BUCYRUS — The Heart of Ohio Junior Golf Association (HOJGA) tournament season continued on Wednesday, July 10 with a stop at the Golf Club of Bucyrus and an event sponsored by the W.E. Lott Company of Bucyrus.
In the 16-18 year old division, it would be Galion’s Spencer Keller coming away with the tourney hardware, pacing the pack with a three-over par 75 on the day. Keller shot a 34 (two under) on the front-nine and paired it with a 41 (five over) on the back-nine that included a total of 10 par holes and three birdie holes en route to the crown.
Keller’s victory was not earned without a fight however as Justin Brackenridge of Fairbanks also fired a 75 on the day, forcing a playoff. Brackenridge shot a 39 on the front and rallied back with a 36 on the back-nine to knot things up with Keller at 75. It took just a one-hole playoff to determine the grand champion as Keller long-putted his way on the hole to card par and earn the win.
Hayes Bentley of Mount Gilead and Nathan Stewart of Delaware Christian shared a tie at third place with both athletes carding a 77 in Bucyrus. Bentley shot a 37 on the front-nine and a 40 on the back-nine that included 10 par holes and two birdie holes. Travis Brake of Fairbanks placed fifth at 84 and Alex Pratt of Pleasant shot an 85 to take sixth in the 16-18 grouping.
Galion’s Bronson Dalenberg was also in action in the group, finishing 7th in the field with an 86 scorecard (42-44; 4p, 2b).
Mason Rinehart of Pleasant garnered first-place honors in the 13-15 year old age group, scoring 79 (38-41) while Minoy Shah of Pleasant (42-38) and Alex Crowe of Fairbanks (40-40) tied for second, shooting 80 apiece. River Valley’s Thomas Kaufman managed fourth at 81 while Max Longwell of Galion clocked in at fifth place, firing an 82 (41-41; 9p, 1b). Andrew Crowe of Fairbanks rounded out the top-six in the age bracket with an 86 on the day.
Steven Street of Mount Gilead finished ninth with a 93 (44-49) while Galion’s Logan Keller tied for 14th with a 100 (47-53). Nathan Barre, also of Galion, claimed 15th, shooting a 102 (50-52) while Lucy Myers of Colonel Crawford rounded out the area athletes in the age bracket with a 114 (55-59), good for 19th.
Kaden Ottley continued to dominate the nine-hole, 12 and under age group in Bucyrus.
Ottley earned another victory with a score of 44 on the par 37 back-nine of the course. Carson Walker of Galion and Henry Terry of Olentangy turned in 56 scores to tie for second place while Alex Schultz of Delaware (66) took fourth and Alex Yancey (70) finished fifth.
The next HOJGA tournament in its’ series will be held at Valley View Golf Course in Galion on Monday, July 15. A Newsletter for the upcoming Year-End Banquet is being sent by mail. Juniors may bring their reservation slips to the next tournament or mail them in to P.O. Box 821, Marion, Ohio 43301-0821.
