Mallory Pitts of Greensboro posted a final-round 70 Thursday to win the 69th Carolinas Junior Girls’ Championship by two strokes at WildeWood Club in Columbia, South Carolina.
The 15-year-old Pitts, a rising sophomore at Greensboro Day School, finished the 54-hole tournament at even-par 216. Pitts’ final round included five birdies and three bogeys, including a bogey on the 18th hole when she had a comfortable margin.
Jenna Kim of Raleigh took second after shooting a 71 that included seven straight pars after pulling within two shots with a birdie at No. 11.
Pitts, who began the final round three strokes off the lead, reached two par-5s in two shots during a solid final round and had several birdie opportunities.
Her steady round was much different from her up-and-down 72 in the first round that included four straight bogeys while shooting 40 on the front nine and five straight birdies during her 32 on the back side.
“I was hitting the ball well today. I didn’t make a ton of long putts, but I was hitting it decently close,” Pitts said, according to the Carolinas Golf Association report. “Everything overall was just consistent.”
Andrew Haarlow of Greensboro was one of 10 players at Timberlake Golf Club to earn place for the upcoming Carolinas Amateur through an early qualifier at the Chapin, South Carolina, course.
Haarlow, who plays at Columbia International University in Columbia, S.C., shot 74. The Carolinas Amateur is set for July 8-11 at Pinehurst No. 7.
Earlier this week, Ben Jordan of Greensboro and Tripp Summerlin of Summerfield earned spots in the field through a qualifier at Tanglewood Park’s Championship Course.
A Triad duo qualified for the upcoming Carolinas Amateur with outstanding rounds Tuesday at Tanglewood’s Championship Course.
Tripp Summerlin of Summerfield, a former Appalachian State and UNC Wilmington golfer, and Ben Jordan of Greensboro, a Wofford player, finished second and third as seven of the 44 players at Tanglewood qualified for Carolinas Amateur on July 8-11 at Pinehurst No. 7.
Summerlin shot 2-under-par 68 and Jordan posted 69. Will Spicer of Kings Mountain, a Gardner-Webb golfer, was the medalist with 67.
When evaluating golf courses, does hard mean better? Are quirky features better than good, fair layouts that reward good play?
After watching the 125th U.S. Open, I don’t think so.
I’m probably going against the grain here, but Oakmont doesn’t cut it — though it could use a good moving — as a proper U.S. Open site. Sure, it’s excruciatingly tough, particularly with narrow fairways and impossible length rough. But what course wouldn’t be with that type of setup? Then throw in lightning-fast greens and ridiculous pin positions.
Here’s my recap on what golf fans suffered through over the weekend:
— Tiny, winding fairways that repelled center-cut landing tee shots bounding off into thick 5 1/2-inch grass. Though they averaged 28 yards wide, the steeply sloped landing areas were sometimes less than half of that. Balls hit perhaps five yards off target disappeared into impossible positions in fescue.
— Blind approaches left on several holes following textbook tee shots.
— Greens so undulating and fast that often the only way to stop a golf was to hit it in the cup. Approaches that hit the middle of greens and trickled agonizingly slow before burying in high rough.
— Pin positions that consistently confounded players trying to put or chip close to the cup, often players to start 2-foot putts outside the hole.
Sunday’s final round, plagued by heavy rain late in the day that left standing water in the fairways, made the conditions nearly impossible, especially for the players battling for a career-changing victory.
Yeah, I like the church pew bunkers. I’m not so sure that having the Pennsylvania Turnpike run through the course provides charm or character.
No, I wasn’t at Oakmont over the weekend. But I did cover the 1994 Open there when Ernie Els won — or outlasted — a three-way playoff with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts.
The heat 31 years ago was brutal — Chris Patton had to quit on his first nine holes, and the pasty Montgomerie was soaked with sweat throughout the week. During the week, Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered, O.J. Simpson led police on a chase in a Bronco, the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 40 years.
On Friday, Arnold Palmer played his final U.S. Open round before an adoring hometown gallery. Finally, the TV broadcast of the playoff was pre-empted by coverage of O.J.’s arraignment.
That was a crazy Open week, too. But for much different reasons. So much for reminiscing.
Did the USGA identify the best player — the goal they claim to seek? J.J. Spaun played great. His last two tee shots and his winning putt that lifted him into red figures were fantastic. He rebounded from some tough breaks and shot 3-under on the back nine as the other contenders imploded.
