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Plenty at stake in final qualifier
The scenarios are dizzying. The goal is simple: Win and you’re in.
The sixth and final qualifier of this year’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley junior series is today at Trumbull Country Club in Warren and plenty is at stake.
Four more golfers will earn automatic bids to the junior final at Avalon Lakes Golf Club on July 26. The rest will have to hope their season-long performances in Greatest Golfer events earned them enough points to finish in the top six in their divisions.
After just missing out on qualifying for last year’s final, Chris Austalosh is currently inside the cut line in the boys 17-and-under division. But he knows that could change without a good round today.
“I have to stay focused and stay confident,” he said. “I know I have a shot, so as long as I play well and stick to what I’m doing I should be pretty good.”
Austalosh, who will be a senior at Campbell Memorial in the fall, played in a group with Donovan Ray of Howland in last year’s qualifier at Trumbull. Ray finished five shot better than Austalosh and earned enough points to sneak into the final, which he ended up winning.
It was a bitter pill for Austalosh to swallow.
“It was disappointing,” he said. “I thought I had a good shot going into the last qualifier. Knowing that [Ray] beat me and I was out of [the final] was kind of disappointing.”
In a way, last year’s experience has provided motivation for Austalosh. The other motivation is not wanting to see his younger brother, Dean, play for another junior title without being at Avalon Lakes to compete for one himself.
Dean, who will be a freshman at Campbell, earned the last qualifying spot through the points system for last year’s final. This year he’s sitting atop the boys 14-and-under standings and is all but guaranteed a return trip to the junior final.
Although he’s not interested in qualifying through the points system again. He wants to win today.
“It would definitely feel better, because it shows that I’m good enough to compete with all the other kids in my age division,” Dean said. “It would really lift up my spirits and give me some confidence.”
Dean said he enjoys playing at Trumbull, which helped him shoot a low score last year to qualify. His round today won’t be quite as stressful as last time around, but he still wants to head into the final playing his best.
“I’m just going to try and be aggressive,” he said. “I don’t want to be too aggressive where I’m going to mess myself up, but I want to go after some easy holes and play smart on the challenging ones.”
Others won’t have the luxury of sitting back today. Seven players in the boys 17-and-under division are within four points of Chris, who holds the final qualifier spot.
There’s currently a three-way tie for the sixth and final spot in the girls 17-and-under division between Kaylee Neumeister of Cortland, Elise Hammond of Columbiana and Tori Augustine of Boardman. Kaci Carpenter of Canfield leads all girls in points, but it’s up for grabs after her.
If necessary, the points standings tiebreaker procedure is the average score of all qualifying events, with the lowest score advancing.