AJGA Blog

First-round notes: Thunderbird International Junior

> Named “Aces and Eights,” the eighth hole lived up to its name Saturday. Zecheng Dou’s 6-iron from 177 yards found the bottom of the cup, giving him the ninth hole-in-one of his career. The ace helped him to an even-par 72, which is good for a share of eighth place. Grayhawk Golf Club will give him a commemorative flag and add his name to the “Hole-in-One Club” plaque that hangs in Phil’s Grill.

> Matt Gilchrest of Southlake, Texas, posted a seemingly nondescript 1-over-par round today, but his 73 shots don’t accurately reflect the last 73 hours of his life:

Wednesday, Matt was 1,070 miles from Grayhawk Golf Club and sixth on the alternate list.

Thursday, Matt got a call with an invitation to fill the void left by Shun Yat Hak’s withdrawal.

Friday, Matt and his dad flew from Dallas to Phoenix, but his clubs missed the flight and remained in Dallas overnight.

Saturday, Matt planned on playing with the head pro’s clubs during the first round. After spending hours at the airport, Matt’s dad arrived at the golf course with his clubs 20 minutes before his 8:05 a.m. tee time.

An eagle and a birdie highlighted a bogey-free front nine 33, and Matt even held the lead for portions of the morning. Though he fell to a tie for 15th through 18 holes, Matt’s next three days will certainly be more predictable than the last.

> While an international boy has never won the Thunderbird International Junior, Max Orrin (United Kingdom) and Hannes Ronneblad (Sweden) have put themselves in good position through one round. Max is part of the four-way tie for second after a 2-under-par 70, while Hannes is tied for sixth at 1-under-par.

> Recent success seems to be paving the way for four players in the top seven in the Girls Division. Shannon Aubert won in her last start at the Kathy Whitworth Invitational in March and is one of three co-leaders, while Moriya Jutanugarn won the Scott Robertson Memorial last weekend and is tied for fourth. Alison Lee (T4) also has a win this season, as she opened with a victory at the ANNIKA Invitational, and Ashlan Ramsey (T7) won the Sea Pines Junior Heritage in February.

- Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Fourth time’s a charm for Hak

The Club at Carlton Woods has hosted the HP Boys Championship since 2009, and Shun Yat Hak has been a part of all four. He’s the only player that can make that claim, and he capped his final appearance Monday with a tournament-clinching 69.

He is the third straight high school senior to capture the title (Bobby Wyatt, 2010; Jordan Spieth, 2011), and reminisced about what he learned from playing with so many great players over the years.

“With the way Jordan hit it last year, he also made a lot of putts. I was inside of him every time, but he always made it first and I missed mine,” said Hak, who played with Spieth in the final pairing of 2011. “This year what I did great was I made a couple more putts, maybe more than other people, and I hit some good iron shots and managed myself really well.”

Hak compiled a scoring average of 72.58 in 12 rounds at The Club at Carlton Woods, with his 3-under-par 69 being a career best.

“I wish I could never graduate high school because I really want to play this tournament every year. Thank you to the volunteers and all the sponsors because I think this is the best tournament on the AJGA,” he said.

- Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

PRGA girls, Clark win Junior-Am

The Puerto Rico Junior Open is an all-boys tournament this year, but the second-year event crowned three girl champions Friday afternoon.

Gabriella Cidras, Valeria Llovet and Paola Diaz, all 16-year-olds from Puerto Rico, teamed with Wyndham Clark and won the Junior-Am Fundraising Tournament with a 10-under-par 62.

Each player is part of the Puerto Rico Golf Association’s junior program, which is dedicated to the overall growth and development of junior golf in Puerto Rico.

“I think it’s the most challenging sport, both mentally and physically,” said Cidras, who is currently No. 2 in the PRGA’s junior rankings.

The girls said that playing with the ninth-ranked player in the Polo Golf Rankings was a bit nerve-wracking, but they learned from the Oklahoma State-bound senior.

