Asher Vargas of Spring Texas won the AJGA Wyndham Invitational at Sedgefield Country Club on Thursday, finishing with a 6-under-par 204 total for 54 holes.

Mason Howell of Thomasville, Georgia, and Ronin Banerjee of Irvine, California, tied for second at 206.

Pennson Badgett (pictured above) of Pilot Mountain, who shot 70 in his first two rounds, moved up the leaderboard with a final-round 68. Badgett, a rising junior at East Surry High, finished second in last month’s Class 2A state tournament.

Mack Edwards of Charlotte and Carson Bertagnole of Pinehurst, two University of North Carolina commits for 2025-26, tied for eighth at 209.

Burlington native Kayla Smith birdied three of the final six holes Thursday at Mooresville Golf Club to cap a 4-under-par 68 and win The Carolinas Golf Association North Carolina Women’s Amateur by three strokes over Winston-Salem’s Macy Pate.

Smith, who recently finished her fifth season at the University of North Carolina with the school’s No. 2 all-time stroke-average record, finished 54 holes at 8-under 208. She birdied Nos. 13, 15 and 16 to pull away from second-round leader Pate, who rallied after making triple-bogey and bogey on her first two holes.

Pate, who recently completed her freshman season at Wake Forest, finished with 72 for a 211 total. Clemson’s Katherine Schuster of Kill Devil Hills was third at 214 with Virginia Tech’s Emily Mathews of Mebane in fourth at 215.

The tournament was dominated by college players and juniors. UNC Wilmington’s Mallory Fobes of East Bend, the defending champion, finished eighth at 221. High Point University’s Anna Howerson of Winston-Salem was 12th at 226.

The old joke continues to be told by the players at this weekend’s U.S. Open, which begins Thursday morning at Pinehurst No. 2.

What’s the best way to stop Scottie Scheffler (pictured practicing at No. 2) from winning?

The much-repeated answer: have him arrested by the sheriff, or any other law enforcement officer lining the last dozen or so miles N.C. 211 from U.S. 74 to the Pinehurst Resort.

After getting arrested outside Valhalla before the first round, Scheffler didn’t win the PGA Championship, though he did shoot 67 an hour or so after the police took his mug shot and went on to tie for eighth. But he’s won five times already in 2024, including the Masters.

Or maybe the law of averages can stop him? Though he dominated golf for much of two decades, Tiger Woods has won only 15 pro majors.

Scheffler won last weekend’s Memorial despite making triple-bogey Saturday on the ninth hole and shooting 74 on Sunday.

“The fact that the only thing that took him from winning a golf tournament was going into a jail cell for an hour,” said Rory McIlroy, drawing laughter from a media room gathering.

Scheffler, the game’s undeniable top player, is again the player to beat — this week on the slick, turtleback greens at No. 2.

“I think just the relentlessness. Look, a lot of stuff went on in his life, as well. They’ve just had a new child. He’s been through some struggles in his game, particularly the putter that he’s been able to turn around, as well.”

Bryson DeChambeau, known for his tinkering with his golf swing using his knowledge of physics, finds no obvious flaws in Scheffler’s game.

“From my perspective, he’s got full control of his golf swing,” said DeChambeau, who finished second in the PGA Championship. “He’s figured out a lot of his putting. He plays some incredibly strategic golf from what I can tell. He doesn’t go too crazy. He just hits the right shots at the right time.

“He’s really in control of the environment, not only his environment but the conditions on the golf course. He knows what the golf ball is going to do. He knows how to react accordingly. When things go right, he’s able to right the ship pretty quickly. That’s just a recipe for success, and he’s been able to do it longer than anyone has for a long time.”

Pinehurst No. 2, host of the Open for the fourth time in the past 25 years, has drawn praise from the dozen or so players interviewed in the media center prior to the tournament.

“Looking forward to a tough test of golf out here,” said DeChambeau. “Pinehurst is no joke. This is a ball striker’s paradise. You have to hit it in the middle of the greens. And this is a Boo Weekley quote, but the center of the green never moves, so I’ll try to focus on that this week.

Your putting and wedging has to be pristine in order to compete at this major championship and at this venue. If I get my irons in a place where I’m hitting it in the middle of the greens and just playing boring golf, that’s the goal forme this week is try to play as boring a golf as possible.”

Viktor Hovland, who had been to Pinehurst No. 2 only once prior to arriving Monday, also praised Scheffler and the course. But he also mentioned the unpredictability that the wire grass-filled waste areas bring into play.

“There is some luck involved in missing the fairways here,” said Hovland, who has top 10 finished in each of the four major championships since turning pro in 2019. ” Sometimes you might have a good lie, and sometimes it’s just a hack-out.

But I think just visually it looks really cool off the tee. I’m just a big fan of greens that are raised up and rolls off on the sides. I think that’s kind of how golf courses should be designed. I just think it’s just the best way possible to design greens.”

