Players to Watch in SC Junior Match Play

St. Helena Island, SC -- Junior boys and girls from across South Carolina will convene at Dataw Island Club in St. Helena Island, SC this week to compete in the 38th SC Junior Match Play Championship of the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA). 

The Tom Fazio designed Cotton Dike course at Dataw Island Club will host the annual junior tournament and will be the third championship (2013 Carolinas Senior Four-Ball and 2014 Carolinas Women’s Four-Ball) conducted on the Cotton Dike course.  The Cotton Dike course also hosted the Carolinas PGA SC Open this past April.

 

Players will compete in the 18-hole stroke play qualifier on Tuesday, July 7th with the top 64 boys and top 15 girls advancing to match play. Girls' defending champion Morgan Cox of Easley, SC will be the number one seed in the girls' championship.  The boys' championship consists of six rounds of match play that will begin on Wednesday, July 8th at 8 am off #1 and #10.  Two rounds of match play will be played each day with the boys' championship match scheduled to begin on Friday, July 10th at 12:30 pm.  The girls' championship consists of four rounds of match play that will begin on Wednesday, July 8th at 11:30 am.  The girls' championship match is scheduled to be played at 8:30 am on Friday, July 10th.

 

Boys to watch at this year's SC Junior Boys' Match Play Championship are:

 

Jack Parrott of Columbia, SC.  Parrott, a rising high school junior, won the 2014 SCGA SC Junior Championship and finished in second place in this year's SC Junior.  Parrott represented the CGA in the Carolinas-Virginias Junior Team matches in 2014.  Parrott is currently ranked number 32 in SC.

 

Jordan Warnock of Roebuck, SC.  Warnock, a rising high school senior, tied for first in the 4A Upper State High school along with finishing tied for fifth in the CGA's Jimmy Anderson Boys' Invitational.  Warnock reached the quarter-finals in the 2014 SC Junior Match Play Championship.  Warnock is ranked number five in SC on the junior rankings.

 

Zachary Butt of Summerville, SC.  Butt, a rising high school senior, has finished in first place five times over the past 12 months.  Butt's highlight win was his victory in last September's Golfweek Myrtle Beach Junior.  Butt is currently ranked number nine in SC.

 

Nick Willis of Cowpens, SC.  Willis, a rising high school junior, reached the semi-finals in last year's SC Junior Match Play Championship and finished alone in fourth in the SC Junior this past June.  Willis is currently ranked number twelve in SC.

 

Reed Bently of Wellford, SC.  Bently, a rising high school junior, won this year's Upstate Junior Classic and the Hurricane Junior at Willow Creek last February.  Bently is ranked number fourteen on the SC junior rankings.

 

Girls to watch at this year's SC Junior Girls' Match Play Championship are:

 

Morgan Cox of Easley, SC.  Cox, a rising high school senior is back to defend her title she won last year at CC of Newberry.  Cox also was part of the winning team in the SCJGA Tradition Four Ball last October.  Cox will represent the CGA in the Mid-Atlantic Girls Team Challenge later this month.  Cox is the number five ranked junior girl in SC.

 

Emily Cox of Lancaster, SC.  Cox, a rising high school junior, won the CGA's Vicki DiSantis Girls' Championship in May and reach the quarter-finals in the 2014 SC Junior Match Play Championship.  Cox is currently ranked number ten ion the SC junior rankings.

 

Ashley Czarnecki of Greenville, SC.  Czarnecki, a rising high school senior, won the WSCGA SC Junior Girls' Championship this past June and is the number one ranked junior girl in SC.

 

Jodee Tindal of Rock Hill, SC.  Tindal, a rising high school junior, reached the quarter-finals in last year's SC Junior Match Play Championship and won the PKB's Rock Hill CC event this past May.  Tindal is ranked number three on the SC girls' rankings.

 

Jensen Castle of West Columbia, SC.  Castle, a rising high school freshman, reached the quarter-finals in the 2014 SC Junior Match Play Championship and finished tied for third in the SC 4A State Championship.  Castle is currently ranked number eight in SC.

 

Dataw Island, a beautiful gated golf community located in Beaufort, South Carolina, awaits you.  Dataw Island is an impeccable combination of dazzling vistas, outstanding amenities, great real estate values and engaged residents.  The Dataw Island Club features recently renovated Tom Fazio and Arthur Hills golf courses, a tennis center, a workout/massage facility and croquet lawns.  The lovely clubhouse overlooking the water is the center of all activity at Dataw Island. With a full service deep-water marina, Dataw Island attracts boaters from around the world.  But great amenities are only the start of the Dataw experience. The best part of Dataw is the sense of community.  Friends enjoying life with friends. That is the true heart of Dataw Island and the Dataw Island Club.

 

A series of dikes, created to generate more planting ground for 18^th century plantation cotton fields, influenced the Cotton Dike course by Tom Fazio.  Fazio is one of the country's finest golf course designers known for his waterfront challenges.  Jenkins Creek flows by nearly half of the 18 holes, between emerald fields and fairways.  For more than three decades, Tom Fazio and his design staff have created award-winning courses throughout the United States. And no living designer has more credits on Golf Digest’s list of "America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses" and Golfweek’s collection of "America’s Best." His Dataw creation puts a premium on a player’s imagination.  “From a playability standpoint,” Fazio says, “the seventh hole offers numerous options as a three-shot hole or as a reachable par-five for long hitters, and if the golfer avoids the forest on the right and the lagoons on the left, a birdie is a distinct possibility.” In 2011 the Cotton Dike course was completely renovated and now plays better than ever. It has regained its place as one of the Lowcounty’s finest courses.

 

The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization that was founded in 1909 to promote and to protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is the second largest golf association in the country with over 700 member clubs represented by nearly 150,000 individuals.

 

Now in its 106th year, the CGA annually conducts 43 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 140 One-Day (net and gross) events and qualifying for USGA national championships. The CGA serves golf in the Carolinas with numerous programs such as: the USGA Handicap System; tournament management software and support; course measuring and course/slope ratings; agronomy consultation; answers about the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, and Handicapping; Carolinas Golf Magazine; Interclub series; Tarheel Youth Golf Association; Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; expense assistance for USGA Junior and Girls' Junior qualifiers from the Carolinas; and the Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF). The CGF has distributed more than $1,500,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives including junior and women's programs.  

 

For more information about the CGA, visit www.carolinasgolf.org.