Spotlight: Hollis Eckols, Owen Murphy, and Ben Mac Podium at the Hilton Head Junior Open
by Keith Bach · PGA Member, President and Director of Instruction JPGA (Also called JRPGA)
JPGA had two golfers finish inside the top three of the Boys 16-18 division at the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s Hilton Head Junior Open, with Hollis Eckols taking runner-up and Owen Murphy finishing third in a field of eighteen at Golden Bear Golf Club. It’s the kind of one-two finish from the same program that doesn’t happen by accident.
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A Runner-Up Finish for Eckols
Eckols opened with a 79 in round one, then turned in a much sharper 74 in round two to finish at 153, or +9 for the tournament, good for second place. The five-stroke improvement from day one to day two was built around the back nine, where round two produced ten pars and only zero doubles, compared to three doubles in round one. It wasn’t enough to catch the winner, Tomas Giordani of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who opened with a three-under 69 and held on with a +4 final round to win at +1, but an eight-stroke runner-up finish in an eighteen-man field is a strong result on its own, and it made Eckols the top American finisher in the division.
Murphy Rounds Out the Podium in Third
Owen Murphy backed up Eckols with a third-place finish at +13, carding rounds of 78 and 79 to finish four strokes back of his teammate. Murphy’s opening round included a run of ten pars mixed around two doubles, and he kept pace in round two despite a tougher start, a sign of a golfer grinding out a full 36 holes rather than folding after one bad stretch. Between Eckols and Murphy, JPGA held down two of the division’s top three spots.
Hollis and Owen Share A Few Words About the Game
JPGA Also Podiums in Boys 14-15
JPGA’s success at Golden Bear wasn’t limited to the 16-18 division. In Boys 14-15, Ben Mac finished runner-up at +27, carding rounds of 87 and 84 for a total of 171, eleven strokes back of winner Ryan Totte (+16) and thirty clear of third place. Between Eckols, Murphy, and Mac, JPGA reached the podium in two separate divisions at the same event.
Two Rounds at Golden Bear
Golden Bear Golf Club played to a par 72 across both rounds, 6,756 yards of a track that gave up just one sub-par round all week, Giordani’s opening 69. The Boys 16-18 field pulled from well beyond the Southeast, with competitors from Argentina and the Netherlands alongside golfers from more than a dozen U.S. states, the kind of national and international depth that makes a top-three finish mean something.
Looking Ahead
Congratulations to Hollis Eckols and Owen Murphy on a strong week at Golden Bear, and to every JPGA player who competed in the Boys 16-18 division. The group will be back in action as the HJGT schedule continues.
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