Gary Begins Summer Season Strongly

Knocking the rust off after the off season of baseball playing Gary made some strong showings this spring. Playing in South Floida for the first time he and his mother traveled to the Miami area in April and he tied for first and lost in a playoff to finish second. At this tournament out of district he met some new strong south Floirda players.

Then he played in a Tampa area event the next weekend and tied for first and won in a four hole playoff.

Next came the Greater Tampa Junior Golf Association match play event in which 67 players played two nine hole matches each weekend. Gary won the first two matches, lost the third, and won the consolation division with a final match win. Gary was seeded second.

Then in the GTJGA Tournament of Champions he was second in his age group and eighth overall with the 13-15 group turning in the best scores. Gary is 16 and in the 16-18 group. He hit the ball well, felt rusty, and had two penalty strokes (both unplayable lies) in this tournament.

Florida Junior Golf Tour

Gary competed with 84 other top junior players in the Florida Golf Association Junior Tour near Orlando. This tour requires qualification and the field is strong. The course hosted the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament this past year and the boys played essentially the same tees at 7000 yards with the rating at 74 and the slope at 134. These are very high ratings and slope. On the first day he shot 79 with four birdies and one double boggie. He finished strongly with a birdie on the 18^th, but overall was disapointed with his play. On day two he shot one over 73 and at the eleventh was four under par with birdies on the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 10^th. He finished in 23^rd position for this his first major competition of the year.

Recently he had a spring tune up golf lesson with his coach Aaron Fagan (Click Aaron's name for his profile) at the David Leadbetter Academy at Champions Gate in Orlando. Some minor swing and grip changes were instituted and he feels he is hitting the ball solidly and in better control. Putting was a strong point. He has been practicing putting diligently on a new SouthEastern putting Green in the back yard.