Maryland hosts PGA junior event
Spearbeck gets local groups involved
When the Optimist Junior Golf tournament that he was attempting to organize yielded a grand total of zero entrants, longtime Optimist Junior Golf coach Ned Spearbeck opted to join forces with the Mid-Atlantic PGA for a two-day team event dubbed the Cherry Blossom Classic at the University of Maryland last weekend.
Spearbeck, the director of golf instruction at Swan Point Yacht & Country Club in Issue, has been involved with the Optimist golf program for the better part of three decades. But over the past few years he has noticed a precipitous decline in the number of junior golf participants. Tournaments he hosted that once attracted 50 golfers had seen fewer than 10 in recent years.
“At one time we had all of the top local golfers compete in our tournaments,” Spearbeck said. “But there are so many opportunities for them to compete in elite events now it became tougher and tougher to get parents to pay $175 to $200 to get their kids into an event. When my June 10 deadline past for an event that I was looking to put together I had no entrants.”
Gavin Ganter, a rising sophomore at La Plata High School who regularly plays at Swan Point, finished tied for 12th in the boys overall title chase. Ganter finished the two days with a 159 (79-80), while Carlo Pizzano (144) finished four
strokes clear of James Shin (148) and seven better than Addison Wells (151) and Nicholas Barros (151) to win the overall boys title.
Pizzano, Shin and Wells occupied the top three spots in the 16- to 18-yearold boys bracket, while Barros garnered the title in the 14-15 boys bracket.
“I thought my short game was a little off the other day,” Ganter said. “Usually, my short game is pretty strong. But I definitely didn’t play well near the greens. There was a lot of really good competition there. These tournaments definitely help me improve my overall game. I’ve actually been playing Maryland a lot more often, so I hope that will help when it comes time for the high school state championships in the fall.”
Spearbeck is hopeful that the team tournament at Maryland last weekend will be the ideal model for a local league. Although the number of golfers has continued to
decline, Spearbeck was complimentary of the local golf courses who have continued
to support the high school teams and other junior golfing groups throughout the summer and fall.
“In an effort to raise the number of junior golfers locally, the Optimists would like to host
a PGA Junior Golf League instead of our current nine-hole after school events,” Spearbeck said. “The format is for teams of four groups to play match play against another group of four groups using
two-person captains choice for three, three-hole matches competing for a ‘flag’ for each three-hole match.”
On the girls side of the ledger, Faith McIlvain (150) prevailed in a two-hole sudden-death
playoff to defeat Danielle Suh (150). Julie Shin (154), the 1314 champion, finished third overall. Irene Kim (165) edged Rita Liu (166) to win the 10-12 girls title.