Hot Tournament Week For Local Standouts

It's been a busy week for local standout golfers at championship tournaments across the country.

Cameron Young at US Junior Amateur Championship
photo by USGA/Steve Gibbons

Just a few minutes ago, Cameron Young advanced to the Quarter Finals in the US Junior Amateur Championship in a 24-hole match that was delayed by weather yesterday afternoon. He defeated George Cunningham of Tucson, AZ, with a birdie on the sixth playoff hole in what was (so far) the longest match of the tournament this week.

Young, 16, tees off against Doug Ghim or Arlington Heights, IL, in the Quarter Final match that will be telecast by Golf Channel midday. The championship is being held at Martis Camp Club in Truckee, CA. Eliminated in the round of 16 was Jim Liu, 17, or Smithtown, NY, was won the event in 2010 and was last year's runner up.

Yesterday, Burning Tree Assistant Pro and mini tour player Danny Balin won his second consecutive NY State Open at Bethpage Black. The 31-year old finished the three rounds seven under par, two ahead of Andrew Guiliani, and pocketed $17,500 in the process.

Nicole Morales, the 16-year-old  from South Salem who plays out of GlenArbor, got nipped one down in the round of 32 at the US Girls' Junior Amateur Championship. Bethany Wu of Diamond Bar, California eliminated Morales.

Max Buckley and Cameron Wilson two under after two rounds and were T-14 at the Porter Cup at Niagara Falls when play in the three-round tournament resumed this morning. Mike Miller was at even par. US Walker Cup Captain Jim Holtgrieve is scouting the tournament as the committee prepares to fill out the final five spots on the American side for the biennial event against Great Britain and Ireland.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Morales and Young Advance to Match Play in Jr Ams

Both Nicole Morales of South Salem and Cameron Young of Scarborough moved through two rounds of medal play to win spots in the six-round match play sections of the US Junior Girls' Amateur and US Junior Amateur Championships staged by the USGA.  Now the real fun begins as each of the youngsters spends four days on the edge in the single-elimination rounds.

Young took second in the medal rounds, finishing with a two-round total of 138 by adding a two-under 70 to his first-round 68. Young made an eagle on the par-5 10th when he sank an 80-foot putt that broke left to right over a ridge. He made up for a hooked 3-wood at the par-4 16th with a 20-foot putt for birdie and ended the round with a 7-foot par putt on No. 18.

“I played really well yesterday but not quite as strong today,” said Young, who added that he is comfortable with the course and has a good feel for his distance at the 6,000-foot altitude. “I will be more aggressive tomorrow, take on more bunkers off the tee, and go at a lot more flagsticks.”

 Jim Liu, 17, of Smithtown, N.Y., shot a 5-under-par 67 on Tuesday to earn medalist honors for the second consecutive year in the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at the par-72, 7,740-yard Martis Camp Club. Liu, who carded a 69 in the first round, finished at 8-under 136.

Liu, who shared medalist honors with two other players at last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur, becomes the third player in the championship’s history to twice earn the stroke-play medal, joining Willie Wood and Tiger Woods. Liu fashioned a bogey-free second round, one stroke off the course record.

Morales, like the rest of the field in the Junior Girls' Am at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana, struggled with the wind and shot a four-over 76 to go with her first-day score of 69 for a T-11 145. Tuesday’s steady winds wreaked havoc with scores, with the field average at 79.19, up nearly two strokes from Monday’s 77.37. Only six players managed under-par rounds on Tuesday, as opposed to 16 on Monday. Bailey Tardy posted two 69s to earn medalist honors

Nine players competed for the final match-play spot, with Abbey Carlson earning the 64th seed on the second playoff hole. In a wonderful display of sportsmanship, Morales finished her round, then caddied for Carlson in the playoff.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Strong Starts for Young and Morales at Jr Ams

Cameron Young     Photo courtesy USGA/Steve Gibbons

Cameron Young and Nicole Morales posted strong first round scores in the US Junior Amateur and US Girls' Junior Championships. While it's way early to celebrate in both events, the Westchester teens are in excellent positions.