But I don’t think so. Of course, this is a tournament won twice each by Andy North, Steve Jones and Lee Janzen — I’ll be nice Wake Forest fans, and leave Curtis Strange off the list. I’d rather see a major championship won by great shots rather than attrition.
I know I was equally critical of Quail Hollow (the seventh-best course in North Carolina, according to Golf Digest voters) as PGA host, though for entirely different reasons.
Last year, we got Bryson DeChambeau vs. Rory McElroy at Pinehurst No. 2, capped by a spectacular long bunker shot from DeChambeau. This year, it came down to Spaun vs. Robert MacIntyre with the likes of Carlos Ortiz and Sam Burns also in the mix.
The USGA has some terrific sites in its Open rotation. Shinnecock Hills, Pebble Beach and Pinehurst quickly come to mind. Oakmont isn’t one of them.
Who would have guessed the CGA North Carolina Amateur Championship would turn into a head-to-head battle between Russia and the Ukraine?
But it did. Well, sort of, in a cordial way.
Jackson Spires of Apex shot even-par 70 Saturday at The Cardinal by Pete Dye for a 9-under 271 total for 72 holes to hold off Mykhailo “Misha” Golod for a two-stroke victory in the state amateur and an automatic berth in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
“I had chills walking off of 18,” said Spires. “I’ve never been to California. It’s going to be real cool.”
An explanation of the connection between combatents in a global conflict and a state championship?
Golod is an 18-year-old Ukrainian, who escaped Kiev in 2022 after the invasion of his home country by the Russians, who quickly occupied the course where Golod played.
Soon after the Russian occupation, Golod’s story was featured in Golf Digest. With the help of superstar instructor David Leadbetter, he immigrated to Florida and eventually signed to play at UNC.
Jackson Spires watches his approach into the 18th green Saturday at The Cardinal by Pete Dye.
Spires, a 30-year-old former East Carolina golfer, is married to former ECU tennis player Maria Storozheva, a native of Moscow. Spires and his wife have an infant son, Harvey, and have planned an upcoming trip to Russia to see family.
Golod and Spires chatted amicably during the round.
“I don’t think (the war) has anything to do with the people,” Spires explained. It’s the governments.”
Spires, who pretty much led wire-to-wire after opening with 65 in the opening round, answered Golod’s eagle at No. 15 with a two-putt birdie of his own to maintain the lead, then regained command with a 15-foot birdie putt at 16, and finished with tap-in pars to secure the triumph. Spires said he didn’t have any three-putts on Cardinal’s fast, undulating greens.
“I definitely really like this place,” Spires said. “It fits my game well. It’s a ball-strikers course.”
No stranger to USGA events, Spires played in the U.S. Mid-Amateur last year advancing through stroke play and winning in the opening-round of match play. Working in finance, Spires’ 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. work schedule leaves him time to play golf. He said he even worked some hours around this week’s first 54 holes on Wednesday through Friday.
Golod, a rising sophomore at UNC, nearly holed a short birdie chip on 17. Both players missed birdie putts on the final hole.
Colby Hutchens of Pinehurst closed with 65 to tie the third member of the final group, Chad Wilfong of Charlotte, who finished with 68, for third at 275. Branden Boyce of Spring Lake shot 67 Sunday to finish fifth at 276. Sam Davidson of Asheboro tied for the day’s low round with 66 and joined a four-way tie at 278 that included first-round leader Cyrus Stewart of Raleigh.
Misha Golod (left) checks scorecards with Chad Wilfong (center) and Jackson Spires.
Golod quickly made up ground on Spires’ five-stroke lead with a birdie on the first hole as Spires made bogey. The lead was down to two at the turn.
The Cardinal, listed at 7,002 yards for the tournament, frustrated the hopes of the majority of the field throughout the tourney. But on Sunday, the Carolinas Golf Association set up a shootout with some forward tees and accessible pins on the back nine.
“We set the back nine up, to hopefully, generate some excitement and I think that did happen,” CGA executive director Andy Priest said.
Spires and Golod each shot 34 on the back. Hutchens shot 31, Wilfong had 32. Boyce made eagles on 14 and 15 to pull into a tie with Golod, one behind Spires, but fell out of contention with a double-bogey at 17 — he still had 33 on the side — after an errant tee shot.
Jackson Spires of Apex will take a five-shot lead into the final round of the CGA North Carolina Amateur at The Cardinal by Pete Dye.
