Lyman shoots final round 65; Gutman finishes with a 67
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- (left to right) Camden Braidech, Nicholas Lyman, Ramil Saelim
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- (left to right) Eva Heinz, Talia Gutman, Alexis Vakasiuola
Nicholas Lyman of Litchfield Park broke away from a crowded first round leaderboard to win the Mesa City Junior Championship, held June 29-30 at Dobson Ranch Golf Course. Starting with a 3-under 69, Lyman caught fire in the second round. He followed four birdies on the front nine with three on the back en route to a bogeyless, 7-under 65 and the championship title at -10.
Three players finished tied for second place at -8. Kendall McCain of Flagstaff and Ramil Saelim of Peoria shot double-68s to finish two strokes off the pace, and Camden Braidech of Scottsdale became the third at -8, after shooting 67-69.
In the Girls Championship division held at Toka Sticks Golf Club, defending champion Eva Heinz came out firing, with a first round 2-under 70, which include an eagle-3. In the second round, the pendulum swung in Talia Gutman’s favor, as she shot 5-under-par 67 to finish in first place at 3-under par (74-67). With an eagle-3 of her own on the second hole of the final round, the Scottsdale resident got it to 6-under par through 17 holes of the final round, before cruising to victory by seven strokes. Heinz worked into solo-second place at +4, and two players finished tied for third place at +5: Alexis Vakasiuola (75-74) of San Tan Valley and Nikki Bowen (74-75) of Surprise.
At Dobson Ranch, Quinton Breuer of Peoria won the Boys 15-18 division at 1-over par (66-79). In the Girls 15-18 division contested at Toka Sticks Golf Club, Zaida Wise of Tucson came out on top, posting 8-over par (76-76).
In the Boys 13-14 division contested at View Point Golf Resort, Preston Brooke (73-71) of Gilbert won in a playoff with Frederick Egnatios (74-70) of Norfolk, Virginia after both finished tied for first place at 2-over par. And Kaitlyn Moreland of Scottsdale won the Girls 13-14 division after shooting 69-75, +2.
In the Boys 11-12 division, Hagen Lancaster (36-37) of Anthem won in a playoff over Cason Dezzani (38-35) of Scottsdale, after both shot 1-over-par 73 at View Point. And Mischa Wang of Scottsdale fired 40-46—86 to win the Girls 11-12 division at +14.
Jaxon Luzar of Chandler won the Boys 10 and Under division at +1 with rounds of 37-36, and two players – Teria Williams (45-44) of Avondale Priya Natarajan (42-47) of Phoenix – finished tied for first place in the Girls 10 and Under division at +17, before Williams prevailed in a playoff.
