Lefty Noah Rausch lines up his ball to hit at Darby Creek on Tuesday. He competed in the first event of the Union County Junior Golf Academy-Tour of the 2019 season.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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The weather was picture-perfect on Tuesday for the start of a local youth golf program.
The Union County Jr. Golf Academy-Tour (UCJGAT) began tournament play at Darby Creek.
“We have about the same numbers that we had a year ago,” said program co-director Eli Morris.
There are 15 youngsters in both the Tour (ages 13-17) and Academy (ages 10-12) divisions.
There are also five in the Premier Division for those ages 7-9.
“I’m very excited about our numbers, which are totally manageable for our program,” said Morris.
The Darby Creek event was the first of four tournaments for the 2019 season.
“We decreased our tournaments from six to four,” said Morris. “That’s basically because of my schedule for our (along with wife McKenzie) one-year-old son Isaac.
“It’s my hope that he plays in this program one day.”
The next tournament will be held on Thursday, beginning at 9 a.m. at Blues Creek.
Another tournament will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 10 a.m. at Darby Creek.
The final event will be held on Thursday, June 20, 9 a.m. at The Ridge Golf Course.
The program held an Academy-Tour clinic at Darby Creek last Saturday.
Another clinic is scheduled for this coming Saturday, also at Darby Creek, with a 2 p.m. start time.
“We had the golfers on the range during our first clinic focusing on such fundamentals as gripping the club and ball alignment,” said Morris. “Our clinic for this coming Saturday is going to focus more on the short game.”
Results from Tuesday’s opening tournament were as follows:
Tour boys-18 holes
Travis Brake-80, Sammy Ratliff-88, Myles Young-125, Noah Rausch-127, Ryan Beckhoff-136, Madden Ungerer-136, Jaycer Blevins-151, Zack Koenig-151.
Tour girls-18 holes
Emily Williams-112, Mallory Seman-120, Caitlin Johnson-124, Kelly White-134.
Academy-nine holes
Berkley Behrens-53, Dalton Smith-53, Mason Rausch-54, Sawyer Smith-54, Jackson Burns-57, Finn Edie-61, Kaleb Cox-61, Nate Russell-64, Jorja Ary-65, Kadyn Crosthwaite-68, Sarah Beckhoff-68, Carson Bowen-72.
Those who participated in the Premier Division (no scores kept) were Caroline Cox, Noah Burns, Lily Peck and Adelyn Wisecup.