Young, the 16-year-old son of Sleepy Hollow CC pro David Young and his wife Barbara, a former pro herself, was just one behind the leaders in the 156-player field at the par-72, 7,740-yard Martis Camp Club. with a 4-under 68. He started on the 10th hole and birdied No. 14 before making eagle at No. 15 when he hit a 4-iron 240 yards to 2 feet. Young kept his round going by getting up and down for par at No. 11 and two-putting from 65 feet for another save at the 218-yard, par-3 third.

“I am playing conservatively off the tee,” said Young, who took three weeks off in June to recover from a shoulder injury. “I am picking my spots when I am going at flagsticks and at the middle of greens.”

Jim Liu, the 2010 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, was just one stroke back with a 3-under 69. Liu, 17, of Smithtown, N.Y., who is playing in his fifth Junior Amateur and was the runner-up last year, had it to 5-under after 15 holes but bogeyed Nos. 16 and 18. He pulled his driver to the left on the 16th, a drivable par-4, and his chip went over the green. Liu lipped out a 6-foot par putt on his final hole.

“It was a good score; you have to feel somewhat decent about it,” Liu said. “You are trying not to dig a hole for yourself. It starts all over in match play.”

Scottie Scheffler, 17, of Dallas, and Corey Eddings, 17, of Roseville, Calif., fired rounds of 5-under-par 67 Monday to share the lead on the first day of stroke-play qualifying. One more day of stroke play will be followed by match play that culminates in the final round Saturday.

Nicole Morales
Photo courtesy USGA/Fred Vuich

Nicole Morales, was T4 in the first round of the Girls' Amateur being played this week at Sycamore Hills GC in Fort Wayne, IN. Morales, who plays out of GlenArbor GC in Bedford, NY, was one of seven players who carded a 69 on the 6,312-yard Nicklaus designed course. 

Morales, a native of South Salem, N.Y., looked to her Junior PGA experiences to bolster her championship efforts, but for far different reasons that most of her competitors. After numerous flight delays, an unforeseen overnight stay in Atlanta and a set of golf clubs that arrived in Fort Wayne after she did, Morales was unable to practice at Sycamore Hills prior to her Monday-morning tee time.

“I feel like I was very patient with myself all day,” said Morales, who will attend the University of Alabama in the fall. “I gave myself a lot of opportunities.”

Morales had to get up and down just to save par on the par-4 first hole. With that opening scare behind her, the 17-year-old, competing in her fifth and final Girls’ Junior, converted birdies on the ensuing two holes and cruised from there.

“I felt really confident, which is exactly the opposite of what I felt like going into this week,” said Morales, winner of the 2013 Thunderbird International Junior and No. 12 in the WWAGR. “This is my last U.S. Girls’ Junior, so I’m going to try and go for big.”

Andrea Lee shot a 5-under-par 67 and holds a one-stroke lead following Monday’s first round of stroke-play qualifying. Another round of stroke play today will narrow the field for match play, with the final scheduled for Saturday.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Cameron Young Lofts Met Junior Trophy

Cameron Young    photo courtesy of MGA

This week's heat didn't stop Cameron Young from decisively winning the 96th Met Junior Championship sponsored by MetLife at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, CT. The 16-year old junior at Fordham Prep won six total matches in absolutely brutal conditions. He finished with a 3 & 1 win over Jeremy Wall, of Brielle, NJ.

The Met Junior is the oldest junior championship in the country. It starts with a field of 64, which narrows down in 18-hole matches over three day event. The field is composed of juniors who have not yet turned 19 and who have not yet started college.

Young, the son of Sleepy Hollow CC head pro David Young, won all three of his first three matches 7 & 5, then beat Ethan Wall, Jeremy's brother, 5 & 4 in the quarterfinals, and Clancy Waugh of Quogue, NY 3 & 1 in the semis earlier in the day. In an interesting aside, Young played 36 holes the day before the Met Junior started in the US Amateur sectional qualifier. He'll be playing at the Country Club in Brookline, MA, next month.

Young and Wall (along with several other Met Area juniors) will also compete in the US Junior Championship which begins Monday at Martis Camp Club in Truckee, CA. For inspiration, they might look to Jordan Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic last week to earn a spot in the British Open. Spieth won the US Junior in 2011 and 2009.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf