With equal time spent dodging rain and fighting the heat, North Hall’s Matt McCormack carded an 82 on Monday to win the Club Boys 15-18 year-old division in the Atlanta Junior Golf Association Summer Series event at Chattahoochee Golf Club.
“Overall, I played pretty solid today,” The rising junior said.
“I didn’t really expect to bring home the win, but I felt like I could play pretty well.I guess the putter just really came through for me and I came out with the win.”
This is McCormack’s first win of the summer.
Before Monday, McCormack had placed second in two events and earned a third and fourth place finish in two others, putting him in a tie for twelfth in the AJG’s Player of the Year competition going into Monday.
Going forward, McCormack isn’t sure if he will play golf in college, but he knows that he’ll never stray too far from a golf course.
“I want to continue playing, but I don’t really want to play on a team,” he said. “It’s definitely something I want to do for the rest of my life, but I just want to have fun in college.”
North Hall found itself well represented on Monday as McCormack’s classmate Andy Bracewell placed second in the Open Boys 15-18 year-old division after firing a 78.
Going into the event, Bracewell felt as though he was going through a “little bit of a slump; unable to break 80” and that the result Monday “wasn’t too bad.” “I had been shooting 72 and 74, so 78 isn’t that much higher than what I can shoot,” he said. “I felt pretty good on the front, I was 1-under through six, and then kind of fell apart a little bit.
“But I was feeling pretty good those last three holes.”
Bracewell birdied No. 4 and No. 15 on Monday, to keep his score under 80.
Flowery Branch’s Joshua Foster took first in the Open Division, shooting a low-round of 77.
Other local golfers in the Open Division were Taylor Martin of Braselton who placed third with an 80 and Luke James of Flowery Branch who placed fourth with an 82.
Two golfers from Flowery Branch finished in the top-five of the Club Division: Alex Gossett found himself in a tie for third place after carding an 87 and Kip O’Kelley earned a tie for fifth with an 89. The third place finish for Gossett marks the seventh time the rising senior has placed in the top 10 in AJG Summer Events.
In the 13-14 year-old Club Boys Division, Gainesville residents Webber Wycoff and Clay Hoffman each placed in the top-five. Wycoff earned a second placed finish after firing an 88 and Hoffman carded a 97 for fifth.
Spencer Ralston, also of Gainesville, won the 12-and-under Boys Division after shooting a 4-under 68 from the red tees and Anthony Whobrey finished in a tie for fourth after shooting a 79.