Young Terlesky off to hot start

Staff report

Boardman

In case you’re wondering, Brian Terlesky Jr. of Boardman is still playing golf.

In fact, the incoming fifth-grader at Glenwood Middle School had 12 wins and one runner-up finish in junior tournaments as of June 27.

The 10-year-old has won several U.S. Kids Golf tournaments and three others. He also captured his fifth consecutive Ohio Player-of-the-Year award for U.S. Kids Golf by won winning the Spring Tour.

His U.S. Kids Golf wins were at Tam O’Shanter in Canton and The Legends in Massillon, both in April and four more in May: The Elms in Massillon; Ellsworth Meadows in Hudson, Chenoweth in Canton and Prestwick in Uniontown.

Other earlier wins included the Illinois Classic at St. Andrews in Chicago, The Hasse Cup at Firestone in Akron and a U.S. Kids World qualifier at The Legends in Massillon where he shot 37.

In the Illinois Classic, his 69-72—141 was low for all age divisions (9-10 through 15-16).

His Hasse Cup win — a match play event over 18 holes — was 4-up after 16 holes in the 13-year-old division.

In June so far, Terlesky won a U.S. Kids Golf event in Orrville, O. at Pines Golf Club by carding par 36.

His second-place finish came after a 74 during the Allied Waste Future Tour Championship in Greenville, Mississippi.

On June 23, Brian won the Candywood Jr. Golf tournament in Vienna with a 1-under 35.

In Bollingbrook, Ill. earlier this month, Terlesky competed in his second World Youth Team Challenge.

Playing for the U.S. team against, Terlesky and his partner won five of eight 9-hole matches in the alternate-shot and best-ball format event, as the 20-kid U.S. team finished third out of 10 teams behind winner Colombia.

The distance for the 10-year-old division was 5,200 yards.

Just last week, in Dothard, Ala., Terlesky participated in an independent tournament called the Future Masters.

He was up against 35 of the best 10-year-olds in the country and finished the 18-hole event in third place.

At Pinehurst, N.C. in August, Terlesky will compete against the best golfers in the world when 35 countries gather for the World U.S. Kids Golf Tournament.

In U.S. Kids world events the last four years, Terlesky has finished runnerup out of 114 as a six-year-old, 11th at age seven, seventh at age 8 and, last year, third-best as a nine-year-old.

Each year he was competing against at least 100 kids.

Terlesky’s 2009 golf season produced a 21-1 record. So far he’s 12-2 with a second-place in Mississippi and a third in Alabama.

In four years of competition, it’s estimated that he’s won at leasst 75 events.

Among those supporting Brian are Kennsington Golf Club owner Chuck Whitman, Lake Club owner Ed Muransky and Doug Sweeney of Sweeney Chevrolet.