COBB — Defending champion Austin Pritchard won the 27th annual Lake County Junior Golf Championship on Wednesday at Adams Springs Golf Course on Cobb Mountain by carding an 18-hole score of 83.
The No. 1 player on the Middletown High School golf team, Pritchard made it back-to-back wins at the Lake County Junior by opening up a big lead on the front nine as he shot a 42 to jump out to a 10-stroke advantage. He completed the back nine in 41 and ended up winning by 12 strokes.
Although Pritchard struggled early in his round and was 8-over-par after his first five holes, he began to turn it around on the sixth hole. He was able to steady himself while running off four pars in a row to get safely ahead of the other four golfers in the boys age 16-17 flight. Wednesday also happened to be Austin’s 17th birthday, so a second straight win in the tournament proved to be a nice present.
In second place was Cory Holt with 95. Holt, the No. 1 golfer at Kelseyville High School, was coming off an impressive win at the Buckingham Summer Junior on Monday. However, he got off to a slow start Wednesday morning and once Pritchard began his run of par golf, Holt fell too far behind to make any sort of a sustained charge. His score of 43 over the final nine was an improvement on his opening nine, but it was too little, too late.
Because of their individual victories in the Lake County Junior and the Buckingham Junior, both Pritchard and Holt received automatic exemptions into the Lake County Amateur, the county’s oldest-running golf tournament of note. The Amateur is scheduled the weekend of Aug. 29-30 at Adams Springs.
Miles Mattina finished in third place with a score of 101. Mattina plays on the Clear Lake High School golf team. His Clear Lake High teammate, Nathon Lopez, came in fourth with a score of 103. Gordo Ambriz, who plays at Kelseyville High, rounded out the top five with 115.
Girls champion
Clear Lake High School golfer Keara Alonso matched her victory in the Buckingham Summer Junior two days earlier by capturing the overall girls championship in the Lake County Junior. Alonso has an excellent golf swing and played solidly to card a 55 for nine holes. Her Clear Lake High teammate, Emma Mertle, shot 66 during the course of nine holes to win the girls 14-15 bracket. Madison Mullins of San Francisco took home the trophy in the girls 12-13 division by turning in a nine-hole score of 69.
Boys flight winners
In the boys 14-15 division, Mountain Vista Middle School eighth-grader Charles Johnson won with an 18-hole score of 111. Johnson, who first played in the Lake County Junior as at age 6, competed in his ninth consecutive Lake County Junior.
In the 12-13 bracket, Mickey Mullins of San Francisco was the victor with an 18-hole score of 128. Mickey is the cousin of Madison Mullins, the girls 12-13 champ, and is the son of Sean Mullins, a former club champion at Adams Springs.
In the 10-11 bracket, Walker Ryan of Riviera Elementary shot his way to a most impressive nine-hole score of 48 to win his division. Walker made a birdie-two on Adams Springs’ par-3 second hole by hitting the green with his tee shot and sinking a 20-foot putt. Billy Witt of Riviera finished in second place with a nine-hole score of 58.
Tourney sponsors
The 27th annual Lake County Junior was sponsored by the Clearlake Callayomi Masonic Lodge, Black Rock Golf Club, Adams Springs Golf Club, the Adams Springs Women’s Golf Club, and the Buckingham Tournament Players Club. Eddie and Linda Mullins, the owners of Adams Springs Golf Course, also bought a sponsorship to the Lake County Junior as did John and Julie Berry. The Junior had its usual contingent of adult volunteers who served as marshals, rules officials and luncheon staff. They included Jack Lucich, John Flynn, Jerry Pendleton, Emily Schaefer, Armond Urbano, Bob Norris, Dennis Layton, Al Mankins and Liz Berry.
