Report and Results from Harbor Hills on Saturday 29th February 2020.
Thank you to yesterday’s event sponsor : Marc Iceberg and Liquid Lights for your support of Junior Golf Development in our community.
A challenging course, strong winds and a large field of talented junior golfers. As always at our events we were happy to see our regular returning junior member players and welcome quite a few new faces joining us for the first time too. First mention and playing in our Old Tom Morris Flight we welcomed Chelsea Catabia and Caleb Lynady playing with us for the first time. It was great to have you with us!
And so the stage was set for another great Highlander Junior Tour competition yesterday and this one really didn’t disappoint.Resilience and the ability to grind out a score were requirements to take the medals in all our flights at Harbor Hills. This would be further in evidence after the dust had settled on the regulation 18 holes as two of our young players continued on for another 4 holes in our first ever Highlander Tour sudden death playoff ….and as if that was not enough excitement it had almost became a 3 way playoff as Elle Folland just came up slightly short of joining them after 18 too !
As it stood then our play off competitors tied after 18 would be regular Highland Tour competitors Jonathan Ring and Nick Zarillo.
A nerve racking prospect for our players that quickly turned into a wonderfully entertaining match up for spectators between two very talented junior golfers who truly went head to head for a total of 4 extra holes of play off golf. It was decided they would play number 1 out and number 9 back as required until the match was settled. After 3 extra holes they still couldn’t be separated having each gone Par-Par-Par …finally, and just as darkness threatened to curtail any further play, it was Nick who emerged victorious with another steady par putt.
Competition golf is a sport of extremely narrow margins and yesterday this was definitely the case. Both Nick and Jonathan deserve enormous credit from us all for showing everyone in attendance the qualities and strength of character it takes to compete in the game even at this development level. It was a day where both players had to give their very best and while only one winner can emerge it was also extremely satisfying to everyone in attendance to witness our players as the match ended, with mutual respect and dignified handshakes between two great competitors !
Thank you to Nick and Jonathan. You are both a credit to our great game!
Flight 1 – The Old Tom Morris
*Winner: Nick Zarillo (81)
Runner up: Jonathan Ring (81)
*Winner after sudden death play off.
Our Congratulations to Nick Zarillo.
Excitement was also building elsewhere on the golf course as our other player flights were all battling against the elements to return their best scores possible. Our Young Tommy Morris flight group is always very competitive and yesterday was no exception. We had a great mix yesterday of both our regular Highlander Junior Tour players and new players in this group. Welcome to your first Highlander event Chris Tatro, Luke Wood and Zach Phan.
When the scores were in and counted it was to be Zach Phan, in his Highlander Tour debut event with us, who would shoot best score and take the prize from local Harbor Hills player Tripp Watkins by two strokes.
Flight 2 -The Young Tommy Morris
Winner: Zach Phan (85)
Runner up: Tripp Watkins (87)
Our congratulations go to Zach Phan. A great debut win !
Our third flight is reserved exclusively for our youngest competitors and this one is always very well supported by family and spectators. Once again we welcomed back some regular Highlander Tour players and another two new faces. Welcome to The Highlander Tour from us all to James Calabrese and Ryker Huther.
This flight of players is often the most entertaining and certainly energetic to watch as it always highlights some strong golf from juniors who are rapidly developing their golf game and individuality. Scoring matters to every player but it’s usually here that we can see the most fun is being had and as parents and/or supporters are usually present so we also see lots of great encouragement and interaction taking place too. Not always but often the results are juniors playing with a smile on their faces and that’s exactly what this picture should look like at this early golf development stage !
One young developing talent in this flight does deserve huge credit for handling the elements well, battling hard and posting the best score of the day. It’s another debut player who takes the medal in this one with a hugely impressive 79, Ryker Huther ! Well done Ryker, that was a tough day to score well and you made it look easy at times. What a way to secure your first Highlander Tour win !
Flight 3 – The Bobby Jones
Winner: Ryker Huther (79)
Runner up : Deya Shaktawat (98)
So, another great event complete ! As always we want to recognise everyone who supported and attended this competition. Thank you Tom Leimberger and Harbor Hills for hosting us, Liquid Lights for sponsorship and all parents and spectators for your support and everything you do to encourage your juniors to play our great game for life.
Finally to our players, a HUGE thank you from us all for showing you have the character, talent and desire to compete in an environment that is never going to be easy. Regardless of where you are in your individual golf development stage you are ALL a credit to the game and we love to see you play.
Next stop for The Highlander Tour is Summerglen Golf Club, Ocala on Saturday 14th March. We hope to see as many of you as possible there. Thank You.