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BELLEFONTE It was a good day for firsts in the final round of the Bluegrass Junior at Bellefonte Country Club on Friday.
The event saw both champions pick up their first American Junior Golf Association wins. Meadow Tian won by two strokes with a 7-over, and Jackson Ormond claimed his victory by five strokes at 2-under for the tournament.
“It started out a little rough,” Tian said about her round. “I bogeyed a few on the front nine, but it got better over time. I know a lot of the players here today. They’re really good players. It’s just so great to come out and play with them.”
For Ormond, it was his first AJGA event. He qualified as an alternate and played just two weeks removed from having a cast taken off his left arm.
Both competitors had some close competition during the final round. They started with just a one-stroke lead but managed to create separation in different ways.
“Today, I just give all the glory to God,” Ormond said following his victory. “I just went out there and tried to keep my mind on Him and not think about it, playing one hole at a time. I think I did that well. I just came out here and golfed, He did the rest.”
While Ormond came into the final round already in first place, it was on the heels of a less-than-stellar day on Thursday.
Ormond had shot a 4-under 66 in the first round on Wednesday, which was tied for the lowest round by any golfer during the event. He posted a 3-over 73 in the second round, nearly erasing the work done the day before.
So, with that up-and-down set of days in mind, it looked like it could go either way with the soon-to-be sophomore from Webster, New York.
Making things more difficult for Ormond was Cameron Roberts, who was grouped with Ormond and entered the round just one stroke back from the lead.
Both golfers had a good round going on a hard course through the first 14 holes. Roberts picked up birdies on the first, second, sixth, 10th, and 11th holes and Ormond did likewise on the first, third, ninth, 10th, and 11th.
This kept the two golfers just one stroke apart heading into the par-3 15th, and everything changed.
“Once it got to 15, your only thoughts are just, ‘Hit the green,’” Ormond said. “That’s a tough hole. I’m just thankful to be on the green there and be in a position to make par. It’s a tough two-putt.”
Roberts’ drive to the green got away from him and landed amongst a crowd of bushes that sat back and to the left of the green. There was a very lengthy discussion between Roberts and the officials that ended with Roberts taking a penalty and re-teeing from the box.
“The wind was swirling off the tee and I took a four iron when I should’ve taken a five, and it just pushed a little bit,” Roberts said. “I tried to take a free drop away from the bushes because the stakes were in line between my ball and the hole. (The official) told me that wasn’t the case, so I took a stroke. It was just really frustrating.”
The end result saw Roberts post a gut-punch score of seven on the hole, taking him from even par for the tournament to 4-over.
With the separation greatly expanded, Ormond looked more relaxed on the final three holes and picked up another birdie on the 16th en route to the big win.
“At that point, I just knew I only needed a few pars coming in and the rest of it would work itself out,” Ormond said. “I made a good putt on 16 to get a birdie there. This is my first AJGA open. Two weeks ago I’d just gotten out of a cast. I really wasn’t supposed to be playing golf until about five days ago, but we kind of rushed the doctor’s orders. I’m just really blessed to be where I’m at right now.”
All was not lost for Roberts. Thanks to the Robinson Creek, Kentucky, native’s ability to regroup and refocus following the unfortunate result of the 15th hole, Roberts’ third-place finish was high enough in the tournament to become exempt from future qualifying events, opening his eligibility up to a multitude of AJGA events.
“After [the 15th] hole, I knew I really didn’t have a chance to win, but I knew if I could par the last three holes, or maybe sneak in a birdie, I’d definitely get top five,” Roberts said. “I think I did a lot better job than I thought I would. I thought I was going to just keep going downhill, but I took a couple of deep breaths and parred the last three holes.”
The starting scenario was similar on the girls’ side for Tian, who entered the championship round just one stroke ahead of Singapore’s Ella Yokota, but it was Morehead’s Athena Singh that would end up on Tian’s heels down the stretch.
“I don’t check the scores when I play,” Tian said. “We actually had a lot of scoring issues, so our boards weren’t right anyway.”
Singh sank a pair of birdies on the 13th and 14th par-4 holes, which put her even with Tian at 8-over-par with just four holes left.
“Overall, I feel like I could’ve done a lot better, especially with how well I did last year, but it was still okay,” Singh said. “I feel like I missed quite a few small putts, and missed the greens a few too many times, but I also saved some pars there too. I accommodated myself to the wind pretty well too today.”
Unfortunately for the soon-to-be Rowan County sophomore, a tough bogey on the par-4 17th gave Tian some breathing room.
With Singh already in the scorer’s tent, Tian teed off on the par-4 18th and found herself with a difficult, uphill lie on her second shot.
Tian needed a solid approach to put herself in a position to grab a par and secure the championship. It was a task made difficult not just by the lie of the ball but the tough greens that caused issues for golfers all day long.
“I was in a pretty bad slope and there was a lot of wind,” Tian said of the lie. “I was just trying to get it as close to the green as possible and try to play it safe and stay out of the bunker if I could.”
Tian was able to make an accurate hit on her approach, but she didn’t get par for the hole.
She got a birdie instead.
“The wind was swirling a lot, but I’ve played a lot of tournaments with high winds, like 50 mph winds,” Tian said of her focus on the hole. “I’ve gotten used to it and I just try to find the right spot I could miss it in and hit it there.”
With a three on the scorecard for the final hole, Tian claimed her first AJGA win by a couple of strokes after three days against a strong slate of golfers.
Despite being this year’s runner-up, last year’s champion Singh was grateful for the opportunity to play at Bellefonte Country Club once again.
In addition to Singh, two other Eastern Kentucky golfers finished around the top of the leaderboard.
Paintsville’s Isabella Christy took eighth place with a score of 16-over.
“My putting wasn’t good today,” Christy said. “I misjudged what club to use on a couple of holes which ended up giving me longer putts. Other than that, it was a pretty normal round.”
Morgan Kennedy of Ashland finished tied for 13th at 21-over after all three rounds.
“Today was rough,” Kennedy said. “My front nine wasn’t great and the wind picked up big time. All the pin placements were tough to hit. I think I scrambled around pretty well for a 78 today.”
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