August 6, 2021 •Southern Texas PGA
Eleven champions were named at the 2021 Classic Chevy Sugar Land and Classic Chevy Hwy 6 Junior Championship at The Woodlands Country Club (Palmer Course). Presented by Ahead, BIOLYTE, First Financial Bank, Sam Houston State University’s PGA Golf Management Program, and Titleist and Footjoy, this year’s field was one of the largest this annual event has seen bringing in more than 270 junior golfers ages 6-18 from across Southern Texas.
This year’s Championship took place on Wednesday, August 4th – Thursday, August 5th. Over these two days, players in the Little Linksters program played a total of 18-holes on the Deacon Course and Junior Tour players competed over 36-holes on the King and General Courses.
In the Little Linksters Co-Ed 6-8 Division, Mason Hwang of Houston claimed the championship title after shooting up the leaderboard four places following round one finishing with an 18-hole score of 80 (+8).
Sara Garcia of College Station claimed the Little Linksters Girls 9-10 Division title after shooting an impressive round two score of 34 (-2) to surpass the round one leader, Jessie Lee of San Antonio who shot an 18-hole score of 77 (+5). “The first round I didn’t play as well, but then in the second round I got a lot of pars and birdies and just one bogey, so that was good,” said Sara.
After tying the first round with an impressive score of 33 (-3), JP Lynch of Austin claimed his second Little Linksters 9-10 Division title over last year’s Little Linksters Co-Ed 6-8 Division champion, Carter Hoskins of Corpus Christi by just one stroke. “I love coming out here and shooting under par. To win this back-to-back is just an awesome feeling,” said JP.
In the Little Linksters Girls 11-12 Division, Carly Marshall of Temple and Michelle Lee of San Antonio tied with an 18-hole total score of 73 (+1) which lead to them to going head-to-head in a sudden-death playoff. “The playoff was pretty stressful, but I think I played well,” said Carly who won the playoff claiming the title.
Joshua Szynski of New Braunfels finished yesterday’s round one stroke behind Jackson Sledzik of Needville. But following a 9-hole total of 38 (+2) in his second round, Joshua claimed the Little Linksters Boys 11-12 Division title by one stroke. “The best part about this place is competing for everything and all that matters is you play out here and have fun,” said Joshua.
Destiny McNeil of San Antonio claimed the Junior Tour Girls 11-12 Division title after scoring a 36-hole total of 158 (+14), leading the field by nine strokes. “My favorite part about playing in today’s tournament, was that it was a very good challenge,” said Destiny.
Aadi Parmar of Selma and Ryan Lee of College Station tied the tournament with a 36-hole total score of 142 (-2), leading them into a sudden-death playoff. With a birdie on the first playoff hole, Aadi claimed the Junior Tour Boys 11-12 Division title. “I really enjoyed playing at the Woodland Country Club,” said Aadi. “Shout out to them for having this tournament.”
In the Junior Tour Girls 13-14 Division, Kendace Lee of Bellaire shot a 36-hole total of 149 (+5), carding five birdies to lead the field by two strokes. “My favorite part about playing in this Championship is I get to play with other people, learn new skills, and make some new friends,” said Kendace.
Abhay Duggal of The Woodlands claimed the Junior Tour Boys 13-14 Division title after shooting a 36-hole tournament total of 144 - even par. Abhay led the field by one stroke after day one, carding 2-under, securing his win for round two.
In the Junior Tour Girls 15-18 Division, Keena Lee of Bellaire claimed the champion title after finishing three strokes ahead of the field at 148 (+4). “I want to thank Coach EJ, Mr. Doug, and my parents for helping me achieve this goal,” said Keena.
Aiden Wright of Shenandoah fought his way up to the top of the leaderboard in the Junior Tour Boys 15-18 Division with a second-round score of 67 (-5), but came up one stroke short of Edward Li of Houston who took a commanding lead in Round 1 with an impressive score of 66 (-6). Li’s first round score was enough to hold the field at bay as he finished at 139 (-5).
In addition to the 2021 Junior Championship titles, the 4 remaining spots on the Texas Junior Cup Matches STPGA team were up for grabs at this year’s event. The first-place finishers of the Little Linksters Girls and Boys 11-12 Divisions and the first-place finishers in the Junior Tour Girls and Boys 11-12 Division earned their spots on the 2021 STPGA team.
The Southern Texas PGA Junior Golf Program would like to thank PGA General Manager Paul Earnest, PGA Head Professional Matt Nyren, and the entire staff at The Woodlands Country Club (Palmer Course) for hosting such a great event.
To view the full results of the 2021 STPGA Junior Championship, please click the links below.
To view photos from this year’s event, please click
here.
