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What a difference a week made for Thomas Constantine.
Leading up to the Golfweek New England Junior on July 8-9 at Ledgefield Country Club in Seekonk, Massachusetts, Constantine played an AJGA event at Chicopee (Massachusetts) Country Club.
“Didn’t have my best showing,” said Constantine, who is about to enter his senior year of high school, “but practiced leading up to this and was able to put up some low numbers, got my ballstriking a little better and putting was definitely better.”
Constantine, who lives in Franklin, Massachusetts, and attends Xaverian High School, missed the cut at the AJGA tournament, but he turned it around quickly to fire rounds of 74-71-70 and then go on to win the Golfweek event on the first hole of a playoff.
“Didn’t have my best ballstriking and I was able to get up and down from a lot of places and that saved me a lot,” he said after the Golfweek tournament.
Storms over Ledgefield produced enough lightning to cause significant delays on Tuesday, the opening 36-hole day. Players had to finish their second round on Wednesday before the final round began. Constantine played 25 holes on Wednesday before finishing off the title in the playoff.
He had to get past AJ Bodnar of North Andover, Massachusetts, on the extra hole after Bodnar used rounds of 71-73-71 to tie Constantine at 2 over for the event. Last month, Bodnar advanced through U.S. Junior qualifying and will tee it up at the tournament proper on July 21-26.
Perhaps the most heroic part of Constantine’s victory was the playoff itself. This isn’t his first playoff victory, but it was a memorable one. He hit driver on the drivable par-4 14th and left himself with a chip onto the green from about 30 yards. That shot nearly rolled in for eagle – the ball even hit the flagstick – and it set up an easy birdie for the win.
“I knew it would be tough to stop going down that hill and kind of got a little lucky hitting the stick but happy it stayed close,” Constantine said about that chip shot.
Constantine hopes to play college golf, he just isn’t sure where yet. In the final weeks before he begins his senior year, he plans to play a few more United State Challenge Cup events.
Behind Constantine and Bodnar, Parker Kroll was third with a 4-over total. The East Greenwich, Rhode Island, resident made up ground in the final round with a closing 70. Tyler Dearborn of Sherborn, Massachusetts, finished fourth, another shot back.
In the girls division, Junyi (Judy) Wu from Beijing capped off a four-shot victory when she posted rounds of 73-76-73 for a 6-over total. Wu began to pull away on the back nine of the opening round when she made three birdies in her final four holes and she never looked back.
Interestingly, Wu didn’t even think she had her best stuff this week, particularly around the greens. She called her short game “horrible” but noted that her long game is very strong and that she was also able to hit a lot of greens in regulation.
“I think the golf course is very [suited] for me – the greens and the fairways – because I think there are a lot of left doglegs and I always play a draw,” she said after the final round.
Wu, who will graduate high school in Beijing in the spring, has already verbally committed to play college golf at Amherst College, an NCAA Division III school in Amherst, Massachusetts. She arrived in the U.S. at the end of May to play a summer schedule of tournaments. In mid-June, she won the Connecticut Junior PGA Championship at Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Connecticut.
Both wins, Wu thinks, should give her more confidence on the golf course, especially when things don’t go exactly her way.
“I think I should relax,” she said, “and accept all my mistakes.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Thomas Constantine wins Golfweek New England Junior Open after heroic playoff shot; Junyi Wu takes girls' title
Continue reading...
Leading up to the Golfweek New England Junior on July 8-9 at Ledgefield Country Club in Seekonk, Massachusetts, Constantine played an AJGA event at Chicopee (Massachusetts) Country Club.
“Didn’t have my best showing,” said Constantine, who is about to enter his senior year of high school, “but practiced leading up to this and was able to put up some low numbers, got my ballstriking a little better and putting was definitely better.”
Constantine, who lives in Franklin, Massachusetts, and attends Xaverian High School, missed the cut at the AJGA tournament, but he turned it around quickly to fire rounds of 74-71-70 and then go on to win the Golfweek event on the first hole of a playoff.
“Didn’t have my best ballstriking and I was able to get up and down from a lot of places and that saved me a lot,” he said after the Golfweek tournament.
Storms over Ledgefield produced enough lightning to cause significant delays on Tuesday, the opening 36-hole day. Players had to finish their second round on Wednesday before the final round began. Constantine played 25 holes on Wednesday before finishing off the title in the playoff.
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He had to get past AJ Bodnar of North Andover, Massachusetts, on the extra hole after Bodnar used rounds of 71-73-71 to tie Constantine at 2 over for the event. Last month, Bodnar advanced through U.S. Junior qualifying and will tee it up at the tournament proper on July 21-26.
Perhaps the most heroic part of Constantine’s victory was the playoff itself. This isn’t his first playoff victory, but it was a memorable one. He hit driver on the drivable par-4 14th and left himself with a chip onto the green from about 30 yards. That shot nearly rolled in for eagle – the ball even hit the flagstick – and it set up an easy birdie for the win.
“I knew it would be tough to stop going down that hill and kind of got a little lucky hitting the stick but happy it stayed close,” Constantine said about that chip shot.
Constantine hopes to play college golf, he just isn’t sure where yet. In the final weeks before he begins his senior year, he plans to play a few more United State Challenge Cup events.
Behind Constantine and Bodnar, Parker Kroll was third with a 4-over total. The East Greenwich, Rhode Island, resident made up ground in the final round with a closing 70. Tyler Dearborn of Sherborn, Massachusetts, finished fourth, another shot back.
You must be registered for see images attach
In the girls division, Junyi (Judy) Wu from Beijing capped off a four-shot victory when she posted rounds of 73-76-73 for a 6-over total. Wu began to pull away on the back nine of the opening round when she made three birdies in her final four holes and she never looked back.
Interestingly, Wu didn’t even think she had her best stuff this week, particularly around the greens. She called her short game “horrible” but noted that her long game is very strong and that she was also able to hit a lot of greens in regulation.
“I think the golf course is very [suited] for me – the greens and the fairways – because I think there are a lot of left doglegs and I always play a draw,” she said after the final round.
Wu, who will graduate high school in Beijing in the spring, has already verbally committed to play college golf at Amherst College, an NCAA Division III school in Amherst, Massachusetts. She arrived in the U.S. at the end of May to play a summer schedule of tournaments. In mid-June, she won the Connecticut Junior PGA Championship at Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Connecticut.
Both wins, Wu thinks, should give her more confidence on the golf course, especially when things don’t go exactly her way.
“I think I should relax,” she said, “and accept all my mistakes.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Thomas Constantine wins Golfweek New England Junior Open after heroic playoff shot; Junyi Wu takes girls' title
Continue reading...
