San Antonio, Texas — November 26th & 27th, 2016 – Under the cloudy, cool San Antonio skies, Houston’s Grant Lincecum and San Pedro, Mexico’s Cory Lopez captured the Boys and Girls individual titles, respectively, at the 2016 Thanksgiving Jr. Championship at TPC San Antonio, the TJGT’s first major championship of the 2016-2017 season.
The field of roughly 125 players from Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Mexico converged on the Canyons Course at TPC San Antonio for two rounds, playing under mostly cloudy skies and variable winds, with temperatures reaching the high 60s each afternoon. While it wasn’t shorts weather, Mother Nature presented very calm playing conditions compared to last year’s event, which featured rain, wind, and biting cold temperatures.
Boys 11-18 Division
Lincecum, a high school senior, set the pace for the field in the Boys division from the jump, carding an opening round 69 to take a one-shot lead. Lincecum started slowly, with only one birdie on his first nine holes, but finished in a flurry, notching three birdies over his final six holes to only one bogey to sit atop of the round one leaderboard.
Six other players broke par the first day, with the contingent of John Keefer, Jeffrey Maciejewski and Zach Burch each firing two-under rounds of 70. Keefer had an up-and-down round, carding five birdies on the Canyons Course, but pairing that with three bogeys. Burch had three birdies and an eagle and the par-5 12th hole, and Maciejewski rattled off four birdies on the front nine.
While the temperatures during round two were a bit higher, the wind also picked up, making for a bit more difficult scoring conditions, with the leaders simply trying to hold on. Only two players broke par the second day – Kingwood’s Damin Strydom and Plano’s Kevin Graves.
Strydom, a class of 2020 graduate, shot the round of the day, a 3-under-par 69. He played brilliantly in the tough, windy conditions, picking up four birdies and only one bogey.
Graves, a high school senior, started the final round six shots back of Lincecum, but his outstanding 2-under-par 70 vaulted him all the way up into a tie for the lead when the day was over. Graves’ scorecard was just as clean as Strydom’s, as he tallied three birdies and only one bogey.
Youngster Jacob Sosa of Buda backed up his opening-round 71 with a gritty 74 in round two (using rental clubs after leaving his bag at home by accident) to get into a tie for first with Graves and Lincecum, who faltered a bit on Sunday, but finished strong to get into the playoff.
The three young men headed to the 17th tee for the playoff, a 319-yard par 4. It was over quickly, as Lincecum made birdie right away to take the title. Sosa made par to take second, and Graves made bogey to finish in third.
The rest of the Top 5 was rounded out by Keefer, who took solo fourth, and Maciejewski and Spring’s Zakary Jones, who tied for fifth.
Girls 11-18 Division
In the girls division, class of 2020 graduate Cory Lopez shot the round of the tournament on day one, a blistering 4-under-par 68 to put her three shots clear of the rest of the field. Lopez, of San Pedro, Mexico, turned in a spotless scorecard on Saturday, notching four birdies – including two on par 3s – and no bogeys.
The only other player to break par during round 1 on the girls side was Huntsville resident Isabel Huntsman. The high school senior turned in a 1-under 71 on Saturday. Things didn’t look good for Huntsman at the start of her round, as she went double bogey-bogey on her second and third holes, but promptly birdied her fourth hole, the par-3 8th, and played her last four holes in 2-under. All in all, Huntsman tallied five birdies in round 1 to go along with two bogeys and a double.
Day two was equally difficult for the girls, as putts that were falling on day 1 seemed to lip out on day two. There were no scores under par on Sunday, and Lopez turned in the low round of the day, a 2-over 74, to cruise to an easy seven-shot victory.
Starting the day in third place, Spring’s Amelia McKee – winner at last month’s Red River Challenge – ground out a second-day 76 to vault up into solo 2nd, four shots clear of third place. Ma. Jose Martinez of Alvarado, Mexico finished with a two-day total of 153, good enough for third place, and Huntsman and Corpus Christie senior Charlotte Davis finished T4, one shot back of Martinez.
The Holiday season for the TJGT will offer numerous opportunities for juniors to showcase their skills. Upcoming events include the Traditions Fall Invitational at Texas A&M’s Traditions club and the annual Holiday Classic hosted by Barton Creek in Austin, Texas. The Traditions event is entered by Invitation Only, however there is still time to sign up for the Holiday Classic at Barton Creek here.
Like ‘TJGT’ on Facebook. Follow @txjrgolf on Instagram and @tjgt on Twitter! Check out our Flickr album for photos of the event!