After a 36-hole marathon on Wednesday, two champions were crowned after a highly entertaining final round on Thursday.
Overnight leader Carson Erick held a two-shot lead heading into Thursday’s final round action. The Hingham, Massachusetts, native plodded his way around Ledgemont Country Club carefully.
Many among the top portion of the leaderboard fell to the wayside throughout the day, with one exception. Chad Correia began the day at 9 over, seven shots back of Erick and seemingly out of contention in a tie for 11th.
Just like Erick, Correia made the most of his moves to finish the day with a tournament-best 2-under 69. As the day progressed, Correia’s name climbed the leaderboard all the way to a solo second-place finish.
Sealing the championship with a birdie on 18, Erick lapped the field with a 54-hole total of 216, four shots clear of Correia. With the win, Erick has secured himself a spot in the year-end Golfweek International Junior Invitational in November.
Rounding out the podium was Sascha Robinson at eight over.
In the girls division, a match play type feel helped push the winner over the edge,
Grace Huang held a one-shot lead over Alexandria Pool after Wednesday’s first two rounds. With Pool being the lone challenger within a reasonable distance to Huang, the final pairing felt more like a match-play championship.
Dueling early, Pool carded a front nine 1-over 37 to Huang’s up and down 38. Tied with just nine holes to play, Pool felt the pressure.
With bogeys on six of the first seven holes on the back nine, Pool was unable to stop the bleeding. With the door open, Huang slammed it shut with a birdie on 17 to give herself a three-shot lead heading to 18.
Matching each other’s pars, Huang locked up her spot in the Golfweek International Junior Invitational,
Piper Jordan joined Huang and Pool on the podium with a solo third-place finish at +18.
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