COBB — Blaine Ruggio of Hidden Valley Lake made it two in a row as he won the 17th annual Lake County Junior Golf Championship on Wednesday at Adams Springs Golf Course on Cobb Mountain.
Ruggio, a member of Middletown High School”s golf team and the reigning Coastal Mountain Conference champion, also won the Buckingham Junior on Tuesday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. His 6-over-par round of 74 on Wednesday included one birdie, 11 pars, five bogeys and one double-bogey.
Ruggio opened up his front nine with a 2-over-par 36 and jumped out to a five-stroke lead over Corey Huber of Clear Lake Riviera. Although Ruggio had a slight hiccup on the back nine with a double-bogey on the par-4 12th hole, he was able to build upon his lead by carding a second-nine 38. He went on to win by an eight-stroke margin and capture his second local junior tournament in a two-day span against a field of 25 golfers.
Ruggio”s Middletown High School teammate, Daniel Eagle, shot a 42 on his front nine and then carded a back-nine score of 40 for an 18-hole total of 82 and a second-place finish overall. Eagle”s 82 was good enough to merit a first-place finish in the boys” 14-15 age division.
Huber, an All-Coastal Mountain Conference golfer from Kelseyville High School, tied for second place in the 14-15 division with a score of 85, matching the same score of Lakeport”s Stone Phillips.
Daniel Renninger of Middletown High School won the 16-17 division with a 92.
In the flight for boys 12-13, Brandon Huber of Clear Lake Riviera shot a 102 to win by one stroke. Bryan Holt of Lakeport chipped in for par on his final hole of the day to make it close, but came up just short at 103.
Matt Wotherspoon of Buckingham won the 10-11 division with a 13-over-par 47 for nine holes. Mike Camacho of Lakeport came in second with a 64.
Liz Berry, an incoming senior at Kelseyville High School, shot a 97 over 18 holes to win the overall girls” championship. It was Berry”s first Lake County Junior title following six runner-up finishes to past champion Lisa Copeland of Hidden Valley Lake.
Sophie Sells of Kelseyville won the 12-13 flight with an 18-hole round of 127. Morgan Joliffe of Kelseyville finished first in the nine-hole girls” flight with a 69.
The Lake County Junior is sponsored by the Clearlake Callayomi Masonic Lodge, the Buckingham Tournament Players Golf Club, and a group of Cobb Mountain junior golf advocates, including Eddie and Linda Mullins, Jack and Sharon Lucich, the Hoberg family and John and Julie Berry.
The next junior-oriented event on the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit is the Lake County Parent-Child Championship, which takes place Sept. 18 at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. Entries are available at the Buckingham pro shop.
