Tag: Dustin Johnson World Junior

Dustin Johnson World Junior: Nicholas Dunlap overcomes late double; Jacqueline Putrino drains winning birdie putt

Nicholas Dunlap and Jacqueline Putrino both overcame final-round deficits to win the Dustin Johnson World Junior title.

Nicholas Dunlap made an ill-timed double-bogey with three holes to go at the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, but the 17-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama, was able to overcome the big number on TPC Myrtle Beach’s par-4 16th and still finish two shots clear of a worthy list of chasers.

Dunlap, ranked No. 14 in Golfweek’s Junior Rankings, was 3 under for 54 holes at the sixth playing of the Dustin Johnson World Junior. All three players who finished tied for second are also ranked inside Golfweek’s top 15: No. 7 Brendan Valdes, No. 11 Maxwell Ford and No. 13 Luke Clanton.

At the start of the final round, Dunlap was a shot off the lead. He opened with two birdies but gave them back with bogeys at Nos. 5, 7 and 8.

Dustin Johnson World Junior: Boys results | Girls results

Clanton briefly took the lead after a birdie on No. 10 pushed him to 7 under but double bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17 derailed his hopes of winning the event. Dunlap had built enough of a cushion with birdies at Nos. 11 and 14 to survive his big number at No. 16.

Last year, Dunlap scored top-10 finishes at the Maridoe Junior Invitational, the Alabama State Junior, the Justin Thomas Junior, the Southern Junior and the Junior Players Championship. He was runner-up at the inaugural Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship.

In the girls division, Jacqueline Putrino of Sarasota, Florida, closed out a one-shot win over Hyo Joon Jang.

Putrino, ranked No. 55 by Golfweek, entered the final round trailing Andie Smith by three shots, but Smith doubled the opening hole and never found her rhythm on a difficult scoring day.

Putrino was 4 over in her final round and tied for first with Jang when she made a clutch 18-foot birdie putt on TPC Myrtle Beach’s par-5 18th hole to win the event. Behind Jang at 7 over, Savannah Hylton and Catherine Park tied for third at 8 over.

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Tyler Wilkes, Taylor Roberts take home Dustin Johnson World Junior titles

Floridians Tyler Wilkes and Taylor Roberts came north to TPC Myrtle Beach to win this year’s event and faced a tough battle to get it done.

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Junior-golf opportunities are scarce in the middle of the winter, but the Dustin Johnson World Junior has annually become an early-spring gathering place for some of the best young players in the country. Floridians Tyler Wilkes and Taylor Roberts came north to TPC Myrtle Beach to win this year’s event and faced a tough battle to get it done.

Wilkes, a Florida signee from Tampa, Florida, took a one-shot lead into the final round but by the time he stepped onto the 14th tee, trailed Caleb Surratt by two shots.

Wilkes, No. 16 in Golfweek’s Junior rankings, made birdie on the 502-yard par-5 while just ahead of him, Surratt made double bogey on the par-4 15th. Wilkes regained the lead and he never relinquished it.

Dustin Johnson World Junior: Boys | Girls

He parred the final four holes to close out the narrow win, his first since a 2019 AJGA event near his home. He won the Florida Junior Amateur in 2018.

“I love this event and to finally get the victory is something else,” said Wilkes, who finished third here a year ago. “It was a little nerve-wracking coming down the stretch.”

Narayan Mohan and Maxwell Ford finished tied for third at 3 over. Ford, at No. 6 in Golfweek’s rankings, was the highest-ranked player in the field.

Cohen Trolio, a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur and sixth at last month’s Jones Cup, finished sixth again in Myrtle Beach.

In the girls’ division, Roberts, a Florida State signee, started the final round two shots behind Katherine Schuster and bogeyed three of the first five holes, but she gained ground as Schuster made double on Nos. 2 and 3. Spurred on by a birdie at the par-3 seventh hole, Roberts, of Parkland, Florida, settled down and played well the rest of the way, closing with a 1-over 73.

She finished the tournament at 4 over, good for a three-shot cushion over runner-up Yoko Tai.

“I knew if I just slowed down and kept the same rhythm I’ve had all week and not get ahead of myself, there would be birdie chances,” Roberts said of overcoming the slow start. “I’ve been hitting the ball well all week … To make birdie on seven was huge.”

Schuster, who logged big wins over the holidays at the Dixie Women’s Amateur and Joanne Winter Silver Belle, tied for third with Nicole Adam, a North Carolina signee.

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