Cameron Phillips of McDermott, Ohio, and Athena Singh of Morehead, Ky., pose with their trophies Thursday after winning the Circle K Junior Championship at Otter Creek.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Ava Bunker fired the low round of the day for girls, but fell just short of winning her first AJGA Tournament.
The Edinburgh resident and homeschooled junior-to-be closed with a 3-under-par 69 Thursday to finish second in the Circle K Junior Championship at Otter Creek. She also tied for the best score of Tuesday’s opening round with a 71, but a second-round 76 on Wednesday left her two shots back, and she was able to make up only one on Thursday.
Ava Bunker
Bunker, who finished second in the IMG Palm Beach Junior Classic in January and is headed to Pinehurst, North Carolina, on Thursday for North-South Junior, had her best finish on the AJGA Tour.
“It was a really good day,” Bunker said. “I had really good putting today, so I was happy about that. (Wednesday) could have been better, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I’ve had a couple of good finishes, but this is definitely my best one.”
Athena Singh, who will be a junior at Rowan County High School in Morehead, Kentucky, shot 70 Thursday to hold on and win with a 1-under 215. It was the third AJGA win for Singh, who finished second in last year’s event at Otter Creek.
“I think the first day I played was a little rocky, but I really came back the second and third days and made a lot of birdie putts and saved quite a few pars,” Singh said. “I’m thankful that I was able to come back and actually take the win this year. This is my first win this year, so hopefully, I’m able to keep improving.”
Erin Hopkins
Erin Hopkins, who will be a senior at Columbus North, carded a final-round 82 to finish 27th with a 54-hole total of 251. She bounced back from a 90 on Tuesday with a 79 on Wednesday.
“It was a really solid day overall,” Hopkins said. “I didn’t finish quite as a strong as I wanted, but it was a great effort. I can’t ask for much more after that great round (Wednesday). I was consistent today and had some good holes. I’m really glad that I recovered from that first day and had two really solid days after that.”
Meanwhile, the boys title was decided in a playoff. Cameron Phillips of McDermott, Ohio, won on the first hole of a playoff after tying with Brady Catalono of Upper Arlington, Ohio at 4-under 212 through 54 holes.
In the playoff on the par-4 No. 10, Phillips hit his second shot into a bunker left of the green, and Catalono was on the front of the green with his second shot. Both players hit their third shot to within about three feet, but Catalano lipped out his par putt before Phillips made his.
“I was really confident I could get it up-and-down,” Phillips said. “He was 70 feet away. I knew the chances of him making that were very low, and even two-putting, it’s a hard two-putt. He hit a good first putt and just lipped out that second putt.”
Phillips, who will be a senior at Lucasville Valley, won last week’s AJGA event in Ashland, Kentucky. He led this week’s tourney after an opening-round 68, then shot 73 on Wednesday and 71 on Thursday.
“I played good the first round, and then I really haven’t felt very good the past two days, so that didn’t help,” Phillips said. “I struggled the past two rounds, but I pulled it off.”
