Memorial Day Weekend @ Oakmont Green
Baltimore Junior Golf Classic
Baltimore, MD, May 31st, 2022 —Happy Memorial Day to all of our Active Service Men and Women and our Veterans. This is an important day to thank those who have served our country and given the ultimate sacrifice. It was another great weekend of golf on the Tour at Oakmont Green Golf Course. We always get a big crowd out to this tournament and this year was no exception. Our Boys 15-19 Division was extremely competitive per usual out at this course. Oakmont is known to have one of the toughest Back-9’s on our Schedule and getting through the gauntlet of the last couple of holes can give any player a ton of confidence moving into their Summer golf season. Lets dig in and see who topped the leaderboard in this week’s press release.
Round 1 – Saturday, May 28th — I don’t know if we could have asked for a more beautiful weekend in the Baltimore area. The temperatures hovered in the low to Mid-70’s most of the day with a some decently strong winds blowing North.
Hole-13 was the toughest hole for the Boys 15-19 in Round 1. This is a really odd hole and plays as the 4th-handicap out at Oakmont Green. An absolute extreme dogleg (literally the biggest dogleg of any hole on tour) this hole is almost shaped exactly like an L. The main goal is to hit your drive somewhere in the 220-250 Yard range. That is the only way to give yourself a shot at the green on your 2nd. If you go any further or any shorter you might have to waste a shot getting into that range or going far enough that your ball lands in hazard. Another 150-yard shot into the green is needed after your tee shot. Watch out on the right side of the green for the large bunker guarding the hole. Only about 22% of the field was able to Par this hole and 0 Birdies were earned on it. The Back-9 tricks you because it starts off with one of the easiest holes on the course and the hole that the Boys 15-19 played the best in Round 1. Sitting at only 483-Yards this Par-5 is manageable with a good drive off the tee. Hitting your drive out left will allow you a shot into the green and maybe a look at Eagle if you can get your iron shot to go about 220-yards. Simply play this entire hole from the left side should allow you a good score. About 9% of the field was able to Birdie this hole in Round 1. A familiar face topped the Leaderboard after Round 1 in Dustin Stocksdale from Ellicott City, Maryland shooting a +3 (75). Dustin was followed closely behind my Andrew Bilson from Lititz, Pennsylvania and Ryan Durborow from Sykesville, Maryland who each shot a +4 (76).
Hole-17 was playing the toughest for the Girls in Round 1. An extremely small 20-yard window needs to be completely cleared right in the middle or else you will end up in hazard on the left or right or the huge bunker sitting right in front of the green. Nothing better than a Double Bogey was earned on this hole from the Girls in Round 1. In a strange turn the Girls played one of the toughest holes on the course, Hole-9 the best in Round 1. The hardest part about this hole is the distance sitting at almost 440-Yards for a Par-4 makes it extremely hard. The Girls shrugged off the distance as Nisachon Sillence from Finksburg, Maryland and Sophie Zhao from Potomac, Maryland both earned Pars on the hole. G. Weisser from Reading, Pennsylvania topped the Leaderboard after Round 1. G., was followed closely behind by Nisachon.
Round 2 – Sunday, May 29th – Another beautiful day. With highs reaching into the low 80’s and almost no wind to blow around some golf balls there were some really fantastic scores in Round 2.
The Boys started off Round 2 a little shaky. They played one of the tougher holes on the Course Hole-4 the worst in Round 2. Hole-4 has some distance to it playing 530-Yards. Playing this hole in the fairway the entire time is key. As you approach the green you need to spot on for your approach shot, with 3 bunkers sitting on the front right and left as well as the behind the green. Going into one of these sand traps can prove to be costly and perhaps lose you a much-needed Birdie on a Par-5. A couple players were able to capitalize on this hole and gain some strokes on the competition including our leader Dustin Stocksdale with Daniel Kibe from Silver Spring, Maryland and Cooper Swam from Greencastle, Pennsylvania. The easiest hole for the Boys in Round 2 was the 2nd-Hole. This is one of the easier holes on the course sitting at the 17th-handicap and playing only 154-Yards. The hole featured a plethora of Birdies and Pars from the Division. In the end it was Dustin Stocksdale who could just not be caught in the tournament. Dustin is such an amazing player. Dustin was our 2020 Player of the Year after an amazing run of tournaments that season. Dustin absolutely destroys the ball off the Tee and that was where he really excelled this weekend going -4 on the Par-5’s. Dustin also led the division with 6 Birdies. Dustin gets some major revenge after losing this tournament on Hole-18 a couple of years ago. Another fun fact about Dustin is he’s the 4th Ranked Golfer in Maryland for the Class of 2023. Dustin has an extremely bright future and it was great giving him his 2nd Championship Flag of the season! Dustin was challenged especially in Round 2 by Andrew Bilson. Andrew went Even on the extremely hard Back-9 out at Oakmont. His Bogey Free Streak of 12-Holes from Holes 7-18 in Round 2 really put Dustin in the hot seat to shoot well. Andrew just got hot in the tournament after ending Round 1 with Birdie-Birdie he knew he would have to continue his great form to earn a flag and that he did. Congratulations on a fantastic finish Andrew!
The hardest hole for the Girls in Round 2 was the hardest hole on the course Hole-8. This hole has so many tough spots I don’t even know where to start. There’s a fairway bunker to the right that is huge and is known to swallow up tons of drive. A layup shot is absolutely necessary after your drive because there is a large pond sitting in front of the green so unless you can hit a 3-wood over 300 yards you just have to take your medicine and play up into the middle of the fairway. The green is one of the smallest on the course making it very difficult to land a shot on. No Pars were earned from the Girls on this beast of a Par-5. The Girls got back at Hole-17 in Round 2 playing it the best. Sophie Zhao played a fantastic tournament and had a ton of highlights including Birdieing this hole. In the end it was G. Weisser who was just to strong to catch. G had her short and long game both working playing the best on the Par-3’s and Par-5’s. She also played great on the easier Front-9 where you need to play good to lower your score. G also had a 3-Hole Bogey Free Streak on the Front-9 in Round 1 which helped her to the Top. Congratulations on your first tour win G! Nisachon Sillence came in as our Runner-Up. Huge props to Nisachon who played the much harder Back-9 the best in her Division. She also played some really consistent golf doing the best on the Par-4’s throughout the event. Congratulations on a fantastic tournament Nisa!
We want to thank everyone who came out to the tournament this weekend. We had a huge turnout for our Boys 15-19 division and have submitted it to the AJGA to see if we can get a PBE Star for the event. Oakmont Green is a tough course but the scores posted were great. We have changed all of our remaining Match Play tournaments for the 2022 Season into Stroke Play Events. We heard a lot of people mention they would come out to the tournaments if they were Stroke Play and we want to support our players in their decisions. Reminder that our Tour Championship is coming up soon and will offer an AJGA PBE Star to the Champion of the Boys 15-19 Division and Girls 14-19 Division. We hope that you will join us at some upcoming tournaments!
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