“He’s very into his game and he didn’t get mad after one shot, he just tried another one,” Diaz said. “His attitude was really good. I think my attitude can change a little bit and that’s going to help me with my game.”

-Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Friendly foes

Twelve of the opening-round matchups at the Polo Golf Junior Classic pitted Rolex Junior All-Americans against each other. In two of the matches, a pair of First-Teamers squared off.

The significance of these first-round matches, Emma Talley vs. Jaye Marie Green and Matthew NeSmith vs. Motin Yeung, weighed heavy on the outcome of the tournament, but also on the friendships between the players.

NeSmith and Yeung were Wyndham Cup teammates, while Talley and Green represented Team USA at this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup. For the girls, the gravity of the pairing led the two to agree on silence during the round.

“We text each other every morning, so on the first tee I just acted like I didn’t know her because you don’t want to beat someone that you love,” said Green, who was the defending champion.

Predictably, the match went 19 holes, finally ending with a birdie by Talley. And almost as predictably, Talley said the win was bittersweet.

“It was weird, but I was really happy to pull out the win but it was also bittersweet because I didn’t want to play her, especially in the first round,” said Talley, who advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Nicole Morales, the eventual champion. “We’ve been friends and teammates and it was really difficult.”

Above: Talley holed her bunker shot for birdie on No. 15 to bring her first-round match to all square versus Green.

-- Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Trendsetter

Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, and Keegan Bradley have all won with it, and Vincent Martino of Southlake, Texas, sees no reason why he can’t do the same this week at The PING Invitational.

In March, Vincent made the switch to the belly putter after his future college coach noticed he lifted his left shoulder through impact. The proposed solution: ditch the traditional short stick for the slightly longer short stick.

“I was always a good putter from inside five feet, so I almost use this for the opposite reason,” said Vincent, who has verbally committed to the University of Houston. “With a regular-sized putter, I don’t make good contact on lag putts and this has helped me with my speed and making more consistent putts.”

Since making the switch, Martino has notched three AJGA top 10s, including a win at the Signsational Signs Junior at The Woodlands in June. Vincent said he is one of only three players using a belly putter this week at Karsten Creek, but he expects it to gain popularity among his peers.

“You see a couple more, but not a lot have switched. A lot of kids in my area have seen how much better I’ve gotten since I switched and are starting to think about it,” he said. “I think people are going to try it out more (because of its popularity), not so much stick with it but just to try it. It used to be something only older guys would use to help with short putts, but it really helps all of your putting.”

-Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Tournament notes – First and Second Rounds

• The first round mirrored the course set-up (yardage and hole locations) used during the second round of the 2011 PLAYERS Championship. The AJGA scoring average was 76.89, while the TOUR average was 72.09.
• For both the AJGA and the TOUR, No. 14 played as the hardest hole. Likewise, Nos. 11 and 16 played as the easiest holes.
• On Dye’s Valley Course, the second-round scoring average was 73.00 (77 rounds). During the 2010 Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open Presented by Planters, the tournament scoring average was 70.93 (415 rounds).
• Gavin Hall’s second-round 64 was matched or bettered by just three players during the 2010 Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open Presented by Planters:
  • David Mathis, 63 (second round)
  • Shane Bertsch, 64 (first round)
  • Jeff Curl, 64 (second round)
• In a matter of 24 hours, Grayson Murray improved his score by 22 shots. After opening with an AJGA career-worst 90, Murray rebounded with a 2-under-par 68. “I feel like I know the Stadium Course pretty well and I played it pretty well last year. Today seeing different holes and different shots, it makes it a little easier visually. It was a good break (playing a different course), now tomorrow I can try to improve on that 90.”
• Like Murray, three other players climbed the leaderboard by improving their score by more than 10 shots:
  • Scott Scheffler (67, from T57 to T23)
  • Blake Kennedy (69, from T57 to T35)
  • Tee-K Kelly (69, from T65 to T38)

Even more to play for

One of the world’s most prestigious junior titles is on the line this week at The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf, and TPC Sawgrass General Manager Bill Hughes added even more incentive and prestige Thursday night.

