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Vivo would like to win with her cousin
By STEVE WILAJ
Preparing for this weekend’s Flynn Automotive Group Juniors Greatest Golfer of the Valley championship rounds, Jenna Vivo and Brian Terlesky have played practice rounds at the finals courses (Squaw Creek and Avalon Golf and Country Club).
The usual practice rounds for the Boardman High golfers consist of tips and friendly competition. And the cousins are hoping to turn those practices into Greatest Golfer championships for each.
“It would be really awesome if both of us came out winning this thing,” Vivo said. “It’d be nice for our family.
“We both work hard together and compete together. He gives me a lot of tips and I give him some also.”
Round 1 of the Juniors finals will take place on Friday at Squaw Creek beginning at 2 p.m. The final round is set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Avalon.
There will be 12 competitors in both the boys and girls 17-U divisions. Six from each placed first in a qualifying round during the season, while the other six qualified from point totals.
“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Vivo said. “There’s gonna be some great competition, so it should be fun.”
Vivo, a Spartans sophomore who placed second in the finals in 2015, notched her first-place finish on May 22 at Pine Lakes when she won with an 80. It was the lone Greatest round she played this summer.
She’ll be competing against: Hannah Keffler (won Squaw Creek on May 15), Gillian Cerimele (won Tam O’Shanter on June 24), Emily Koehler (won Mill Creek on June 29), Sydney Heinbaugh (won Salem Hills on July 7), Britney Jonda (won Trumbull Country Club last Thursday), Erika Hoover, Jenna Jacobson, Carmel Cerimele, Kaci Carpenter, Victoria Messuri and Emily Marcavish.
“I’m confident for this one this year because last year gave me a great experience of how to compete,” Vivo said. “I just think playing in the Greatest Golfers and other tournaments around has me really prepared for the finals.
“And I’ve been playing in the Northern Ohio PGA [this summer], so I’ve been doing a lot of traveling like that with my cousin Brian.”
Terlesky, a junior at Boardman High, won the first boys 17-U qualifier this season at Squaw Creek. He also shot a 72 at Pine Lakes. He’ll be joined by four other Spartans golfers this weekend: Cade Kreps (won Tam O’Shanter), Bryan Kordupel (won Mill Creek), Cole Christman (won Salem Hills) and Bobby Jonda.
The rest of the boys field are Anthony Graziano (won Pine Lakes), Jimmy Graham (won Trumbull Country Club), Joey Vitali, Dean Austalosh, Zach Jacobson, Ken Keller and R.J. Pozzuto.
There will be 10 competitors in the boys 14-U division and three golfers in the girls 14-U field. They will play this weekend at Squaw and Avalon as well.
This is the seventh season for Greatest Golfer, and it has grown from an event serving 90 golfers to now impacting 3,000 golfers, 12 golf courses and 24 charities.