The 30-year-old Spires shot 4-under-par 66 Friday with five birdies and a single bogey to enter Saturday at 9-under 201. Mykhailo Golod, a Ukrainian who plays for UNC, is second after shooting 71.
Chad Wilfong of Charlotte and second-round leader Cyrus Stewart of Raleigh, who shot 73 Friday, are tied for third at 207. Jacob Golliday of Charlotte is at 208. Branden Boyce of Spring Lake and Matthew McDougall of Waxhaw, at 209 are the only other players to break par on the 7,002-yard Cardinal layout.
Sam Davidson of Asheboro leads Triad players at 212. Tripp Summerlin of Summerfield and Charlie Maness of Troy are tied at 214.
Tee times Saturday begin at 7:30 a.m. with the final group starting at 10:45.
Leah Edwards shot 5-under-par 211 for 545 holes at Cutter Creek Golf Club in Snow Hill to tie for second in the CGA Women’s Amateur behind Samantha Whateley of Charlotte, who rallied with 66 in Thursday’s final round.
Edwards, back-to-back Class 4A medalist at Northwest Guilford High and a Western Kentucky University signee, rebounded from an opening 73 with rounds of 68 and 70. Ellie Hildreth of Wrightsville Beach closed with 69 for 211.
Anna Howerton of Winston-Salem, who plays at High Point University, tied for sixth at 214. Mallory Pitts, a 15-year-old student at Greensboro Day School, was 17th at 221. Emily Mathews of Mebane, who plays at N.C. State, and 16-year-old Hallie Wilson of Lewisville tied for 18th at 222.
Whateley, a South African who plays at Mississippi State, shot 32 over the last nine holes to earn the tournament’s automatic berth into the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Edwards, who qualified for next month’s U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship last week at Spring Valley Country Club in Columbia, South Carolina, also finished strong with 33 Thursday on the back side.
Former Wake Forest golfer Cyrus Stewart shot a tournament-best 63 Thursday at The Cardinal by Pete Dye to take the lead in the 65th CGA Amateur Championship.
The 33-year-old Stewart, a former playing pro, shot 30 on the front nine with five birdies then added three more to more than offset a single bogey on the back nine on the 7,002-yard, par-70 layout.
At 6-under 134, Stewart leads first-round leader Jackson Spires of Apex and Ukrainian Mykhalio Golod, a UNC golfer by one stroke. Charlie Maness of Troy and Matthew McDougall of Waxhaw are tied for fourth at 136.
Jack Boyer of Greensboro shot his second straight 70 to join a tie for 11th at 140. Sam Davidson of Asheboro shot 71 to join a group at 141.
Only the low 60 players at 7-over 147 or better in the 144-player field advance to Friday’s third round of the 72-hole tournament.
Willie Gordon of Hot Springs, Arkansas, shot 66 Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club to win the AJGA Wyndham Invitational by one stroke over Jessy Huebner of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Gordon, an Arkansas signee, was one stroke off the lead entering the final round, and finished with a 10-under-par 200 total for 54 holes.
Blake Brown of Spring, Texas, the leader after each of the first two rounds, shot 72 and finished fifth at 205. Huebner and third-place finisher Luke Balaskiewicz of Jacksonville, Fla., also closed with 66 to tie Gordon for the day’s low round.
Preston Hage of Raleigh was the top finisher among North Carolina players with 207, tied for eighth in the 72-player competition.
Former East Carolina golfer Jackson Spires of Apex made six straight birdies on his way to shooting 5-under-par 65 Thursday at The Cardinal by Pete Dye to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the 72-hole CGA North Carolina Amateur.
Brett McLamb of Coats was one stroke behind followed by James Rico of Cary and Chad Wilfong of Charlotte at 68. Only 11 of 141 players bettered par on the 7,002-yard layout. Three players withdrew and 21 failed to break 80.
Gardner-Webb golfer Jack Boyer of Greensboro, playing in the afternoon, came to No. 7 — his 16th hole — at 3-under, vying for the lead, but made triple-bogey on the par-4 and finished at even-par in a tie for 12th with former UNC Charlotte player Caden Baker of Mebane. Boyer made five birdies. Baker had a more consistent round with three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey.
Former Methodist player Charlie Maness of Troy led Triad golfers with a solid 69, including two birdies and only a single bogey.
Starting on No. 10, the 30-year-old Spires reeled off his six straight birdies beginning at No. 16, and finished with seven birdies and two bogeys.
