Greensboro, NC. – August, 2010 – The Mike Goodes and Friends Charity Classic Pro Am is scheduled for Monday, September 27^th.  Building on the momentum of eight Champions Tour players joining the Charity Classic Pro Am this year, corporate sponsors have signed on to help the Triad Youth Golf Foundation.

Premium event sponsors of this year’s Charity Classic Pro Am include First Tee Inc., JP Looneys Restaurant, Triad Golf Today Magazine, and Precision Golf School.  Sponsorships will go towards the financial support of TYGF initiatives and the Mike Goodes Scholarship Fund.  The scholarship fund is designed to create learning and playing grants for juniors of all backgrounds.

Eight PGA Champions Tour professionals will attend this year’s Charity Pro Am Classic.  Allen Doyle, Keith Fergus, David Peoples, Bob Gilder, Gene Jones, Tim Simpson, and newly added 2008 Senior British Open Champion, Bruce Vaughan, have signed on to play.   

Limited corporate teams are still available.  For more information and corporate sponsorships, contact Jonathan Dudley at (336) 373-4630 or visit Triad Youth Golf Foundation’s website at www.tygf.org.

By STEVE HANF

There was no debating the fact Stoney Creek Golf Club needed a facelift.

The only arguments began after the $2.3-million course renovation – once membership returned following an eight-month hiatus. Kim Worrel, Stoney Creek’s general manager, recalled with a smile the heated debate one particular foursome had in the clubhouse after a round of golf in August.

This hole is the best new one. No, this one went from worst to first. Finally, one member quieted the group.

“‘They’re all better, they’re all good – we could sit here all day talking about this,’” Worrel said. “That’s one of the greatest comments we hear – there’s not a weak link in the bunch out there.”

Changes abound, from a shift from par-72 to 71, to fewer bunkers sprinkled all over the grounds, to a mixture of elevated tee boxes and greens that allow golfers to – gasp! – actually see pins that used to be secreted away, even new bathroom facilities on both sides.

As for how long the course in eastern Guilford County, just minutes from Greensboro and Burlington, now plays, well, that’s a good question.

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 By Bob Sutton

  When Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazil began a congratulatory announcement at the 2010 trophy presentation for champion Arjun Atwal, he commented on  “what a week it had been.”

   In this case, it could have served as a literal assessment of Atwal’s journey that ended with a par putt on the 18th hole at Sedgefield Country Club to protect a one-shot victory on David Toms.

   It was a bunch of “firsts” for Atwal, who shot four rounds of 67 or better to close at 20-under 260 and win on the PGA Tour for the first time in his 120th start.

   “Until it happens, you keep doubting yourself,” he said. “And, believe me, I had my doubts teeing it up with the lead.”

  Atwal, who lost his PGA Tour card when after an injury, began his tournament in a Monday qualifier at Forest Oaks Country Club. That’s when Atwal shot 67 to become one of four qualifiers from the site to make it into the tournament field.

  “As soon as we Monday qualified, I said I had nothing to lose,” Atwal said. “Just go out there and try to win it. I don’t have a card or anything. Just go out and free wheel it.”

   So it was a full week for Atwal, a 37-year-old who became the tour’s first Monday qualifier to go on to win a tournament since Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open. He’s also the first native of India to win on the tour.

   It was so competitive atop the leaderboard that with five holes remaining for the final group there was a seven-way tie for first place.

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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

By STUART HALL

Ping might consider giving tour staff professional Louis Oosthuizen a nice bonus to go along with his Open Championship Claret Jug.

Oosthuizen, the South African with a tongue twister of a name, put the manufacturer’s new S56 irons and Tour-S Rustique wedges into play en route to winning at St. Andrews.

Nine days later, on July 28, Ping officially announced the new irons and wedges as part of a new equipment roll out. Liken Ping’s unveiling to Apple unveiling new generations of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the same day.

