Junior World Golf : Vaughn Makes Big Move : After a 5-under 67, Trails by One; Mickelson 5 Back

After Francis Vaughn shot a five-under-par 67 Thursday to move within one stroke of the lead in the 15-17 age division of the Optimist Junior World Golf Championship, he said one of the first things he was going to do was call his mother in Hershey, Pa., to tell her the good news.

The only problem, he said, was that she probably wouldn’t take it so well.

“She’s a perfectionist,” said Vaughn, 17, who tamed Torrey Pines’ South Course with six birdies (two of which were nearly eagles) and shaved four shots off of South African Manuel Zerman’s lead.

Zerman, who has finished second and third the two years here, shot a 70 and a 69 the first two days to lead by five strokes after two rounds. However, while Vaughn was closing Thursday, Zerman managed only a one-under 71. Phil Mickelson of San Diego also shot 71 Thursday and remained five shots behind Zerman in third place.

Meanwhile, Vaughn is alone in second place. And that, his mother Dory says, is always where he seems to be. He finished second in three consecutive state high school tournaments in Pennsylvania.

“She’s always telling me, ‘you’re always practicing golf and you always wind up second,” Vaughn said. “I try and tell her that second isn’t so bad.”

Dory Vaughn has been around some pretty good golfers in her time, however. Her brother (Francis’ uncle) is Mike Souchak, who holds the all-time Professional Golfers Assn. record for the lowest four-round tournament score of 27-under-par at the 1955 Texas Open.

“You can see why she expects so much,” Vaughn said.

She couldn’t have expected much more from Vaughn on Thursday, though.

He had what he called “a career round.” And it was easy to understand why he called it that.

He scored birdies at the second and ninth holes on the front nine and had four more birdies on the back side at No.’s 11, 15, 16 and 18. With all of that, it could have been even better.

At the third hole, his tee shot landed just two feet from the cup, but he missed a short birdie putt. On No. 4, he again missed a two-footer, only this time it was to save par.

After making a 10-foot birdie putt on 15--his longest of the day--his tee shot on 16 was again close to an ace bounding just two feet away. He made birdie to go to four-under.

Finally, at No. 18, his eagle chip from the fringe hit the flag pole and dropped at the lip of the cup. Only a tap in remained for his 67.

“In one way of looking at it, I could say I could have done better,” Vaughn said. “But, in another way, I’m right in the hunt now and I have a good chance of winning the tournament.”

Before this year, Dory Vaughn never thought much of Francis’ chances. In fact, because she said he couldn’t win, he wasn’t allowed to make the trip to San Diego to play in this tournament. This year, she sent him to San Diego as part of his high school graduation gift.

“Right now, just being where I am is really quite a feather in my cap,” Vaughn said. “I just hope I can keep it up in the final round.”

Christy Erb, of Bonita, shot a two-over-par 76 Thursday to remain six shots behind Rialto’s Brandie Burton after three rounds of the girls’ 15-17 division at Torrey Pines’ North Course. Just one day earlier, Erb had broke the tournament record with a five-under-par 69. Burton leads Nicole Horner of Honolulu by three strokes entering the final round. Erb is alone in fourth place.

The other six divisions of the Junior World tournament ended Thursday and it was a good day for players from Arizona. Notah Begay, from Window Rock, Ariz., won the boys’ 13-14 at Balboa Park Golf Course, and Michael Jones, from Mesa, Ariz., was the winner of the boys’ 11-12 division at Mission Bay Golf Course. Jones finished two strokes ahead of Santee’s Dean Wilson-Garbutt.

Other winners Thursday included Jennifer Waterhouse of Laguna Niguel (girls’ 10 and under at Presidio Park), Juan Rocha of the Philippines (boys’ 10 and under at Presidio), Jan Kotoshirodo of Honolulu (girls’ 11-12 at Mission Bay), and Heidi Voorhees of North Hollywood (girls’ 13-14 at Balboa).