The Highlander Junior Tour at Eagle Ridge GC. Saturday May 16th. Results and Report.
It was another wonderful day of competitive Junior Golf at Eagle Ridge yesterday. Warm and blustery conditions made it a challenge for all of our players but even despite the wind there were a number of fine performances to report, we welcomed a few new faces in attendance into our strong field of players, all competing for the exclusive Highlander Junior Tour Champions medals.
A very warm welcome to The Highlander Junior Tour to Izzy Pellot and AJ Sims both making their HJT debuts yesterday. Thank you for coming along and we hope you both had a great day with us!
As usual yesterday our competitors were represented in 3 seperate age related flights.
Within each flight we are then able to designate which tee box each player will play from in order for them to develop and feel their game is being properly challenged.
The following are the results for each flight.
The Old Tom Morris Flight:
Champion : Izzy Pellot -2 (70)
Runner-Up : Nick Zarillo E (72)
Our most experienced and senior group. Yesterday 11 players teed it up in this flight. The competition is fierce among the top players in this one and always throws up some great golf, some personal battles and some strong finishing…this one was breathtakingly good!
It was the classic golf tale, our clubhouse leader and 3 time HJT winner Nick Zarillo has battled really hard to post a very impressive even par 72. As scores began to come in it became clear that if a challenge was to come it would come from HJT debutant Izzy Pollet who arrived on the 16th tee one back on Nick with only 3 holes to play.
You’d have to ask Izzy if she knew what she had to do at that point to win! Either way a birdie at 16 followed by two more at 17 and 18 gave her a debut victory by two shots and a -2 under score of 70!
For those of us lucky enough to watch Izzy play those final holes it was a really impressive showing by a highly ranked and very experienced young player who knows her game well and knows how to get the job done. Congratulations Izzy ..that was a very, very special finish!
Golf can be tough and it was tough on runner up Nick yesterday however he too is another of our most experienced and talented young competitors who we know has the right mental attitude and who will be right back up on the leader board next chance he gets.
The Young Tommy Morris Flight:
Co-Champions: Maggie Potash(76) and Nicky Riscica(76)
Runner-Up :Tripp Watkins (80)
This is our mid range age group flight and once again it was chock full of experienced and talented young golfers. 11 players battled it out to the finish in this flight.
When the scores were in it was impossible to seperate two of our regular HJT players. Both players posting an impressive 76 to take home a medal.
Maggie Potash works really hard on the golf course. Her determination and strong focus on every shot is there for all to see and she always displays great resilience. She is one of our strongest competitors and previous winners and we love to see her get the rewards right up there on top of our leader board, Congratulations Maggie, good job !
Nicky Riscica’s score of 76 means he takes his second HJT champion medal home with him. Nicky is a strong character and a fine young man who played perhaps his best round of golf on our Tour so far yesterday. We are all absolutely delighted for Nicky (and for coach Neil Barnhill) to see him get this win under his belt and we expect this could be the first of many! Congratulations Nicky, well played young man!
A mention too for runner-up Tripp Watkins. Another very strong young player we love to see battling out there. Tripp was a little disappointed with his final number but he’s a very resilient and experienced character who is always top or close to it on our leader board. Keep doing what you do Tripp!
The Bobby Jones Flight
Champion: Bobby Jones Potash (79)
Runner-Up : Ryker Huther (80)
Our youngest HJT flight yesterday had 5 youngsters competing for the medal. A late call off through illness meant Rhett Kirkland had to withdraw ( Get Well Soon Rhett !) but his place in the field was happily taken up by our eventual winner, Bobby Jones Potash posting an impressive 79.
Young Bobby is no stranger to taking the Champions medal having now won 3 times on the HJT. Despite his age he is a very experienced and competitive young talent who clearly loves to play golf and win! All of us who are lucky enough to be out there watching him play know he has huge future potential though for now it’s every bit as important that he has fun ..the smile when he takes the medal tells us he’s doing just that ! Congratulations Bobby Jones Potash, good job!
Our runner up in this flight yesterday and last week’s winner Ryker Huther also deserves a strong mention posting an 80. Ryker is another fine player with a huge desire to develop and improve, after last weeks win Ryker requested he be moved back to play longer tees to gain more experience. Well done Ryker for challenging yourself and your ability.
So that’s it for another day and what a day it was for Junior Golf. We are blessed to have such talented players play with us on The Highlander Junior Tour and now in The Wee Highlander too..we thank all of you for challenging yourself by playing competitive golf.
Thank you also to Dale Smauder and everyone at Eagle Ridge GC for their help looking after us and our players. Yesterday we had 31 players competing and spectator numbers up too so thank you all for supporting the event.
Next up: Red Tail GC in Sorrento, Florida on Saturday May 30th. A great venue and another interesting challenge awaits!