“We couldn’t have dreamed of a better story leading up to this product introduction,” said John Solhiem, chairman and CEO, Ping Golf. “Tour validation for new product is important to its success. When it’s used to win a major before it’s officially introduced, it has a tremendous impact.”

Ping introduced the K15 Series, Faith ladies series, S56 irons, Anser irons, Tour-S wedges, Eye2 XG wedges and Scottsdale Series putters. In short, Ping brought something for everyone.

“This launch is especially exciting because of the variety of products we’re bringing to golfers,” said Solheim of product that will be available in early September. “From the super-game improvement K15s to the tour-proven S56 irons and Tour-S wedges, we’re reaching golfers of all abilities with our newest technologies.”

Here is a capsule of what the new collection offers:

• A golfer would have to go back to the 1970s to find a forged Ping iron. The technology is much more advanced today, but the irons still carry the Anser name and feature a tungsten sole. The irons were launched earlier this year in Japan and to good reviews.

• The K15 series is targeted toward players looking for that extra oomph in shaving strokes. To create heightened precision and length, the clubs use a titanium face in the irons and hybrids to help reposition weight to the sole, near the heel. The offering of 5- and 6-irons and hybrids creates flexibility in set customization.

• The Faith series is designed specifically for women — and it’s not a series of men’s clubs altered to women’s specs. As the name suggests women— who often have slower swing speeds than men — can trust that this line promotes higher launching and longer shots. The series offers a full complement of fairway woods (3, 5, 7 and 9) and blended irons/hybrids (5H, 6H, 7-9, pitching, utility and sand wedges. Also available are three new Faith insert putters.

• The Tour-S wedges are not dissimilar to Ping’s popular Tour-W line, but have more weight in the sole for a lower center of gravity and added ease in getting the ball high in the air.

• The popular Eye2 wedges get a slight upgrade in the Eye2 XG line with precision-milled, conforming grooves. In terms of classic look and performance, the Eye2 XG wedges are right behind the Vokey design. The perimeter weighting and sole are what make these wedges worth a try.

• Saving the best for last are the S56 irons. Ping uses a stabilizing bar of variable lengths to optimize the center of gravity for a specific club. The design also features variable tungsten toe weighting positions to enhance launch angles in the long and short irons.

NOTES

Adams Golf must figure why mess with a good thing, because it recently announced that its fourth generation aerodynamic technology has been applied to its new Speedline 9064LS and 4G Ultra-Lite drivers. The technology essentially creates less and airflow turbulence, and that increases club head speed.

Maybe of more significance is Adams’ announcement of a distance fitting system version of the Speedline 9064LS. In addition to being able to adjust the club for face angle and loft, the consumer can adjust for club length. The driver comes with a standard shaft length of 45.5 inches and D3 swing weight, but the shaft can be adjusted to between 45 and 46 inches. Loft and face angle options can be adjusted to one degree either way. 

“Shaft length may be the most dramatic factor in determining distance,” said Tim Reed, vice president of research and development, Adams Golf. “… We feel we are finally giving consumers the option to truly optimize their drivers for increased distance off the tee. With the advent of this technology, if you are not fitting your driver for shaft length, you’re not fitting properly.”

In these dire times, folks in the golf course industry have no use for semantics.

When putting surfaces have suffered tough times with bermudagrass in the cold-weather months, it’s been called “winter kill.” When the same issues have reared their ugly head in the heat, the term was “summer bentgrass decline,” explained Brier Creek Country Club superintendent Michael Haq.

“This bentgrass didn’t decline,” Haq said. “It’s dead.”

Welcome to the unwelcome year of “summer kill” plaguing golf courses across the Carolinas. Haq, at the private course in Raleigh, spent most of July overseeing the installation of temporary greens after the existing putting surfaces became unplayable. He’s headed operations at the country club the last five years and served as a superintendent for the last nine, but “this is the worst summer by a mile. We’ve had hot, we’ve had wet. This is the first one where we’ve had that deadly combination with heat and afternoon thundershowers.”

