Standohar set for first GGOV qualifier since ’13

June 18, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Six Mahoning Valley junior golfers qualified for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Canton on Monday.

Only one of them will be back out on the course Friday at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Hermitage, Pa., for the second Vindicator Greatest Golfer of the Valley junior qualifier.

Girard High School senior Mark Standohar will play in his first Greatest Golfer event in nearly two years, fresh off a round of 74 on Monday to qualify for what he felt was his biggest golf achievement thus far.

“I was pretty excited because now I get to go to Florida,” said Standohar, who will get a chance to play at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., with The Optimist.

“I knew I was very capable of qualifying. I actually gave up a lot of stokes at the end, but I had played so well leading up to that it didn’t really hurt me.”

Standohar, who has admittedly spent more time in the gym working on his basketball game than on a golf course, will be making his return to the Greatest Juniors circuit after taking last summer off. He competed in junior qualifiers the summers prior to his freshman and sophomore years at Girard.

“I haven’t been playing a whole lot of golf, actually,” Standohar said. “I’ve been playing maybe three times a week lately, but that’s more than I have been.”

The other area golfers who earned a trip to Florida for The Optimist are Greatest Golfer regulars. Donavan Ray of Warren, last year’s Greatest Juniors champion in the boys 17-and-under division. He matched Standohar’s score of 74 to qualify in the 16-18 division.

Brian Terlesky of Boardman, Greatest Juniors champion in 2012, shot a round of 73 to tie for first in the 14-15 division. James Graham of Warren shot 79 to also qualify. Connor Stevens of Brookfield earned a spot in the 12-13 division with an 81.

The only area girl to qualify was two-time Greatest Juniors champion Jacinta Pikunas of Boardman, whose round of 74 was tied for the top spot in the 15-18 division.

“There were a lot of good players out there, so I was glad to make it,” Standohar said.

The Optimist Championships run from July 16-31, depending on the age division.

As for Standohar’s chances on Friday at the other Tam O’Shanter, he’s feeling pretty good about his game right now. He’ll like his odds even more once he learns the other five Optimist qualifiers won’t be in attendance.

“I took [Wednesday] off, but I am feeling pretty good,” Standohar said. “My driver has been good, but I’m not hitting a lot of greens right now.

“I’d like to improve my ball striking with my irons, because that’s been an issue lately.”

He has at least one coach in the family willing to offer up advice, wanted or not. His older brother, Evan, is a sophomore on the Youngstown State golf team. Mark said the two still like to go out and play with one another, which typically brings out their competitive nature.

“Any given day I can beat him and he can beat me, so it’s fun,” Mark said.

The field of 40 golfers will tee off with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. on Friday.