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Southwest Junior
Golf Tour Lone Star Memorial Boys 8 - 9 The Tribute GC
| Boys 8 - 9 Winners |
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| Kyle 1st, Jansen 2nd, Garrett 3rd, Noah 4th |
For the third year in a row, Kyle celebrated
his birthday with the Southwest Junior Golf Tour's Lone Star Memorial Tournament. Playing again in the Boys 8
- 9 division, meant 18 holes each day - 4440 yards total. This year we were at the incredible Tribute Golf Course.
A truly unique Links course, where each hole is patterned after the legendary courses in Scotland.
The Road Hole, Postage Stamp, it's all there. From the first hole Tribute Golf Club is a fitting monument to one of
the most famous opening holes anywhere - the first hole at St. Andrews Golf Club, known worldwide as the birthplace of golf.
This simple-looking hole fits perfectly in the philosophy of great Scottish links as it may look docile, but severely punishes
golfers in a number of different ways. Despite the traditional caddie's warning that it's almost impossible to hit out-of-bounds
off the tee, most golfers aim to the left as the first hole at St. Andrews shares a fairway with the 18th hole.
Also the famous Swilken Burn, a small stream originally used for storm drainage for the small town of
St.Andrews, cuts in front of the green and has swallowed many balls over the more than five centuries of golfing on the links.
The first tee at St.Andrews has seen almost every famous golfer tee off their chance to walk in history's hallowed footprints.
Just like Scotland, the players
had to deal with dramatically different weather conditions from cool, cloudy and a brief rain storm on the first day,
to hot, humid and windless on the second. Overall, an incredible experience. Putting was really put to the test.
Kyle had never seen so many of his putts slide by, lip out, just short, or a bit long. Check out his reaction to
another near miss.
At the end of the first round, Kyle was in 2nd place with
a 74. He finished the first day as an 8 year old, but would play the 2nd round as a 9 year old. Coach Jang followed
Kyle on both days, offering support and encouragement. Playing in the final group, Kyle sent his opening drive to
the edge of the Swilkin Burn and then nearly holed his chip shot. After the first hole he was only 1 back.
The next 13 holes felt similar to the first day - he had great drives, but the putts continued to just miss. Until the
14th hole. Suddenly Kyle was tied and after that birdied the next two holes and finished with a 68 and won by 4 strokes
after starting out the day down by 2. He also
won the longest drive by putting his tee shot 212 yards down the 18th fairway.
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| Teeing off with Lake Lewisville in the background. |
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