Links: Match Play Bracket
Ninety-two of Connecticut’s best junior golfers teed it up on Monday at Watertown Golf Club in the 2014 CSGA Junior Amateur Championship presented by Cobra Puma, each seeking to be among the low 32 for a spot in match play beginning Tuesday.
The Connecticut Junior Amateur Championship presented by Cobra Puma Golf is open to all Connecticut junior golfers who have not reached their eighteenth birthday by the start of the event. The challenging format tests the state's best junior golfers over a single round of stroke play to determine the low thirty-two match play qualifiers. Two rounds of match play each day culminate in an eighteen-hole final to crown the top junior player in Connecticut.
2013 runner-up, Evan Grenus of TPC River Highlands, led the way with a blistering round of 32-35 67. The only player in the field to break par on a blustery day, Grenus captured medalist honors by four strokes over Nick Harrington (GC at Windham), Andrew Sciarretta (Brooklawn CC), Zach Iannone (Race Brook CC), and Sam Knowlton (Eclub of Fairfield County), all of whom returned scores of even par 71.
Grenus, who also claimed medalist honors in 2013 was flawless until the 17th when he made a sloppy double bogey, the only blemish on a scorecard that included six birdies over the 6,638 yard par 71 Watertown Golf Club layout.
“My ball striking has been solid all year and I putted decent today,” said Grenus, a Wofford College bound graduate of Glastonbury High School. “I’m very comfortable around this course, I know the lines I want to take, so I just wanted to play aggressively and shoot a low round.”
2014 champion Connor O’Brien (Oak Hills Park GC), and 2014 semifinalist Nathaniel Dong, (Tallwood CC) both qualified for match play, as O’Brien tied for 19th with a four-over par 75, and Dong shot 76, good for a tie for 24th.
The playoff cut line came at 77, with seven players battling it out for the final three places. Rasmey Kong (The Course at Yale) grabbed the first spot in dramatic fashion by chipping in for eagle on the 478-yard par five first hole. Ben James (Great River GC) and Louis Gosart (Tashua Knolls GC) claimed the final two places by outlasting the remaining contenders with pars at the par-4 third.
The round of 32 and round of 16 will be played on Tuesday, followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals on Wednesday. An 18 hole final on Thursday morning will decide the championship.
