Boys from Colorado were well represented on the top of the scoreboard Thursday at the conclusion of the national PGA Junior Series tournament held at the Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Club. In fact, 11 of the top 12 finishers in the oldest age division were Coloradans.
But the one exception was very notable. The only out-of-state competitor in the top dozen happened to win the title.
Bobby Gojuangco (pictured at left), a 15-year-old from San Diego, came out on top against a field which featured players from 11 states, including Florida, Texas, Arizona and, of course, California.
But, after the 54-hole event seemed to be turning into a runaway, John Ahern of Morrison challenged Gojuangco in a major way coming down the stretch. Ahern trailed by five strokes with six holes to play, but tied Gojuangco with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16. Gojuangco, however, posted a two-stroke victory by finishing birdie-par.
“I felt good about” making a run at the title, said Ahern (pictured at left), a 17-year-old senior-to-be at D’Evelyn High School. “I started to make some birdies and he made a few bogeys, but I didn’t finish it.”
In the other age divisions, the champions were two-time PGA Junior Series Player of the Year Shelby Phillips of Gilbert, Ariz. (girls 16-18), Benjamin Moore of Englewood (boys 13-15) and Jennifer Kempton of Littleton (girls 13-15).
This year marked the first time since 2007 that the prestigious national PGA Junior Series has visited Colorado. In 2010, the Series features nine tournaments held across the U.S., with each winner in the 16-18 age divisions qualifying for the 35th Junior PGA Championship, set for Aug. 2-5 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Gojuangco was competing in his first PGA Junior Series event, making the tournament coincide with a trip to visit an uncle, aunt and cousins in Colorado Springs. Though Gojuangco doesn’t have many personal ties to the state, he said the Air Force Academy is prominent among the colleges at which he’s considering playing golf.
But for now, that’s a ways off. After all, Gojuangco is just going to be a junior at Torrey Pines High School. But his play this week certainly didn’t look like that of a 15-year-old. She shot a 4-under-par 66 in the opening round — when the Blue Course was altered after some vandalism on the 11th hole — then went 75-72 on Wednesday and Thursday when par for the course returned to 72. In going wire-to-wire for the victory, he finished at 1-under-par 213.
“This is the biggest tournament I’ve won, and the longest, too,” Gojuangco said.
Ahern closed with a 2-under-par 70 for a 215 total, while Cameron Harrell of Colorado Springs placed third after a final-round 75 left him at 217.
Gojuangco held a five-stroke lead after Ahern missed an 18-inch par putt on the 12th hole Thursday, but that’s when things started to get interesting. Gojuangco missed the next three greens and strung together bogeys, while Ahern went par-par-birdie to pick up four strokes in three holes.
And when Ahern hit the green in two on the par-5 16th, and two-putted for birdie, he caught Gojuangco. But when both Ahern and Gojuangco put their tee shots on the par-3 17th about 10 feet from the hole, Ahern missed and Gojuangco sank his birdie putt, going ahead for good. It was Ahern’s third miss from inside 10 feet in the final seven holes on Thursday.
Gojuangco then got up and down for par on 18 while Ahern failed to do likewise.
“It was a roller-coaster,” Gojuangco said. “I thought with me being five up with six to play it shouldn’t be too hard to close the deal.”
But it unexpectedly turned into a nail-biter.
“I felt good about the way I played,” said Ahern, a left-hander. “And it was fun to do it in a tournament this big. It was fun to be in that situation. Hopefully I can close it out next time.”
Meanwhile, in the girls 16-18 competition, Phillips ran away from the field, shooting 72-74-72–218 and winning by nine strokes over Emma Smyser of Naples, Fla. The highest-placing Coloradan was Kathleen Kershisnik, who finished seventh at 237.
The win was Phillips’ fifth since 2007 in PGA Junior Series tournaments. On Thursday, she qualified for the Junior PGA Championship for the fourth straight year.
“I really like these (PGA Junior Series) tournaments,” said Phillips, who has verbally committed to play college golf at the University of Iowa beginning in 2011.
In the boys 13-15 division, Moore (74-77-75–226) won by four strokes over Clayton Crawford of Aspen. In the girls 13-15 group, Kempton (79-80-77–236) prevailed by three shots over Caitlin Farris of Oklahoma City.
