ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Courtney Ellenbogen of Blacksburg shot a first-round score of 1-under-par 70 at the Scott Robertson and is in third place.

Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Floyd County High senior Jessica Hollandsworth opened play Friday in the Scott Robertson Memorial golf tournament at Roanoke Country Club with a 1-over-par 72 and is four shots off the lead.

Canadian Rebecca Lee-Bentham lines up a putt during the first round of the Scott Robertson Memorial golf tournament Friday.

Heading into the 25th Scott Robertson Memorial, many of the older girls assembled confessed to not knowing a whole lot about first-time contestant Victoria Tanco.

Well, they know a little something about the young hot shot from Argentina now.

Introducing herself in head-turning fashion, Tanco, 14, fired a 3-under-par 68 Friday to grab a one-shot, first-round lead in the 15-18 age division Friday at Roanoke Country Club.

Impressive? You bet. Ask Floyd's Jessica Hollandsworth, who played with Tanco and witnessed her work first hand.

"Oh, she's a player, a really good player," Hollandsworth said.

"Sixty-eight wasn't as low as she could have shot. She could have really gone low ... she could have shot 65 or lower. She's got a really pretty swing. It's beautiful."

The Buenos Aires native with the long ponytail roped the field with a round that included five birdies and two bogeys.

"Today was good," Tanco said. "I couldn't putt so good, but I play good. I like the golf course and played really good. If I play good, I can win the tournament."

Tanco will enter today's second round of the 54-hole event with a one-shot lead on another Robertson first-timer, Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Canada. The 16-year-old Toronto native was 4 under after 16, but bogeyed the final two holes.

Tanco, part of the Bradenton, Fla.-based IMG David Leadbetter Golf Academy contingent on hand this week, hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation. With a little more contribution from her putter, she could have shot lights out.

"Everything I made for birdie was 1 meter, 1¹₂ meters," Tanco said.

"I couldn't putt."

The only other member of the 38-player field to finish in red numbers was Blacksburg's Courtney Ellenbogen, who started fast -- she was 2 under through three holes -- and came home at 70.

Ellenbogen, the nation's 12th-ranked junior amateur, is attempting to become the first Roanoke-area player to win one of the Robertson's featured older divisions since the tournament emerged into a national-status event in the late 1990s.

"I'm in good position," said Ellenbogen, 17, noting she knows nothing about the leader. "I feel like I left a few shots out there. I was a little off here and there, and I have to hit it closer [today] and make more putts. But I haven't played myself out of it at all."

She's in much better position than she was a year ago, when she opened with a fat 78. She proceeded to rebound with rounds of 71 and 65 to rally to a tie for fourth, three shots back.

Ellenbogen hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation, but, unlike Tanco, she didn't leave herself a bunch of kick-in range birdie attempts.

"I feel like I didn't give myself the best chances for birdie that I could have," she said. "I feel like I just need to do what I did today, but do it a little better [today], and I'll be good to go for the weekend."

Her biggest crime Friday was three-putting the par-3 14th, when she lipped out a 20-footer for birdie, and then missed a 2¹₂-footer for par.

"Just a bad stroke," Ellenbogen said. "No way I should have missed it ... it was straight in."

New Yorker Kristina Wong and Daniela Lendl, one of three daughters of ex-tennis superstar Ivan Lendl in the older girls' field, are tied for fourth at level par.

Lendl's two older sisters, Isabelle and Marika, have won three of the past four Robertson 15-18 titles. Marika captured the title in 2003.

Isabelle has captured the crown the past two years and is bidding to become the first three-time winner in history. Marika is tied for 12th after a 74, while Isabelle is tied for 21st after a 75.

"I'm happy for them that they've played well here and I'm hoping I will, too," said Daniela, 14, who is known to many as "Crash," a nickname her famous father gave her years ago.

"When I was like 8 years old, I was driving the cart and walking the dog and I kind of hit a tree," she said, laughing. "Plus, I've had a couple of tennis accidents that kind of spurred it on."

The free-spirited Daniela, easily the most outgoing personality of the three Lendl girls who attend the Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, said she was happy with her round and wouldn't be hitting post-round practice balls. Instead, she sounded ready to just ... crash.

"Unless I play really bad, I don't do that," she said. "I'm more like just to go to sleep."

Hollandsworth, trying to deliver a strong finish in her final Robertson appearance, is among a quintet tied for sixth at 72. The Floyd County High senior was 2 under through 13 holes before a costly triple bogey-6 at the 170-yard 14th.

"I played great until then," Hollandsworth said. "The wind was blowing hard on that hole, and I pulled the crap out of my tee shot. I'm just glad I got it to the house like I did."

Roanoke's Meredith Swanson, who tied for 38th last year, was even through 12 holes before bogeying four of her next five holes for a 74.

She's not out of the race, though.

"It started getting windy, and I hit a couple of shaky shots and it got away from me a bit," Swanson said. "I guess I need to learn that wind shot. Hopefully, I can go low [today] and get back in there."

Lyberty Anderson of Chesterfield and Laura Murray of Tipp City, Ohio, shot 83 to share the first-round lead in the girls' 13-14 division.