Challenger Mike Blasey, with help from first-round leader Teagan Stephenson, turned a two-stroke deficit into a three-shot lead after nine holes of the final round and was not really threatened, as he won the 90th Junior Championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at the University of Maryland Golf Course in College Park, June 24.
Blasey, who lives in Potomac and plays from Columbia CC, polished off the opposition with a 1-under-par final-round 70 and a 36-hole total of 141. Stephenson, from Holly Hills CC, played Blasey even on the back but by then four front-nine bogeys had capsized his thoughts of winning. He ended with 69-75–144 and took second place.
Three shots apart after 10 holes, Blasey and Stephenson each bogeyed the 11th; a Stephenson birdie cut the margin to two, but a Stephenson bogey at the 14th and a Blasey birdie at the 15th all but sealed the outcome. Stephenson, 16, an Urbana High School junior, accounted for the final margin with a birdie at the 17th.
The birdie putts for the winner, 18, a Landon School senior, were no longer than five feet and he closed it out with a six-foot par putt at the 18th. For the round, he reached 15 greens in regulation and as he said, “It’s hard to make mistakes [in that situation].”
Davis Lamb, Congressional CC, and Walter Egloff, Chevy Chase Club, each matched par with a 71 and tied for third at 145. Peter Knade, from Easton and Talbot CC, began the round a stroke off the lead, then slipped back with a 76 to tie for fifth at 146. With a cut to low 24 and ties for the round (or those within eight shots of the lead, a record 38 players competed on the second day.
Nicholas Mejia, 15, from Woodstock, who plays from Waverly Woods GC and is a sophomore at Marriott’s Ridge High School, won the 14-15 age-group title with 73-73–146. Blasey took the 16-18 prize with Stephenson as runner-up, while Ford Bennett, 13, from Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, led the 12-13 group with 41-38–79 on Monday.
-Reported by John Stewart from University of Maryland GC
