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Moldovan wins AJGA
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
To say Maxwell Moldovan, a Uniontown native, got the hang of Mill Creek Golf Course “pretty well” over the past few days would be an understatement.
But that’s how he humbly put it — and it resulted in a first-place finish in the Mill Creek Foundation AJGA All-Star Golf Tournament on Thursday.
“It’s a nice course,” said Moldovan, who shot a three-round score of 202. “I hadn’t played it before. But it’s my first AJGA win and it means a lot.
“I just knew that if I could make a couple putts — make a couple birdies and pars — that I could grind it out and win.”
Moldovan capped his stellar showing at the national tournament — for ages 12-15 and presented by Youngstown Live & ACDS — by shooting a 66 in the final round.
Boardman High sophomore Cole Christman entered Thursday tied for eighth place, but finished tied for 34th after he shot an 81. He finished with a three-round score of 222 (68 on Tuesday; 73 on Wednesday).
“It didn’t go very well today,” Christman said. “I was hitting the ball all over the place, I couldn’t putt, I couldn’t get anything up and down. Just a lot of stupid, big mistakes.”
Christman fared the best out of the five locals who competed in the 96-player tournament that saw players from 31 states and 17 countries.
Canfield’s Keegan Butler finished tied for 65th with a 240.
Meanwhile in the 24-player girls division, Hannah Keffler finished 22nd with a 242, Gillian Cerimele finished 23rd with a 243 and Boardman’s Hadley Spielvogel placed 24th with a 256. Reese Guzman of Kahului, Hi., placed first with a 204.
“It kind of enforced what I knew,” Christman said of playing in the prestigious tournament. “I need to be a little more sharp, I need to make more putts, avoid stupid mistakes. If I can do that, I can be really good.”
This week’s event was the first time the AJGA played in Youngstown. Mill Creek was selected to host the tournament last fall after it passed the test of four site-tours in the spring of 2015.
“Everything went well,” said Brian Tolnar, Mill Creek’s PGA Director of Golf. “The families seemed to really enjoy the area.
“There’s been a nice tie-in with the park. We’ve had a number of activities for the kids — whether it be Lantermens Mill, the Rose Garden, the Farm Tour. Families have been jogging in the park. And [AJGA] also donated $10,000 to our Mill Creek Metro Parks Foundation. So it’s been pretty good for our area and we’re happy to have them.”
Tolnar estimated that the greater Youngstown area made approximately $200,000 from the tournament between hotel, restaurant and shopping traffic.
“The AJGA has talked about coming back here next year and bringing the older division and also bringing another event to the Youngstown area as well,” Tolnar said.
Additionally, 14 college coaches were present since Tuesday, including representatives from: the University of Wisconsin, University of Tennessee, Ohio State, Kent State, Youngstown State, Akron and Oklahoma State.
“It’s really great that they were able to bring an AJGA event here — especially they’re talking in the future of having the older boys,” YSU golf coach Tony Joy said. “It was all very first-class.
“The boy who shot the 66 today [Moldovan] played flawlessly. The kids are just getting better and better every year. The opportunities they have to play in these events just makes them even better when they get to school.”