Countless colleagues feel his pain. In a survey conducted by the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association this summer, 70 percent of the nearly 250 respondents reported being “concerned” or “fearful” about course conditions due to a summer that arrived with an early heatwave on the heels of a wet winter and sopping spring.

“It just cooked our greens,” said Tony Laws, director of Burlington’s Recreation and Parks Department, who had to shut down Indian Valley Municipal Golf Course on July 19.

In the case of Indian Valley, its greens failed to drain well anyway considering they’d never been replaced in the 40-year history of the course. But at any course with bentgrass greens, excess water and 90-degree temperatures form a deadly combination.

“You’re putting water down into that root system,” Haq explained. “Water is an excellent conductor, and that water almost boils the plant. Overly dry is better than overly wet.”

The way courses keep their bentgrass greens going in the summer is to “syringe” the greens: start at one green and hose down the surface just enough to provide a cooling effect. By the time you’ve hit all 18 holes, Laws said, you’re ready to start the process over again.

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Every word we utter, thought we think, or feeling we have, has a direct impact on our golf game and ultimately the score we shoot. Positive thoughts lead to good outcomes. Negative thoughts create anxiety that result in breakdowns. It is critically important to develop the skill to choose the more empowering mind-set.

Left to its own devices, the brain has a tendency to become scattered, unfocused or dwell on the negative and what-ifs. This is particularly problematic during stressful times or when we leave our comfort zone. When a golfer experiences a busy mind, he or she is unable to play in the zone.

The key is to be self-aware.

Notice the signals that tell you something is out of whack. They can include, self-criticism, doubt, fear, anxiety, getting quick with your hands or dwelling on what is not working. Though the list is long, they all have one thing in common — they all feel lousy. 

By developing self-awareness, you can get really good at catching these danger signals early and minimizing the damage that negative thinking will cause. The sooner you can refocus your attention in the present moment, the quicker you will get back into the zone.

Cultivate your awareness, challenge yourself to keep your mind focused on the positive and enjoy playing to your potential. 

Doug Hodges developed his expertise as a performance coach at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. He now offers his ThinkWorkPlay programs at the Heritage Golf Club in Wake Forest and Grandover Resort in Greensboro. All golfers, from the Tour player to novice, now have the opportunity to develop the tools to unlock their potential, have more fun, and lower their scores. To learn more visit www.thinkworkplay.com.

By DAVID DROSCHAK

In a generation when star golfers like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson make more money off the course than on the green grass, Ryan Moore chose an interesting corporate path in 2009 – to say the least.

No telling how much cash Moore left on the table when he accepted his first PGA Tour victory trophy at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro without any endorsement contracts in place.

On the most glorious day of his professional career, playing with Pacific Northwest golfing idol Fred Couples, charging back on national TV with eight birdies to force a dramatic playoff and then ensuing victory, Moore donned a beard, a gray “painters hat,” navy blue shirt, along with gray-and-blue striped pants – all without logos – while playing a set of clubs he used during his All-American college days at UNLV.

It’s not as if Moore, one of the rising stars on Tour with a refreshing personality to match, didn’t have any offers. He had plenty of attractive endorsement deals placed in front of him, including an extension of his PING contract that expired at the end of the 2008 season.

But when it came time to sign on the dotted line, the 27-year-old Moore, in an unusual and what some would call radical decision, became an “endorsement holdout.”

“Last year, I was ready for something new, something fresh and was just ready to go play golf and not worry about the stuff off the golf course so much,” Moore said. “It’s funny how things have gotten out about me; that I don’t like sponsorships because I never said anything like that.”

For Moore’s first three plus years on Tour, he had contracts with PING and Oakley sunglasses.

