Womble caps solid summer with Carolinas Junior title
ELGIN, S.C. July 27-29 — Davis Womble of High Point captured his second major junior title in the past year when he won the Carolinas Junior Championship at the Members Club at Woodcreek Farms.
Womble, who won the Donald Ross Junior last December, used his latest win plus a strong showing at the U.S. Junior Amateur to climb to second in the North Carolina Junior Boys rankings behind Grayson Murray of Raleigh.
At the Carolinas Junior, Womble fired a second-round 64 to open a lead and he protected it with a final-round 71 on his way to an 11-under-par 205. He ended four shots ahead of four players who tied for second.
One week before the Carolinas Junior, Womble had a great showing at the U.S. Junior at Egypt Valley Country Club in Michigan. He shot 67-69 to tie for fourth in the medal play qualifying and advanced to match play where he opened with a 1-up victory.
In the round of 32, Womble ran into eventual winner Jim Liu of Smithtown, N.Y. and lost 8 and 7. Liu birdied the first two holes before Womble got one hole back with a birdie at the third. Lui then birdied six of the next eight holes to close the match. Lui was 8-under-par through 11 holes.
The 14-year-old Liu went on to beat Justin Thomas (the 2009 Greensboro FootJoy Invitational winner) in the finals by a 4-and-2 count and became the youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Junior. He broke the mark previously held by Tiger Woods, who was 15 when he won the 1991 title.
Womble also tied for fifth in the N.C. Junior Boys Championship in June and finished seventh in the NCISAA 3-A Championship in May while playing for Wesleyan Christian Academy where his a junior.
JUNIOR NOTEBOOK
TYGA
LEXINGTON • Aug. 10-11 – Kristi Ingram of Winston-Salem ran away to a nine-shot victory in the tour championship of the Tarheel Youth Golf Association.
Ingram, a senior at Winston-Salem Mt. Tabor, shot 75-74 at Sapona Country Club.
In the boys division, Taylor Coalson of Dobson tied for second with 74-75 and Caleb Keck of Reidsville was seventh with 77-78.
In the boys 12-13 group. Jennings Milholen of Siler City shot 80-74 and finished second, one shot off the pace.
Dogwood State Junior
HOLLY SPRINGS • Aug. 3-5 – Michael Borton of Winston-Salem, Victoria Allred of Pfafftown and Madison Kennedy of Salisbury posted third-place finishes in the Dogwood State Junior Championship at the Club at 12 Oaks.
Borton shot 71-70-75 and tied for third, three shots off the pace of boys champion Will Thomas of Cary.
In the girls division, Allred shot 74-74-79 and Kennedy posted 75-76-76 to finish four shots back of Sarah Bae of Cary.
Allred also had a top-10 finish in the Twin States Championship in late July. She shot 71-81 at the Wendemere Club in Blythewood, S.C. to finish seventh.
U.S. Kids Teen Championship
PINEHURST • July 29-31 – Isabella Rusher of Salisbury and Kyle Austin of Mebane posted top-10 finishes in the U.S. Kids Teen World Championship.
Rusher ended third in the girls 13 age group with 73-78-77 while Austin was ninth in boys 14 with 73-77-71.
AAU Championship
CHARLOTTE • July 26-28 – Thomas Bonney of Pleasant Garden won the AAU National Championship, shooting 70-72-75 at Ballantyne Resort. He finished two shots better than Kirk Mitchell of Wilkesboro.
Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour
BROWN SUMMIT • Aug. 8-9 – Andrea Robbins of Liberty tied for second in the Precision Girls Championship, a major on the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour.
Robbins shot 73-75 at Bryan Park’s Champions Course and ended three shots behind Davidson’s Katie Kirk, who fired a 67 in the second round to surge from five shots back to claim the Bell Division title.
Kristi Ingram (81-73) was sixth and Victoria Allred (80-78) tied for eighth.
In the Futures Division, Isabella Rusher (70-86) tied for second.
AJGA
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. • July 27-29 – Tanner Owen of High Point shot 79-70-70 to claim a tie for sixth in the Junior All-Star at Penn State.
The event at Penn State Golf Course, part of the Junior All-Star Series designed for ages 12-15, had a field of 110 boys and 33 girls.
Keith Hills Junior
BUIES CREEK • July 31-Aug. 1 — A final-round 67 lifted Roy Dixon of Salisbury to the championship of the Keith Hills Junior.
Dixon closed the first round with an eagle on the par-5 18th hole but his even-par 72 was still two shots off the pace of Trent Cloninger of Jacksonville. In the second round, Dixon shot a bogey-free 34-33, scoring birdies at Nos. 4, 9, 11, 16 and 18. The highlight came with a 30-footer at the 11th.
Tarheel Foundation Tour
GREENSBORO • Aug. 17 — Jay Ealley of Greensboro used a par of the first playoff hole to claim the one-day title over Benjamin Griffin of Chapel Hill after both matched par-72 at Forest Oaks Country Club.
Read about the Accusport AJGA Championship hosted by Webb Simpson
