo (Indian Hills), 71
5 Alister Balcombe (Iowa Western), 71
5 Frank Mu (Pima), 71
5 Cory Donnell (McLennan), 71
5 Kerry Sweeney (Eastern Fla St), 71
5 Vetle Maroy (Odessa), 71

Barton scores
70 Landon Fox, 39-40—79

Team Scores – (Top 10)
1 Indian Hills (Iowa), 289
1 Wallace State (Ala), 289
3 Eastern Florida State, 290
4 Hutchinson, 292
5 McLennan (Texas), 293
6 Western Texas, 295
7 Dodge City, 296
7 Odessa (Texas), 296
7 Pima (Ariz), 296
10 Trinidad State (Colo), 297