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[AUG 3-4 | LAS COLINAS, TX] It was a final round to remember at the 4th Annual Elites Cup Invitational as both the Girls and Boys divisions of the championship came down to the wire – and extra holes in one case – with senior-to-be Mia Gaboriau and Austin rising start Sterling Hurd etching their names into tournament history as the 2021 Elites Cup Invitational Champions.
In the Girls Division, Gaboriau positioned herself well after round 1, finding herself in the final group with tournament leader Kate Tilma after an opening round 1-over-par 71. Starting the back 9, Gaboriau was still two shots off Tilma’s lead with 9 holes to play, and fell even further back when Tilma birdied the par 4 11th hole. After that, Gaboriau begin to apply some pressure, carding birdies at 12 and 14, while Tilma made a double bogey of her own in that stretch. By the time they got to the 18th hole, a bogey 5 on the par 4 finishing hole was all Gaboriau needed to claim the title, and two easy putts later she was the champion, winning by 1 shot over Tilma, and two shots clear of Cedar Park’s Jiyu Han, who finished in 3rd place.
The Boys Division finish was much more dramatic. Coming into the final round, Hurd, who had shot 2-under-par 69 in the first round, was 1 shot off the lead of Missouri’s Areen Aggarwal, the reigning TJGT Tour Championship champion. Aggarwal started out hot, with birdies on No. 1, No. 3 and No. 7 to open up a sizeable lead, but a costly triple bogey on No. 9 erased all that, and the two stood on the No. 10 tee separated by just 1 shot. Hurd then birdied 10 and 11 to take the lead, but when his par putt slid by on the 18th hole, he and Aggarwal stood tied after 36 holes at 1-under-par.
After 3 sudden death playoff holes, the boys stood on the No. 1 tee for the 5th time that day with the sun setting at their backs and time for only 1 more hole. Aggarwal put his second shot comfortably on the green, while Hurd left his short and left, leaving a difficult pitch shot in the fading light. One swing later, however, the ball found the bottom of the cup and emotions exploded, as Hurd captured the victory with a chip-in birdie on the 4th playoff hole to claim the title.