Both notch second win at first PING Junior Masters Series tournament of the season
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- Abbey Schutte & Wheaton Ennis
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- (left to right) Adam Miller, Charlie Palmer, Wheaton Ennis
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- (left to right) Jio Yoo, Sammie Olson, Abbey Schutte
Held January 21-22 at Wigwam Golf Resort, Abbey Schutte of Goodyear won at the Warren Schutte Invitational presented by Hilgers Orthodontics, a PING Junior Masters Series tournament founded and hosted by her father, Warren Schutte.
Winning the same event in 2020, she topped this year’s Girls Championship division, carding -2 with rounds of 70-72 on the Red and Gold Courses to win by five strokes over defending champion, Sammie Olson, of Phoenix who fired +3 (68-79) to come in solo-second place. Jio Yoo of Irvine, California finished close behind in third place at +4 after shooting 73-75.
Wheaton Ennis defended his title, setting a stiff pace with a first-round, 8-under 64 highlighted by an eagle-2 on his front nine and five birdies on the back nine. Ennis started the next day on fire, going 3-under par for the first two holes to turn at 4-under par, before cooling off to post a final round 2-under-par 70.
Ennis finished at -10 for the tournament, five strokes ahead of Charlie Palmer of Paradise Valley who shot -5 (68-71). Four players finished tied for third place at -3: Dallin Delgado (72-69) of Mesa; Vincent Cervantes (71-70) of Chandler; Adam Miller (69-72) of Phoenix; and Camden Braidech (68-73) of Scottsdale.
The PING Junior Masters Series consists of five tournaments held at some of the most prestigious courses in Arizona. Debuting in 2015, the PING Junior Masters Series is a series of invitation-only tournaments tailored to Arizona junior golfers with the desire and ability to compete locally against their top-ranked peers. The field for the events is limited to junior golfers who are invited to compete by their national ranking by Junior Golf Scoreboard.
“Our goal is to provide a competitive place for aspiring players to play,” said Alex Clark, Chairman of the Board of the JGAA. “This tournament series will allow kids to earn national-level points and will serve as a launching pad for nationally chartered events.”
Openings for junior players from neighboring states will be dependent on availability at each event. Qualified junior players can sign up for the PING Junior Major Series by visiting www.jgaa.org.
To learn more about the JGAA and the PING Junior Masters Series, contact Scott McNevin, JGAA Executive Director, smcnevin@jgaa.org, or call Scott at 602-944-6168.
