Blayne Brown and Ashley Shaw Win Girls Division by a Stroke.
The 2024 Holiday Challenge by Mass Mutual – Arizona teed off December 23 featuring 84 boys and 28 girls competing in an 18-hole, two-person team scramble format on Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor Course, home of the 2021-2023 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships.
The Boys Championship division saw a tight race at the top of the leaderboard, with 11 teams finishing within three strokes of the medalists, Hudson Ross and Jack Hart of Scottsdale. The duo carded an impressive 9-under-par 61, highlighted by four-straight birdies on the front nine. It wasn’t lonely at the top however, with three other teams firing off 9-under-par scorecards. A stacked four-team playoff went down to determine the last team standing. Teeing off hole 10, Hart and Ross made a birdie to clinch the playoff and wrap up the JGAA season with a win. Teams Xander Mulder (Scottsdale)-Landon Ashcraft (Scottsdale), Adone Panattoni (Scottsdale)-Dylan Boenning (Phoenix) and Hogan O’Malley (Tempe)-Nash Arthurs (Peoria) all tied for second place.
Litchfield Park’s Ashley Shaw and California’s Blayne Brown claimed a thrilling one-stroke victory after a dramatic comeback. Trailing by two strokes heading into the back nine, the pair surged ahead with a phenomenal 10-under 62, highlighted by five consecutive birdies on the final five holes. Finishing in a tie for second place at 9-under par were the teams of Izzy Piazza (Phoenix) and Brenna Higgins (Scottsdale), along with Ailis Tribolet (Chandler) and Anya Mathur (Scottsdale).
