Buckeye Junior Golf Tour’s First Ever Event in Virginia
Washington DC Junior Championship
Ashburn, VA – April 8th, 2019— Buckeye Junior Golf Tour held its first ever event in Virginia this past weekend. Playing from deep yardage did not stop the Boy’s Division from great scores and a close finish. Brambleton Golf Course is subtly tricky. With little to no elevation changes, with the exception of the greens, the course features several large water hazards and tree lined fairways. Accuracy off the tee and reading the ever-changing green speeds are the keys to success at Brambleton.
Round 1 – Saturday April 6th—Spring has finally arrived, at least in Virginia anyway. Saturday was a perfect day for golf. With temperatures hovering in the high 60’s and almost no wind to battle, the sun was shining on our players as they took to the course. The Boys Division started off a little slow, finding the most trouble on the tree-lined 1st hole. Garnet Manley III from Lynchburg, Virginia was the only player in the field to find par on this hole in Round 1. With a couple of long ball players, the Boys turned it up on the 515-Yard, 4th-handicap, par-5 13th Hole. This hole plays straight as an arrow but watch your tee shots, anything left or right will surely end in a wasted shot to get back on the fairway. The Boys played this hole to par on the day and it produced nothing higher than a Bogey. Brad Freyberger, a local from Ashburn, Virginia would come in as our Round 1 leader for the Boys posting an amazing 75! Just like the Boys, the Girls had some First-Round jitters off Hole 1, with it playing the hardest for them on the day. The Girls continued to follow suit finding Hole 13 to be playing the easiest on the day as well. Mailiis Simovart all the way from West Liberty, Ohio would come in as our Round 1 leader in the Girl’s Division.
Round 2 – Sunday April 7th— Another beautiful day for golf! Those that have been with our tour for a while know just how crazy it is to have two great days of weather, so we were very thankful and took it all in. Slightly warmer than Saturday but with a slight breeze, Sunday made for an extremely close race and came down to the wire in our Boy’s Division. Changing it up the Boys found one of the harder holes on the course to be playing true to its low handicap on the day. The 397-Yard, Par-4, 3rd handicap 6th hole played a stroke and half higher relative to par on Sunday. The Boys were able to get some strokes back on the Front 9 by playing the middle-level handicap 9th hole the best on the day. Producing 3 birdies this 525-yard Par-5 was playing slightly below par on the day for the Boys! In one of the closest finishes in BJGT history Sam Carollo, another local from Ashburn, Virginia was our eventual Division Champion. Sam played an amazing Round 2 to come into the clubhouse with an early lead. Sam’s victory came by playing the tough par 3’s out at Brambleton the best on the weekend. Sam also played the much harder Front 9 better than the entire rest of the field. Sam is a Sophomore at Broad Run High School. Congratulations Sam! We had a tie for our Division Runner-Ups with Round 1 Leader Brad Freyberger and Jordan Frost from Bethesda, Maryland coming in 2 strokes behind Sam. Brad can absolutely crush the ball off the tee and played the Par-5’s the best in the tournament and had the most birdies in the tournament. Jordan plays a more consistent game and had the most Pars in the tournament. Congratulations Brad and Jordan! It is also worth mentioning that Aung Tha from Centreville, VA made an incredible 40 plus foot putt on Hole-5 to save birdie! Great job Aung!
The Girls once again followed suit and found Hole 6 to be playing the hardest on the day. Mailiis Simovart, our Round 1 leader, was able to sink a deep 30-foot putt for par on the hole. The Girls found the second easiest hole on the course to be playing the easiest on the day. The 125-Yard, Par-3 8th Hole played to a par average on Sunday. Mailiis Simovart was able to hold on to her Round 1 lead and come in as our Girls Champion. Mailiis did this by having the Most Pars and playing the Par-3’s, Par-4’s and Par-5’s the best on the weekend. Mailiis is a Junior at Benjamin Logan High School in Bellefontaine, Ohio and is hoping to continue her golf career into college. Congratulations Mailiis! Erica Honadel from Bel Air, Maryland would come in our Girls Division Runner-Up. Erica’s Runner-Up Finish came by playing the Back 9 slightly behind Mailiis and her distance off the tee lead her to playing the Par-5’s slightly above Par. Congratulations Erica!
Buckeye Junior Golf Tour wants to thank all the players, spectators and staff out at Brambleton Golf Course for making this a weekend a fantastic tournament. We appreciate the Virginia hospitality for our first ever event in the state and look forward to holding many more not only this year, but for years to come. Other tournaments in the Fairfax/Washington DC/Baltimore area are listed below!
April 27th-28th: Twin Lakes Golf Course: Clifton, Virginia
May 4th-5th: Laurel Hill Golf Club: Lorton, Virginia
June 22nd-23rd: The Timbers @ Troy: Elkridge, Maryland
For More Information
BJGT Staff
937-802-0816
For our entire 2019 Scheduleclick the link or visit www.buckeyejuniorgolftour.com
*For this event and all future events, we have created a [email protected] account for you to send in photos from the event that you would like to see posted on our website homepage after events. We can only take so many, so please send more our way!*
For More Information
BJGT Staff
937-802-0816
For our entire 2019 Schedule visit www.buckeyejuniorgolftour.comor click here
Player Of the Week
Sam Carollo, 2021, Ashburn, Virginia
This week’s Player of the Week is Sam Carollo. Sam is Sophomore at Broad Run High School in Ashburn. Virginia. Sam had several highlights this week including finishing Holes 16-18 at -1 for the tournament, having a Round 2 (75) and finishing the Front 9 1 over par in Round 2. Great job Sam and Congratulations on a strong finish!