Spotlight: JPGA Golfers Take Over the HJGT Low Country Junior Open at Cat Island
THREE DIVISIONS, TWO WINS, AND SEVERAL TOP 5 FINISHES!
by Keith Bach · PGA Member, President and Director of Instruction JPGA (Also called JRPGA)
Seventeen JPGA golfers made the trip to Cat Island Club this weekend for the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s Low Country Junior Open, and they left with two division titles and a leaderboard that barely had room for anyone else. Ben Mac won Boys 14-15 outright. Grace Kearns and Chandler Salita went 1-2 in Girls 4-18. And in the deepest field of the week, Boys 16-18, JPGA golfers took ten straight spots from 2nd through 11th, finishing 12 of the top 14 positions behind only one golfer who isn’t one of ours.
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Ben Mac Wins Boys 14-15
Ben Mac carded a 79 in the first round and backed it up with an 83 to finish at 162 (+20), holding off Paul Morrell of Bluffton by a single stroke for the win. It’s the kind of finish that comes down to a handful of shots over two rounds, and this week those shots went Ben’s way.
Kearns and Salita Go 1-2 in Girls 14-18
In a two-player division, JPGA held both spots. Grace Kearns won with rounds of 95 and 96 for a 191 (+49), and Chandler Salita finished right behind her at 192 (+50) after opening with a 91. However small the field, a 1-2 finish is a 1-2 finish, and it means every point available in that division belonged to JPGA this week.
JPGA Takes Over the Boys 16-18 Leaderboard
This is where the week really showed up. Kohki Maeda of Savannah won the division outright at 145 (+3), and from second place on, it was JPGA the rest of the way down. Hollis Eckols finished runner-up at 154, and Chase Brisebois and Owen Murphy tied for third at 155, with Eduardo De Leon, Vic Witlox, Keegan Smith, Renzo Ochotorena, Asbjorn Mogelberg, Murk Oechies, and Jagger Yates filling out tenth straight spot behind him. Mike Gallina and Piero Luna added two more top-fourteen finishes further down the board.
Seventeen players entered the division. Fourteen finished, and twelve of those fourteen wore a JPGA bag. That’s not a hot week for one golfer, that’s a program showing up across an entire age group at once.
Two Rounds at Cat Island Club
Cat Island Club played to a par 71, 6,478 yards, and it didn’t give much away. Maeda’s winning score of +3 was the only total inside single digits over par in the Boys 16-18 field, and the JPGA golfers behind him mostly settled into the mid-teens to low-twenties over two rounds, the kind of consistency that comes from players who’ve logged real tournament rounds together all season.
Looking Ahead
Congratulations to Ben Mac, Grace Kearns, Chandler Salita, Hollis Eckols, and every JPGA golfer who competed at Cat Island Club this weekend. The group will be back in action as the HJGT schedule continues.
JPGA Champs With Their Trophies
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