What a recent stretch it’s been for Chris Francoeur.
A couple of weeks ago, the Amesbury native broke the Renaissance Golf Club course record — his own, by the way — by firing a ridiculous score of 59. That included shooting an insane 26 on the back-9, and the cap of it all, an albatross two on the par-5 18th hole to post the historic sub-60 round.
Then this past weekend, he went out and earned his third top-10 on the PGA Tour Americas this season.
At the Explore NB Open at the Mactaquac Golf Course in New Brunswick, Canada, Francoeur placed in a tie for fourth after shooting a four-day total of 268 (-16). He fired a 7-under 64 during the opening round, then capped it on Sunday with a 4-under 67 to secure the T4.
The finish earned Francoeur $9,900 and 122.5 PGA Tour Americas points, and goes along with his T5 at the Bupa Championship and a solo third at the 70th ECP Brazil Open. He now has made the cut in 4-of-7 events he’s played in with those three top-5s, and is hopeful to soon make the leap up to the Korn Ferry Tour — the last stop before the PGA Tour.
Kingsbury killing it for the Vermont Lake Monsters
Our area has a second local athlete playing in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this summer.
Newbury native Hunter Kingsbury is absolutely on fire for the Vermont Lake Monsters. Through 29 games so far, the outfielder is hitting .313 (31-for-99) with 15 runs scored, 9 RBI, 5 doubles, 3 stolen bases and a home run. Against the Nashua Silver Knights on Saturday, he went 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI.
Kingsbury is fresh off his freshman season playing at Bryant University this spring. The former two-sport athlete at Governor’s Academy (baseball, football) caught 14 passes for 259 yards and 4 touchdowns during the 2023 fall season.