Van Paris Wins First CGA Junior Title

 

Throw seeding out the window, that is the age old adage, especially when seeds are based on only 18 holes of stroke play. The top two seeds had different ideas. Jackson Van Paris of Pinehurst came into the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed, which he acknowledged made things slightly different, “there was a little pressure, but I just had to trust in myself and believe.” Daniel Adkins II of Holly Springs was in position to pull off the upset in the quarterfinals until Van Paris chipped in to win the hole on No. 7 and won No. 8 to win the match two-and-one. “That close match gave me a lot of confidence for the next rounds, knowing I could stay in it,” Van Paris said. Van Paris had a more comfortable semifinal match, winning three-and-two over Hampton Roberts of Cary.

 

Walker Isley of Oak Island, N.C needed all nine holes to win his round of 16 match but made much quicker work of Ayush Bodhale of Cornelius, defeating him five-and-three. The No. 2 seed kept up his impressive play in the semifinals, defeating Ryan Macri of Wake Forest four-and-three to earn a spot in the finals.

 

Despite having already played 18 holes of qualifying and three matches in a little over 24 hours, the top there was a buzz around the clubhouse expecting a high quality championship match. The top two seeds produced. Van Paris took an early lead with a birdie on No. 3. He doubled his lead with another birdie on No. 4. Isley won his first hole of the match after hitting the flagstick with his approach into the sixth. Van Paris immediately responded with a fantastic tee shot into the par-3 seventh that led to a birdie and a two-up lead. “My mindset this whole week has been to go as low as possible,” Van Paris said. Isley made one of his few mistakes on the afternoon when he hit his drive into the water hazard. The No. 1 seed capitalized and pushed his lead to three. This time it was Isley who bounced back with a fantastic approach into the ninth, which led to a birdie and cut his deficit to two.

 

Isley further trimmed Van Paris’s lead after knocking in a twenty five foot birdie putt on No. 11. Having already yielded the momentum, Van Paris was not about to surrender his lead too. The twelve-year-old made birdie on No. 12 to push his lead back to two. After halving the par-5 13^th Van Paris took matters into his own hands. “Basically I knew I had to go out and make birdies and I knew I could,” Van Paris said. He birdied the 14^th then closed out the championship with yet another birdie on No. 15 to win four-and-three. “I have a lot of big tournaments coming up, this gives me a lot of confidence for those,” Van Paris said after his win.     

 

Other flight winners included Tyler Partee of Thomasville, NC (first flight), Keenan Royalty (second flight) of Raleigh, NC, Minor Hinson, III (third flight) of Charlotte, NC, Jake Clayton (fourth flight) of Burlington, NC and Mack Edwards (fifth flight) of Charlotte, NC.

 

(69) Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) def. (81) Daniel Boone Jr, Fuquay Varina, N.C. (2023), 4 and 2

(77) Daniel Adkins II, Holly Springs, N.C. (2021) def. (77) Nick Kleu, Cary, N.C. (2022), 2 up

(79) Hampton Roberts, Cary, N.C. (2023) def. (75) Colin Dutton, Foxfire, N.C. (2021), 2 and 1

(79) Branden Boyce, Spring Lake, N.C. (2021) def. (75) Caleb Surratt, Indian Trail, N.C. (2022), 1 up

(72) Walker Isley, Oak Island, N.C. (2020) def. (81) Nick Rubino, Charlotte, N.C. (2021), 1 up

(77) Ayush Bodhale, Cornelius, N.C. (2021) def. (76) Tyler Partee, Thomasville, N.C. (2021), 3 and 2

(80) Charlie Barr, Salisbury, N.C. (2021) def. (75) Drew Van Dyke, Charlotte, N.C. (2022), 3 and 2

(75) Ryan Macri, Wake Forest, N.C. (2021) def. (78) Jake Herring, Wilson, N.C. (2021), 2 and 1

(69) Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) def. (77) Daniel Adkins II, Holly Springs, N.C. (2021), 2 and 1

(79) Hampton Roberts, Cary, N.C. (2023) def. (79) Branden Boyce, Spring Lake, N.C. (2021), 3 and 2

(72) Walker Isley, Oak Island, N.C. (2020) def. (77) Ayush Bodhale, Cornelius, N.C. (2021), 5 and 3

(75) Ryan Macri, Wake Forest, N.C. (2021) def. (80) Charlie Barr, Salisbury, N.C. (2021), 2 and 1

(69) Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) def. (79) Hampton Roberts, Cary, N.C. (2023), 3 and 2

(72) Walker Isley, Oak Island, N.C. (2020) def. (75) Ryan Macri, Wake Forest, N.C. (2021), 4 and 3

(69) Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) def. (72) Walker Isley, Oak Island, N.C. (2020), 4 and 3