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International picks up tab for area pair
Photo
Youngstown’s Jacinta Pikunas, shown here competing at last year’s Greatest Junior Golfer tournament, was one of two area golfers to earn expense-paid trips to the International Junior Golf Championships.
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Two area junior golfers, Youngstown’s Jacinta Pikunas (girls 13-14, 77), and Columbiana’s Jared Wilson (boys 12-13, 74), were among seven age-group winners who earned expense-paid trips to the International Junior Golf Championships during the Optimist State Championship at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Canton.
The Optimist International Junior Golf World Championships will be July 26-29 at the PGA National Resort Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Pikunas is making her second straight Optimist National appearance after winning Ohio’s 12-under crown in 2011, which came prior to her championship as top female against high school girls in the Vindicator’s Greatest Junior Golfer tournament on July 31.
“She gained a lot of confidence from that [Vindicator title], but this [Optimist] is big for her,” said her father, Mike.
“She didn’t think she’d be able to play in Florida unless she won and got the all-expenses trip, so she put the pressure on herself and came through in that respect,” Mike Pikunas said.
“She hit into the woods on No. 16 at the Hills course [at Tam O’ Shanter] but made a big putt for 6 so she didn’t give up too many strokes. On the approach to 17 she hit the flag stick and the ball caromed off the green, but she chipped up and putted for par. On 18, she hit a clutch shot onto the green and made par to finish like the champ that she is.”
Jacinta will make the trip with her mother, Peggy, a sibling and an aunt.
Jared Wilson, who will be a seventh-grader at Heartland Christian School in Columbiana, competes in about 15-20 events a year, his father said.
“It’s a blessing and a big thrill for Jared,” Dan Wilson, Jared’s dad, said of the Optimist International event. “It’s kind of a neat deal that they pay air, food and hotel for the golfer.”
But expenses-paid events are nothing new to Jared.
As an 8-year-old, he won an expenses-paid trip to Orlando for the Drive-Chip & Putt national finals. The competition on Thanksgiving Day, 2008 was on the Golf Channel.
“Until now, that was his biggest golf thrill,” Dan Wilson said.
Jared finished sixth out of 55 in a U.S. Kids Golf regional in Georgia in March.
“We took a little vacation for spring,” Dan Wilson said of his son’s final event as an 11-year-old because Jared turned 12 on March 20.
His 74 at Tam O’ Shanter was over 6,054 yards from the men’s tees.
He’s currently in San Jose, Calif., visiting grandparents with his mother, Kathie, before he competes in the Callaway Junior Worlds in San Diego, July 10-12. In August, Jared will play in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship in Pinehurst, N.C.
Jared also plays in the South Range Junior Baseball League.
“He’s certainly not an idle boy, but he’s fortunate to go to many different tournaments, especially the Optimist International,” his father said.
Jared is friends with Brian Terlesky of Boardman, a phenom of area youth golfers
“Brian Terlesky is king,” Dan Wilson said of the 12-year-old who is about six months older than his son. “Jared golfs with Brian and they’re good friends. Brian made everybody better. He gives everybody something to shoot for.”
Brandon Pluchinsky, who was the area’s second-best qualifier in the 16-18 boys division with 73, is also headed south.
“I’m pretty excited for it,” said Pluchinsky, who qualified for the state high school tournament in Columbus twice while at South Range.
He played the Palmer Course in West Palm Beach two years ago when he traveled with Jake Fait of Boardman.
Fait, who missed Optimist International qualifying this summer, played in West Palm Beach in 2010.
“He brought me down with him that year and I played the Palmer course one time,” Brandon said. “People say Palmer is little easier [than the two championship courses], but I think they’re all pretty tough.”
Pluchinsky recently played in the Mid-Ohio Golf Assn. Invitational at Hickory Flats in West Lafayette, where the YSU golf team and newcomers competed.
Brandon tied for 10th with 70-69—139 among a field of 100.
“It’s kind of like a college preview with a lot of low scores,” he said. “It was pretty competitive.”
The area’s top 16-18 finisher in Canton with 73 was another YSU-bound golfer, Thomas Lydic of Champion.