A trio of Greater Trail junior golfers teed off at the Palouse Ridge Playoff in Pullman, Wash. on the weekend as part of the Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour (RMJGT).
Rossland’s Braden McKay and Fruitvale’s Trevor and Aiden Browell went head-to-head with some of the Pacific Northwest’s best golfers age 14-19 and performed well despite a challenging course and tough competition.
Palouse Ridge golf course, which was the recent host of the PAC-10 Championship won by Stanford University, is a long tricky course that has difficult greens and is very exposed to wind.
Gusts up to 25 mph made it interesting during Saturday’s opening round, but after a disappointing start, McKay caught fire on Sunday.
McKay found himself in trouble on the par-3 13th hole, and ended up scoring an eight, which derailed an otherwise solid round Saturday. The J. L. Crowe student had to settle for an 8-over 80 which put him in 17th place heading into Sunday’s round.
But McKay regrouped carding the best round of the tournament on Sunday, a 3-under par 69 to launch him up the standings and into a fourth-place finish.
Meanwhile, long-hitting golfer, Aiden Browell, took advantage of his length posting the seventh best score on Saturday while making four birdies to post a solid 77 in the very windy conditions. Aiden played extremely well all day and could have easily been lower, but a bad bounce on 18th hole led to a triple-bogie 8.
Trevor Browell also golfed well, finishing the day one back of Aiden with a 78.
On Sunday the conditions were better, but the pins were more difficult. Both Aiden and Trevor ran into trouble on the greens at times, but Aiden was still able to finish a very respectable 12th overall in a strong field and Trevor finished 23rd.
McKay’s 5-over 149 total put him six strokes back of winner Carter Tillotson of Kenmore, Wash., who carded rounds of 71 and 72 to finish with a 1-under 143. Chris Mogg of Sammamish, Wash. and Ryan Maine of Spokane both shot 145 to finish in second and third respectively.
The Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour’s goal is to expand the opportunities for junior golfers who are determined to gain exposure and the attention of college coaches.
RMJGT dedicates itself to the growth and development of young golfers who strive to earn college golf scholarships through competitive golf.