During his closing remarks at the Golf World Media Presentation, Hughes proudly announced to the 78-player field that the champion of this year’s event will be given a sponsor's exemption to the Nationwide Tour's Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open Presented by Planters.

“It goes to show that Winn Dixie is 100 percent behind the growth of the game of golf and in fostering an experience to one special junior golfer that will be a memory of a lifetime,” Hughes said. “I am humbled and thankful to Peter Lynch, President and CEO of Winn Dixie, for his tremendous support of The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf.”

In 2010, Michael Johnson of Birmingham, Ala., was the first champion to earn the sponsor’s exemption and compete in the Nationwide Tour event. Now a freshman at Auburn, Johnson carded rounds of 74-73 – 147 and missed the cut in his professional debut.

The champion to-be will get a preview of the course he’ll compete on in 47 days, as Saturday’s second round will be played on Dye’s Valley Course, which also hosts the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open Presented by Planters.

-Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

From near and far

Now in its fifth year, The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf has featured players from 24 countries, two of which will be represented for the first time in 2011 (Austria and Belgium).

The 18 international invitees in this year’s field bring resumes that include top finishes in some of the world’s best amateur events.

Robin Goger (Austria)

• Medalist, 2011 European Boys Team Championship

Thomas Detry (Belgium)

• Won 2011 Beligum National Match Play

Mads Sogaard (Denmark)

• 2nd, 2011 Danish Amateur

Frederick Hammer (Denmark)

• T10, 2011 Danish Amateur

Maximilian Rottluff (Germany)

• Won 2011 Junior Orange Bowl International

Gary Hurley (Ireland)

• Won 2011 Munster Boys Open

Gavin Moynihan (Ireland)

• T2, 2011 Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters

Richard Broadhurst (Italy)

• T3, 2011 Italian Boys U-18 Stroke Play

Edoardo Torrieri (Italy)

• Won 2011 Italian Boys U-18 Stroke Play

Takahiro Hataji (Japan)

• T3, 2011 Japan Junior Championship (15-17)

Emilio Maurer (Mexico)

• T8, 2011 Mexican International Amateur

Daniel De la Garza (Mexico)

• Three AJGA top-five finishes in 2011

Alvaro Ortiz (Mexico)

• Won 2011 AJGA Bass Pro Shops / Payne Stewart Junior Championship

Kristoffer Ventura (Norway)

• Won 2011 Norwegian Challenge

Joakim Carlsson (Sweden)

• T7, 2011 JSM Slag

Jamie Clare (United Kingdom)

• 2nd, 2011 English Amateur

Matthew Fitzpatrick (United Kingdom)

• 2nd, 2011 Carris Trophy

David Boote (United Kingdom)

• Won 2011 Welsh Boys' Championship

If it ain’t broke…

As mentioned in a blog written Monday night, the East boys’ four-ball pairings mirrored this week’s rooming assignments. The result? The East went 3-0-2 in the boys’ four-ball matches and raced to a four-point lead after the morning session.

Not surprisingly, Wednesday’s foursome matches feature the same five boys’ pairings that were used Tuesday morning.

Proveaux’s little toe woes

To shoot a bogey-free 64 and only win 1-up is a battle in and of itself, but Cody Proveaux had an additional obstacle during Tuesday morning’s four-ball match.

Monday night, he accidentally kicked a door jamb and broke the pinky toe on his left foot. After the athletic trainer taped him up Tuesday morning, he and Matthew NeSmith promptly went out and birdied five of the first seven holes.

Proveaux said that he only felt pain on his tee shot on No. 16 when he over-rotated. He has the afternoon off and will have another day to prepare for 36 holes on Wednesday.