Willy Davis
Ava Bunker shared the lead at one point in Tuesday’s opening round of the AJGA Circle K Junior Championship at Otter Creek.
However, Bunker had a rough final four holes to put herself at a 3-over par 75 for the day and is tied for 12th. Yu Bai of Saratoga, California, is the leader in the girls tournament with a 70.
Bunker was 2-under through 14 holes until she hit a tee shot that went long past the green and into the rough on No. 15. She settled for double-bogey and couldn’t recover strongly after she had another double-bogey on No. 16 and a bogey on No. 17.
“I was hitting everything well on the green and pretty close to have nice, easy two-putts and occasional one-putts. Then we reached that one hole (No. 15) where I had some issues,” Bunker said.
Recent Columbus North grad Willy Davis finished with a 7-over 79 and is tied for 47th. There is a four-way tie for the lead at 69.
Davis carded two birdies, seven bogeys and one double-bogey.
“I feel like I hit it pretty good today, at least pretty decent,” Davis said. “I had two three-putts pretty early in the round, and a couple bad chips left me with long putts for par. If I can clean up my short game, then I think I can really shoot a good score.”
Bunker, who lives in Edinburgh, won state medalist honors as a freshman at North last fall. However, she won’t be playing for the Bull Dogs this fall.
Bunker isn’t completely out of contention. If she can play the way she did for the first 14 holes Tuesday, she’ll definitely be in the running on Thursday.
“As long as I shoot around par the next couple days, I should be doing pretty well,” Bunker said.