Scheffler, who has won 11 PGA Tour events, including two Masters, in the past 28 months, said he’s trying to stay grounded and enjoy the current success. Each of Scheffler’s five 2024 victories — Masters, Arnold Palmer, Heritage and Players Championship and Memorial — were in premier events filled with the game’s top players.

In 13 events in 2024, he has 12 top 10 finishes. His worst was a tie for 17th in January.

“I try not to overthink things, I try to live one moment at a time and soak it all up because you never know how long it’s going to last,” he said. “Just try and soak up the good times when you can and fight through the bad.”

Former Wake Forest star Webb Simpson has fought through recent struggles to earn a berth in the tournament through qualifying. The Raleigh native, whose family has a home at Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, will be a sentimental favorite with locals.

Simpson said Scheffler’s dominance has become the norm on the PGA Tour.

“Yeah, it’s probably what happened the early days with Tiger,” Simpson said. “You kind of get used to it, so it becomes less of a big deal. It’s almost like an afterthought — ‘Scottie won again this week.’

“I think what people don’t talk about enough is, like, his attitude, the way he thinks. He makes less mistakes than everyone else.”

Winner of the 2012 U.S. Open, Simpson has lost his full exemption into PGA Tour events. He advanced from final qualifying for the Open at Duke University Golf Club. Spencer Oxendine of N.C. State lost a playoff for one of the two last spots at Duke, but as a top alternate, played a practice round Wednesday at No. 2.

“I think having not been in the majors, the last few majors, I’m definitely more appreciative to be here,” Simpson told reporters. “Kind of more excited to be here, compete against the best players. I think all of us golfers would agree, all we want is to play against the best players in the world in the same week. I have a chance this week.”

Play begins Thursday at 6:45 a.m. from the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. Former Wake Forest star Will Zalatoris will begin with Tiger Woods and Matthew Fitzpatrick on No. 10 at 7:29 in a high-profile threesome destined for extensive airtime on USA Network.

There were two major winners after Thursday’s final round of the North Carolina Open at Starmount Forest Country Club.

Recent UNC Greensboro graduate Noah Connor (pictured below), who held a six-stroke lead entering the day, cruised to a three-shot victory despite a final-round 72 that included 38 on the back nine. The Reidsville amateur finished at 11-under-par 202 for 54 holes.

Connor is now reigning champion of the state open and the Carolinas Open, two of the Carolinas PGA’s most-prestigious championships.

“I didn’t really do anything different than I had the last couple of days,” said Connor, who hopes to qualify and play in the U.S. Amateur this summer before turning pro. “I knew where I stood throughout the round, so I wasn’t ever worried or anxious about it.”

The other big winner was host pro Savio Nazareth (pictured putting and below), who birdied four of the final five holes for 68 to finish second with 205. As low pro, Nazareth shined in front of his club’s members collected the $5,000 first prize.

Plus, the tournament went off without a hitch, avoiding any type of weather problems that wiped out the CPGA Senior Open scheduled for Holly Ridge earlier in May.

After blistering the course with rounds of 66 and 64 — the low rounds each day — Connor said he didn’t have as many birdie chances Thursday and he wasn’t as successful on the greens. But he was never threatened, though Nazareth’s late charge cut significantly into the margin.

“I missed several putts of 6 to 8 feet,” said Connor, who doesn’t expect to try for a sweep of the CPGA’s three most prestigious events by playing in the S.C. Open in late June at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach. “I missed several putts of 6 to 8 feet.”

Cornelius pro Nick Rencis shot Thursday’s low round of 66 to pull into a tie with pro Aaron Black of Indian Land, South Carolina, and amateur Alex Heffner of Harrisburg.

UNCG golfer Sam Davidson of Asheboro and Gardner-Webb player Jack Royer of Greensboro tied for eighth at 209.

Nazareth, a pro at Starmount for 19 years who shared the first-round lead, birdied 14, 15, 17 and 18. The highlight was a chip-in from about 20 yards at the par-3 17th. At 18, he hit a high cut from the right rough over trees, stopping it pin high, perhaps 40 feet from the pin, setting up a tap-in.

Nazareth said he fielded some good-natured texts crediting “home cooking” after his opening 66. But acknowledged that his knowledge of the course probably helped Thursday.

He said he stayed patient on the front nine, making one birdie and one birdie in an even-par 35, waiting for opportunities on the easier back nine.

“You still gotta hit the shots and make the putts,” he said. “I just tried to play safe on the front nine. Coming down the stretch 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 — I feel like they are birdie holes. Finishing the last three holes with three birdies in a row on 16, 17, 18 was pretty cool.”

For Nazareth, it was an outstanding — but difficult — week. In December, Starmount will close for several months for renovations.

“Trying to host an event and make sure that everything goes well is of hard,” Nazareth said. “If you have a good staff, you kind of let them do their thing.”