“It wasn’t like there weren’t any offers, Moore added. “I had quite a few offers, but I didn’t feel comfortable with them and I wanted to use the clubs I wanted to use. I didn’t want to be stuck using something that I didn’t feel was going to make me play better. I even got more offers when I started (2009) with nothing. That got even more attention and more intrigue and more offers started coming in then. That’s kind of how it works.

“I’m not advocating that it’s the right way for everybody to do, or that’s how golf should be, but it was the right decision for me – and it was a hard decision. I just wasn’t going to sign contracts that I really wasn’t happy or excited to sign.”

Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazil has known Moore since he was 15, dating back to the days when Brazil was involved with the AJGA and Moore was a teenage star. It was Brazil who gave Moore his first Tour exemption in 2004 when Moore was blazing a scorching amateur victory march that summer.

“It was quite an understatement to say he was the best amateur in the world,” Brazil said. “I remember going to the 18^th green to thank him for coming to play in Greensboro and he was just ecstatic to play in a PGA Tour event. And he says, ‘I could have won this thing had I putted.’”

Moore, a rising senior at UNLV at the time, probably could have, considering he was tied for 12^th after 36 holes and ended up tied for 24^th at 7-under-par.

“He’s not arrogant or cocky, but he has this confidence,” Brazil said. “Then he came back the next year in 2005 and he did something that hardly anybody ever does and played his way to a PGA Tour card on sponsor exemptions.”

It was fitting Moore captured his first PGA Tour event in Greensboro, a place where he first made an impression in the pro ranks and where he and Brazil celebrated Moore cracking the $1 million barrier at a Forest Oaks family sponsor home in October 2005.    

“The kid is obviously really talented,” Brazil said. “I get shocked when an event goes by and he doesn’t win. I think he is going to pick up some more wins and start contending in majors.

“I will always do what I can to take care of him. He’s such a neat guy that I respect so much.”

When Moore returns to defend his Wyndham Championship title Aug. 16-22 he’ll hit the practice range a new man – but still a bit unorthodox.

Moore has signed a contract with Scratch Golf, a company founded in 2003 which designs clubs from “scratch” or can replicate older clubs no longer being manufactured. Moore also recently signed a deal with revolutionary shoe manufacturer TRUE Linkswear.

Moore not only has endorsement contracts with each upstart company, he’s also part equity owner in the firms.

“These aren’t traditional contracts,” Moore said. “I certainly have interest in how well each company does, and I think that’s a great way for me to personally do it. It’s fun to be involved in a little bit more than just wearing a logo.”

Moore’s partnership with Scratch Golf even has a story behind the story. He vowed not fiddle with his hodge-podge of veteran stand-by clubs he started the 2009 season with, even though a set of Scratch Golf clubs were close at hand.    

“I had gotten a set of Scratch irons early in the year because they saw I was without contracts, and they were a small company and don’t have guys out there playing, so they thought it was an opportunity to maybe get some stuff in my bag,” Moore said. “It was torture to me not to go hit them and play them because I could just tell I was going to like them. I kept coming home after events and I had a break and I would just look at them in the garage and say, ‘Awe, I want to play them so bad but I wouldn’t love myself.’”

Moore did relent late last season and performed brilliantly en route to a season in which he earned $2.2 million and finished with a scoring average of 70.46.

“It made it a pretty easy decision,” Moore said of his switch to Scratch Golf.

While Moore is the only PGA Tour player with a Scratch Golf contract, Cristie Kerr, the No. 1 ranked female player in the world, uses Scratch wedges.

Down the road, Moore said he may even help design a club or two for the company.

“I own part of the company so I’m probably going to want to keep playing the stuff since I love it,” he said. “There is no motivation to be switching clubs.

“I like that they are made for me, everything about them. That’s the fun thing about their custom department – it’s for everybody. It’s not just for Tour players. It’s not like I can get something done special that you can’t just go and get done.”

After a few seasons with a nagging wrist injury that hindered his performance, Moore is 100 percent healthy and is confident he can contend for more wins.

