Great Oaks Country Club in Floyd hosted the Blue Ridge Junior Golf Tour on Monday, July 10, in the 25th season of the popular junior tour.
Under beautiful sunny skies and perfect course conditions, 68 young players tested their skills on the challenging course.
“Great Oaks is junior golf friend”ly and a fantastic place for the young ones to learn,” said Tour Coordinator Dewayne Belcher. We greatly appreciate their hospitality and their generosity.”
Floyd County’s own McKenzie Weddle won the 17- to 18-year-old age group in a play-off against Walker Gillespie of Pearisburg.
Weddle, who has signed to play with Radford University, made six birdies en route to a 73, one over the par 72 on the 6,437-yard course.
Weddle made par on the first play-off hole to snag the victory.
Gillespie’s scorecard showed four birdies including three on par fives. Blake Hogan of Forest finished third with a score of 75 followed by Ryne Bond of Floyd at 77.
Another Floyd County golfer took first in the 15- to 16-year-old age group.
Willis’ Peyton Mason shot a one over par on the par 72, 6,173-yard course.
Mason made 13 pars along with two birdies to post the score of one over par.
Rocky Frye of Bramwell, West Virginia, shot 75 and finished second.
Floyd was well-represented, with Isaiah Cantrell shooting a 76 and finishing third.
A tight finish wrapped up the par 72, 4,998-yard course for the 13- to 14-year-old age group, with just two strokes separating the top four players.
Mike Bateman of Salem walked away with the victory, carding an 80 after making two birdies to edge Mikey Gonzalez of Radford and Evan Singleton of Pulaski by one shot.
Tyler Stover of Beckley, West Virginia, finished fourth with a score of 82.
If the 13- to 14-year-old group was tight, you haven’t seen nothing yet. The 10- to 12-year-old top five was separated by four strokes on the par 36, 2,326-yard course.
Marco Beato of Blacksburg made a birdie on the par three eighth hole to gain a one-shot victory over Gavn Horn, also of Blacksburg. JJ Robertson of Blacksburg and Liam Smith of Elliston, VA tied for third with scores of 41. Adrian Wallace of Floyd was fifth with a score of 43.
Wytheville again represented well in the 9 and under age group, where Coulton Caudill of Wythevillle led on the par 36, 1,752-yard course. Caudill shot a 43, followed by Michael Brown of Blacksburg and Silas Edmonds of Wytheville sharing second with scores of 47.
Tillman Evans of Radford posted a score of 49 and finished fourth.
The Tour wraps up next week with the two-day Tour Championship at Pipestem Resort State Park on Tuesday-Wednesday July 18-19.
