Scottsdale’s Sam McKay and Phoenix’s Alisa Snyder took top honors at the Thompson Invitational, a 36-hole golf tournament on the JGAA’s Junior Masters Series contested June 21-22 at Oro Valley Country Club. In the Boys Division, three competitors fired solid final rounds to finish tied at one-under-par 143 for the tournament. McKay would go on to drain a long putt from the fringe on the first playoff hole to edge out Jack Snyder from Phoenix and Briggs Duce from Sierra Vista.
Boys: Jack Snyder, Sam McKay, Briggs Duce
Girls: Taylor Hughes, Alisa Snyder, Natassja MeredithPrior to the Thompson Invitational, McKay finished T4 at the Antigua Milt Coggins AZ Junior Stroke Play in early June, on the heels of a T37 performance in the Charlie Beljan Invitational. Before that, he finished third in the Desert Mashie Spring Championship, and eighth at the AM&E Classic Presented by Bryce Molder, both in March.
In the Girls Division, Snyder fired a seven-under-par 137 (69-68) for the tournament topping the next best competitor, Tucson’s Natassja Meredith, by nine strokes. She adds this Junior Masters Series win to a fifth-place finish at the Phoenix Metro Jr. Championship in February; a first-place finish at the Thunderbird Invitational in March; fourth and second-place finishes respectively at the Willie Low Invitational and Thunderbird Junior Classic in June.
“Congratulations to Sam and Alisa for their great play,” said Scott McNevin, Executive Director of the JGAA. “I’d like to take a moment to thank Michael Thompson, and his many sponsors including PING, Bobby Jones and Titleist for helping make this a great championship. We’d also like to thank Dan and Susie Meyers as well as Oro Valley Country Club for hosting the Thompson Invitational.”
As the name would suggest, the Michael Thompson Invitational is hosted by PGA TOUR player and Tucson native, Michael Thompson. Thompson grew up playing in the Ricki Rarick Junior Golf program, Southwest Section PGA events and JGAA tournaments from 2000-2003. He was a member of the 2001 Eddie Hogan Cup team representing Arizona, where he finished third individually. In 2013, Thompson won his first PGA TOUR event at the Honda Classic and finished 39th overall in the FedExCup standings that year. In 2014, he notched seven top-25 and a top-10 finishes in 22 events played. So far this year, he has a third-place finish and a pair of top 25s in 19 starts.
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To learn more about the JGAA and the Junior Masters Series, contact Scott McNevin, JGAA Executive Director, smcnevin@jgaa.org, 602-944-6168.