“I feel like I’m moving forward and I’m in a great place right now,” Moore said. “Winning at the Wyndham was all such a blur because I had to go to another tournament that next week, and I didn’t get to sit around and enjoy it and soak it in. It was a great moment and a great feeling. I feel it helped shape a few of the things I have going right now.”

A deal well done Ryan.

By David Droschak

There’s something special about a son following in his father’s footsteps, or in the case of the Maples family its love affair with a special Virginia mountain retreat that now runs three generations deep.

Dan Maples remembers vividly his first job after graduating from the University of Georgia in landscape architecture, how he stayed close by father Ellis Maples, within earshot of every word during the elder’s building of the Olde Mill Resort golf course in 1972.

How ironic is it then that Dan Maples, 62, would get an opportunity to return to Laurel Fork, Va., over the last 18 months to restore and renovate one of his dad’s best layouts with son Bradley, who too is fresh out of college and diving head-first into the golf course architecture business?

It’s a rare opportunity for Dan Maples to help keep his father’s enormous design legacy intact at the 800-acre resort, and maintain subtle nuances at Olde Mill that other architects may have destroyed.

“Dad’s courses are such good, basic courses that you can throw a lot of money away working on one unless you know why certain things are there,” Dan Maples said. “It’s just like him being here with us. We can really massage one and take it to a different level.”

Maples also did an enhancement of his dad’s work at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina more than a decade ago, and the exclusive private club cracked the nation’s top 100 courses after it was completed.

“The stamp is the golf course, so you don’t want to go in there and change it,” he said of Olde Mill. “You want to go in there and improve things. There was one of my dad’s courses that shall go unnamed that wanted to change everything and when the architect they picked was finished they wished they had left it alone. Remodeling is a funny thing. It can be like taking your Rolls Royce to the Chevrolet place for service if you’re not careful.”

Maples was dealt a tricky set of marching orders when new owners came aboard at Olde Mill in 2007 and decided to improve the entire resort to the tune of $7 million. The veteran Pinehurst architect was instructed to make the golf course more playable for woman, senior and junior golfers, while having to add length to a course that was  build 40 years ago and unable to withstand the latest equipment technology.

Maples pulled off the task with brilliance.

“One of the things that we wanted to do for the average player was to make this golf course a little more user-friendly,” said Hagen Giles, Olde Mill’s general manager. “But if you go back and play the back tees he’s made this thing a monster. Dan has taken it in both directions to accommodate the type of golfer you are.”

The facelift is nearly complete with Maples and his son still tinkering on some minor details, and finishing off a new 18th hole, which was converted from a par-5 to a long par-4.

The other major changes on the course have occurred on the tee shot and approach shot to the fifth hole, while Maples has offered golfers more risk-rewards on the ninth and 15th holes 

“When Dan did No. 9 he was so thrilled I could see the chill bumps on his arms,” Giles said. “He said, ‘Hagen, we’ve got to go to No. 18 and make it just a spectacular as the front side.’ So we fixed what little problems that Ellis left, which weren’t many.”

On the 5th hole, Maples took out a bunker that used to wash out and some swampy area in front of the green and built a wall of boulders he unearthed on the property in front of a green that was already esthetically pleasing because of some sheer rock on the right side of the hole. 

“It is one of the most beautiful holes in the state of Virginia now – absolutely gorgeous,” Giles said.

The restoration package by Maples and his son was total and all-encompassing. It included new carts paths where needed, 13 new bridges and the same sand used at Augusta National in all bunkers, which creates quite a white and green contrast against a mountain setting at 2,700 feet. 

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SUFFOLK, Va. • June 22-25 – Dylan Jensen of Ridgeway won the 20th Virginia State Golf Association Match Play Championship at Nansemond River Golf Club.

Jensen qualified for the 16-player bracket with 69-76, earning the No. 15 seed in a playoff after five players had tied for the final two spots.

