By STEVE WILLIAMS
North Carolina’s juniors won bragging rights over their rivals from South Carolina and Georgia in the 8th annual Carolinas-Georgia Junior Championship.
The event, which features the top 20 boys and top 10 girls from each of the three states, is annually played in mid-January at Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club in North Augusta, S.C.
A 1-2 finish in the girls division by Jennifer Chang of Morrisville and Elizabeth Nguyen of Pinehurst, and a co-championship by Eric Bae of Raleigh in the boys division led the North Carolina effort that produced a 17-shot win over South Carolina. Georgia was another 18 shots back.
The best eight scores from the boys division are combined with the best four girls scores each day to determine the team standings.
Tripp Summerlin of Summerfield, a senior at Rockingham County High who will play college golf at Appalachian State, finished tied for fifth with 72-76. Other key contributors for North Carolina were Nicholas Lyerly of Salisbury, Stuart Fuller of Winston-Salem, Grant Powell of Colfax, Brantley Phillips of Greensboro and Madison Isaacson of Greensboro.
Lyerly, Powell earn first-team All-State
Nicholas Lyerly of Salisbury and Grant Powell of Colfax were named first team All-State by the Carolinas Golf Association, the only Triad players to receive top honors for 2015.
Tripp Summerlin of Summerfield was named second team and Justin Emmons of Asheboro earned third team honors.
Four Triad girls were also honored. Kendall Dobbins of Summerfield, Emily Hawkins of Lexington and Grace Yatawara of Salisbury were all selected to the second team, while Madison Isaacson of Greensboro earned third team mention.
To be eligible, boys and girls must have played a minimum of five Tarheel Youth Golf Association events in 2015. The awards were determined by a combination of each player’s scoring differential and the total points earned in the rankings events. The teams were announced in early January.
These outstanding juniors were honored at the N.C. Junior Golf Night Awards Banquet on Jan. 30 at Pine Needles Resort.
2016 CGA majors in Triad
Two of the top girls tournaments on the 2016 schedule will be played at Triad area clubs.
The 20th N.C. Junior Girls Championship is set for June 14-17 at the Country Club of Salisbury, and the 60th Carolinas Junior Girls Championship will be played July 26-28 at Colonial Country Club in Thomasville.
On the boys side, the 20th N.C. Junior Boys 13-Under Championship will return to the nine-hole Donald Ross layout at Asheboro Municipal Golf Course.
