BUCKINGHAM >> Matt Wotherspoon made it two tournament victories in two days as he ran away with the 22nd annual Lake County Junior Amateur Golf Tournament at Adams Springs Golf Course on Tuesday morning.
Wotherspoon also won the Buckingham Summer Junior on Monday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. On Tuesday, he shot a 7-over-par 75 to win the tournament for the third consecutive year, a record in the boys’ division. A 15-year-old who attends Kelseyville High School, he was an All-Coastal Mountain Conference golfer for the Knights this past spring during his freshman year. His third victory in the Lake County Junior equals the total won by former Middletown High School and Kansas University golfer Doug Quinones, who captured the title in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Wotherspoon opened play on the front nine with a 3-over-par 37 that included a birdie on the eighth hole. He carded a 38 during the course of the final nine while recording birdies on the 12th and 17th holes. His aggregate total of 75 was good enough for an 18-stroke victory over his closest pursuer. He has been active throughout the summer, including a strong fourth-place finish in the Marysville Junior at Peach Tree and a top-15 finish at the prestigious Sacramento Junior at the 36-hole Haggin Oaks complex. Wotherspoon is scheduled to compete in several more tournaments this summer, including the Oakland Junior at Lake Chabot and the San Leandro Junior at Tony Lema.
In second place overall in the boys’ division was 12-year-old Hunter Blair of Cobb Mountain. Blair, the top junior golfer at Adams Springs, shot a 48 on the outward nine and returned a 45 on the inward nine for an 18-hole total of 93. His score was good enough to finish in first place in the boys’ 12-13 division.
Dylan McGuire of Lakeport, a member of the golf team at Clear Lake High School, captured the 16-17 division with a score of 120. His high school teammate, Mike Camacho, won the 14-15 flight with a score of 118. Jacob Lopez of Lakeport finished four shots behind Camacho in second place with a 122.
In the 10-11 boys’ flight, 9-year-old Charles Johnson of Kelseyville shot a nine-hole score of 48 to top the field. Six-year-old Billy Witt of Clear Lake Riviera came in second place with 70.
Girls
Madison Witt of Clear Lake Riviera carded a nine-hole score of 58 to claim the overall girls’ championship, her first in the tournament. Sarah Parlee of Lakeport, the winner on Monday at the Buckingham Junior where Witt came in second, finished two shots back at 60 but did win the 12-13 division.
Sponsors
The Lake County Junior Amateur Championship was sponsored by a group of junior golf advocates, including the Clearlake Callayomi Masonic Lodge, Adams Springs Golf Course owners Eddie and Linda Mullins, Jack and Sharon Lucich of Clearlake, The Hoberg Family, the Buckingham Men’s Golf Club, Ed Slevin, Jonathan and Casey Carlson, and John and Julie Berry. Tournament rules officials and organizers were Jack Lucich from the NCGA and PGA Tour Q School, John Flynn, Mike Blakey, Armond Urbano, Bob Norris, Tom Salie, Dennis Layton, Al Mankins and Julie Berry.