In the match play, Jensen upset the No. 2 seed in the first round and then advanced with a 2-up decision in the quarterfinals. After a 3-and-1 win in the semifinals, he rolled to a 4-and-3 verdict in the finals over Alex Taylor.

He held a 3-up lead at the turn and was 4 up through 12 holes.

Jensen was a five-year standout at Carlisle School and will be playing this fall at Longwood University.

Big “I” Classic

SOUTHERN PINES • July 10-11 – Lori Beth Adams of Burlington shot 67-74 and tied for second in the Trusted Choice Big “I” Junior Classic at Pine Needles.

Adams, Kayla Sciupider of Etowah and Mattie Tobey of Denver all finished a shot off the pace of Casey Ward of Chapel Hill.

There were three spots available for the national Big “I” championship, set July 27-30 at Olde York Country Club in Chesterfield, N.J., and Sciupider and Tobey outlasted Adams in a playoff for the second and third spots.

Kristi Ingram of Winston-Salem tied for sixth with 72-74.

In the 14-under division, Victoria Allred of Pfafftown and Isabella Rusher tied for second, seven shots off the pace of Durham’s Alaina Yeatts. Allred shot 76-77 and Rusher 75-78.

In the Boys Big I at Mid Pines, Alex Nianouris of Salisbury had the best finish for a Triad player as he shot 72-71 and tied for eighth.

Future Masters

DOTHAN, Ala. • June 27-29 – Ben Schlottman of Advance fired 69-71-69 and finished third in the 61st annual Future Masters at Dothan Country Club.

Playing in the age 13-14 group, Schlottman ended seven shots off the pace of Robby Shelton of Wilmer, Ala. Schlottman closed with a 2-under-par 33 on his final nine to move into third place.

Tanner Owen of High Point tied for 14th with 75-68-72.

Also finishing in the top 50 among 74 players in the age group were William Register of Burlington (T-38, 81-69-74) and Kyle Austin of Mebane (T-41, 71-81-73).

AJGA

BLUFFTON, S.C. • July 20-22 – Thomas Walsh of High Point shot 76-72-72 to place fourth in the Hilton Head Junior All-Star tournament at the Berkeley Hall Club-South Course.

The event, for ages 12-15, featured a 60-player field.

AUGUSTA, Ga. • July 7-9 – Jonathan DiIanni of Kernersville closed with four straight birdies to shoot an 2-under-par 70 and claimed a top-10 finish in the Charles Howell III Junior Championship.

DiIanni tied for ninth with 72-76-70 at West Lake Country Club, finishing eight shots off the pace.

ROME, Ga. • June 29-July 1 — Jason Woodall of Yanceyville shot 76-76-69 and tied for 35th among 72 players in the Burgett H. Mooney Rome Classic at Coosa Country Club.

Ty Palmer of Kernersville tied for 39th with 74-71-77.

COLUMBIA • June 22-24 — Eric Edwards of Salisbury tied for 20th in the Palmetto Junior Classic at Columbia Country Club, shooting 78-75-74.

Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour

POWELLS POINT • July 17-18 — Hannah Craver of Winston-Salem fired a 1-under-par 72 in the second round and claimed second place in the Bash at the Beach at Kilmarlic Golf Club.

Craver, who opened with 80, finished three shots back of New Bern’s Ashley Osiecki (79-70) in the Bell Division.

Greensboro’s Erica Gallerani was runner-up in the Futures Division with 79-81.

PKB Tour One-Day Events

Lane Gakeler of Greensboro, Erica Clinard of Clemmons and Madison Kennedy of Salisbury were winners of one-day Bell Division events on the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour in recent weeks.

Gakeler shot 74 and claimed a four-shot win at Forest Oaks, Clinard’s 80 produced a two-shot margin at Foxfire and Kennedy’s 74 was two ahead of her closest competitors at Rock Barn.

In the Futures division, Ashlii Thompson of Brown Summit claimed first place at Forest Oaks with 80.

 Read More Junior Golf Results