COBB — Austin Pritchard of Hidden Valley Lake won his third consecutive Lake County Junior Golf Championship title Wednesday at Adams Springs Golf Course on Cobb Mountain.
Pritchard opened play with a 4-over-par 38 on the front nine. As well as he was playing, Pritchard found himself tied atop the leader board with Nathon Lopez, who matched him with a front-nine 38.
During the course of the back nine, Pritchard was able to take the lead and build upon it. He fired a 40 on the back nine for a tournament-total 78. Lopez, who won the boys overall title Monday at the Buckingham Junior, had a few hiccups on the back nine and posted a 47 for an 18-hole round of 85.
Pritchard, who turns 18 on Friday, was the No. 1 golfer for Middletown High School this past spring and the senior led the Mustangs to the Coastal Mountain Conference championship. While receiving All-CMC honors for a second year in a row, he also was named the conference’s most valuable player. He was one of five candidates for the Lake County Record-Bee’s annual Athlete of the Year award.
Three-peat
Pritchard’s third straight Lake County Junior overall boys championship puts him in rarified air. In the 28-year history of the Junior, Pritchard now joins Doug Quinones of Middletown High School and Matt Wotherspoon of Kelseyville High School with three or more wins.
Quinones is currently a mini-tour professional while Wotherspoon is playing collegiate golf for Cal State University San Bernadino.
Flight winners
Lopez played well throughout most of his round. An incoming senior at Clear Lake High School, he captured the 16-17 flight with his round of 85. Lopez was the No. 1 golfer on a greatly improved
CLHS team this past spring. Nathon’s classmate and teammate at Clear Lake, Miles Mattina, finished in third place overall with a score of 104. Mattina was the No. 2 golfer for Clear Lake this past season.
Charles Johnson of Kelseyville High School won the 14-15 boys flight with a score of 116. Mickey Mullins of Riordan High School in San Francisco finished second with 119.
Among the 12-13 boys, left-handed golfer J.T. Allred of Middletown finished in first place with a score of 106 while Caleb Lopez of Lakeport finished at 138.
In the 10-11 boys flight, Chase Allred of Middletown showed great talent in carding a nine-hole score of 47. Caden Mullins of San Francisco came in second with 62.
Girls
The girls division had to go beyond 18 holes as a pair of Clear Lake High School golf teammates ended up tied at the end of regulation play. Defending Lake County Junior girls overall champion Keara Alonso carded a 116 as did Emma Mertle, who went on to win the sudden-death playoff by parring the first extra hole.
Alonso won the 16-17 girls flight while another Clear Lake High School golfer, Sofia Arredondo, captured the 14-15 flight with a score of 119.
Sponsors
The Lake County Junior Golf Championship was sponsored by Eddie and Linda Mullins, the owners of Adams Springs Golf Course. Other sponsors included the Adams Springs Golf Club, the Adams Springs Women’s Golf Club, Deb Wallace of Middletown, Konocti Realty of Lakeport, McQueen Construction of Lakeport, and John and Julie Berry. The Junior also had a cadre of adults who assisted with the tournament’s organization. That group included Jack Lucich of the NCGA, Jerry Pendleton, Mike Bailey, Bob Norris, Armond Urbano, Dennis Layton, Sandy Tavares, Krista Davidson, Julie Berry and Liz Berry.
