Nathan Ash & Izzy Piazza Earn First Win of the Season at Bruce Brown Yuma City Junior Championship

The Junior Golf Association of Arizona (JGAA), headed south for the Bruce Brown Yuma City Junior Championship at Desert Hills Golf Course, May 18-19. Tempe’s own Nathan Ash started the opening round with a bang after recording an eagle on the par-5 2nd hole. Ash would go on to maintain a clean scorecard on the front nine with zero bogeys for a 3-under 33 on the front. The 15-year-old struggled a bit on the back nine, bogeying four of his last five holes to keep his competitors in contention. Right behind him were Kyle Heap of Mesa (tied for first) and Cooper Perkinson of Gilbert (one shot back) going into the last day of play. Ash picked up the pace in round two and remained levelheaded with three birdies and only one bogey on the scorecard. He ended up holding his first place standing on the leaderboard by just one stroke ahead of Kyle Heap to clinch the Boys Championship division and his first JGAA win of 2024. Heap secured second-place honors at 2-under par and Perkinson got solo-third at 3-over par.

Izzy Piazza of Phoenix won by a substantial margin in the Girls Championship division. She concluded the tournament at even par to top the leaderboard by 10 strokes and earned her first victory of the 2024 JGAA season.

Each year, the grounds of Yuma’s Desert Hills Golf Course come alive with the annual event. In the wake of the sad loss of the longstanding general manager, Bruce Brown, his legacy lives on through a touching initiative. Partnering with the JGAA, Laura Brown and the community established the Bruce Brown Memorial Scholarship, honoring his memory by granting substantial scholarship aid to promising JGAA athletes.

Catcher Dahm of Scottsdale placed first in the Boys 15-18 Division, winning by three strokes at 9-over par (79-74-153); Rydder Erbach of Scottsdale goes back-to-back in the Boys 13-14 Division by an even larger margin (four shots) at 19-over par (83-80-163); and Joey Morin of Gilbert took top honors in the Boys 11-12 Division at 3-over par (38-37-75). Yuma’s Yaritzi Felix wins for the second-straight year in the Girls 11-12 division.