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Tatum Tran of Sulphur Springs (center) won the East Texas Junior Golf Tour Championship in the 11 and under division, shooting 81 for the event. The event was held Thursday and Friday at Mount Pleasant Country Club. Pictured with Tran are (from left) Kylee Strickland of Mount Pleasant, who finished second, and L.J. Vance of Pittsburg, who finished third. -
Sulphur Springs’ Grant Mohesky (center) won the East Texas Junior Golf Tour Championship’s high school boys division, shooting 163 (82 and 81) for the event. Pictured with Mohesky are (from left) Jackson Stone of Mount Pleasant, who finished second, and Matthew Peterson of Mount Pleasant, who finished third. Courtesy/Matt Garrett -
Marian Tran of Sulphur Springs (right) finished second in the high school girls standings at the East Texas Junior Golf Tour Championships with a 152. The division was decided by one shot. Tran is pictured with Katie Hart of Mount Pleasant, who finished third, and Mason Garrett of Mount Pleasant, who won the event. -
Issac Stanley of Sulphur Springs advanced to the East Texas Junior Golf Tour Championship, finishing fifth overall in the 11 and under division. The event featured the top golfers in the ETJGT in the 11 and under, junior high boys, high school girls and high school boys divisions.
4 county golfers finish in top-5 in respective divisions; M. Tran 2nd, Stanley 5th
Golf
A scant few days before some of the top golfers in the world vied for the British Open championship, the top youth golfers in East Texas hit the links in search of hardware of their own.
The East Texas Junior Golf Tour concluded its 2019 season with the ETJGT Tour Championship, July 18-19 at Mount Pleasant Country Club.
The 36-hole event is by invite only and the top golfers in each division advanced to the final tournament. The tour championship also allows golfers to use caddies.
“To earn an invite and get a chance to use caddies is a real treat and is a lot of fun for the junior golfers,” said ETJGT founder Matt Garrett.
Hopkins County boasts four of the top golfers on tour as the county’s representatives all finished in the top five in their respective classifications.
In the high school boys division, Grant Mohesky went into day two of the tournament three shots off the lead, but finished with an 81 to come back and edge Jackson Stone of Mount Pleasant for the event title.
Mohesky shot 82 on day one for a two-day score of
163. Matthew Peterson of Mount Pleasant finished third.
“Winning today with the heat and all the great competition was awesome,” Mohesky said.
In the 11 and under division, Sulphur Springs’ Tatum Tran held off a hard-charging Kylee Strickland of Mount Pleasant to take home the event title.
Tran shot 39 on day one while Strickland shot 39 on day two. In the end, Tran’s 42 on day two was enough to hold off Strickland, who shot 44 on day one.
L.J. Vance of Pittsburg finished third after shooting a 41 on day two to climb out of fifth place.
“I really enjoy playing in the ETJGT,” Tran said. “It gives me a chance to play golf and meet new friends.”
Issac Stanley of Sulphur Springs also advanced to the ETJGT Championship, finishing fifth with a two-day score of 108, bouncing back from a rough first day to shoot 48 on day two.
The high school girls division came down to the wire in a two-day battle between Marian Tran of Sulphur Springs and Mason Garrett of Mount Pleasant.
Marian Tran took a five-shot lead into day two, but Garrett, the Class 3A girls state golf champion for Chapel Hill High School, battled back to tie things up after 15 holes on day two.
The match would come down to the final hole, but Tran’s final putt on the 18th fell tantalizingly short, putting her in second place for the event.
In the end, Tran shot 75 and 77 for a two-day total of 152. Garrett won the event with a total of 151 and Katie Hart of Mount Pleasant finished third.
In the junior high boys division, Jacob Baker of Mount Pleasant led wire-to-wire to claim the title by 15 shots. Hogan Spear-man of Pittsburg finished second and Logan Cox of Longview came in third.
Second through fourth place in the junior high boys division was the tightest race of the day, with five strokes separating the three positions.
“It was a great two days of golf,” Matt Garrett said. “There is nothing better than seeing young men and women playing competitive golf. It is our job as adults to grow this game for the next generation of players. There will be some good ones coming from our area of Texas; that is for sure.
“I would like to extend a special thanks to Roy Stinson for getting the Mount Pleasant Country Club set up for the tour championship and the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce who again furnished all the water for the golfers and caddies,” Garrett added.
“Also, I would like to thank all our tour sponsors which provide the awards and gifts that we give to the golfers. It’s businesses that are willing to invest in our future golfers that are the real winners.”