Runner-Up to Champion: Anawin Pikulthong Wins 2021 Desert Mashie Championship

Raegan Capizzi wins by four in Girls Championship division.

: (left to right) Dallin Delgado, Aiden Krafft & Anawin Pikulthong

: (left to right) Dakota Tallent, Raegan Capizzi & Ivy Song

After finishing in second place in 2020, Anawin Pikulthong of Chandler won the 2021 Desert Mashie Championship by a healthy seven-stroke margin over second place finisher, Aiden Krafft of Albuquerque. Pikulthong’s first round 10-under 60 at Encanto Golf Course included a 9-under-par streak for 11 holes (2-12), ending with an eagle at the par-5 12^th. Krafft and Chase Gorder of Anthem sat six strokes back with opening rounds of 4-under 66.

Pikulthong then put up a 2-under-par 68 in the second round to finish the tournament at 12-under-par 128. The win marked his first of the season and eighth overall since entering the JGAA Boys Championship division in 2019. Krafft carded a 69 in the second round to finish at 5-under-par 135. Dallin Delgado (69-68) of Mesa and Nikolas Kittilson of Chandler (68-69) finished tied for third place at 3-under-par 137.

In the Girls Championship division, Ivy Song of Surprise took the first-round lead after an even-par 70 at Encanto Golf Course, one shot ahead of eventual champ, Raegan Capizzi, of Scottsdale. Capizzi put up another 71 in the second round for the win at 2-over-par 142. Song settled into second place at 6-over-par 146 after a final round 76. And Dakota Tallent of Las Vegas shot 74-75—149 to finish in third place at 9-over-par 149.

Nicholas Lippe of Chandler won the Boys 15-18 division at 3-over par (72-71—143). At Cave Creek Golf Course, Tyler Loree of El Paso, Texas won the Boys 13-14 division at 5-under par (73-66—139). On the Encanto 9 Golf Course, Arjun Somani of Chandler took top honors in the Boys 11-12 Division at even par (62-58—120), and Ryan Rasmussen (35-30) from Goodyear and Hagen Lancaster (33-32) of Anthem tied for first place in the Boys 10 and Under division at 5-over par 65.

Nikki Bowen, Surprise, won in the Girls 15-18 Division at 2-over par (72-70—142). Irene Kim of Woodstock, Maryland, shot 3-under par (67-74—141) at Cave Creek Golf Course to win the Girls 13-14 division. On Encanto 9, Hannah Nguyen of Phoenix won the Girls 11-12 division at 13-over par (66-67—133), and Beau Ellington of Paradise Valley won in the Girls 10 and Under division at 9-over par (32-37—69).

“The Desert Mashie has been giving our juniors a place to compete and have fun for 41 years,” said Scott McNevin, Executive Director of the JGAA. “It’s an honor for us to carry on the tradition of this tournament started by a group of people with a common passion for golf and the desire to see more kids grow up with the game.”

The Desert Mashie Golf Club – formed by a group of Phoenix-area golf enthusiasts in 1946 – first held the Desert Mashie Spring Championship in 1981 at Encanto Golf Course, and it became a JGAA-sanctioned event in 1992. The founding fathers of the club were Dr. Thomas A. Crump, Aubrey C. Aldridge, Earl Le Near, Earnest S. Bartlett, Dr. Lowell C. Wormley, Curtis “Dock” Earl, William Robbie” Robinson, Ray Mercado and Densil Perdue. Today the Desert Mashie is the oldest public golf club in Arizona.