42nd Annual SCGA Georgia-South Carolina Junior Team Matches
Bulls Bay Golf Club
Awendaw, SC
July 21-22, 2017

South Carolina Takes Early Lead at 2017 GA-SC Junior Team Matches

Awendaw, SC – The junior squad from the state of South Carolina took an early lead in the 42^nd edition of the GA-SC Junior Challenge Matches Friday.  Team South Carolina holds a 6-2 advantage at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, SC after winning six of the eight matches outright. 

Jacob Bridgeman (Inman, SC) put the first point on the board for South Carolina winning his match 6&5 over Georgia’s Takafumi Shimoji (Suwanee, GA).  Holden Grigg (Myrtle Beach, SC) was next for the South Carolinians winning the opening match of the day 1Up.  Zachary Reuland (Rock Hill, SC), Zack Gordon (Gaffney, SC) and Harry Reynolds (Greenville, SC) all followed their teammates lead and won their matches over Matthew Giesler (Marietta, GA), Davis Kirk (Dalton, GA) and Jack Vajda (Canton, GA) respectively.  Owen Burden (Atlanta, GA) posted the highlight of the day going six under on holes five through nine including a Hole-In-One on the par three seventh hole in route to defeating Walker Jones (Sumter, SC) 3&1.  Brandon Cho (Suwanee, GA) posted the other point for the Georgia team earning a 3&2 victory over Greenville’s Levi Moody.  In the final match of the day, Ryan Marter (Columbia, SC) won the final three holes to take a 1Up victory over Grant Sutliff of Suwanee to put the South Carolina juniors comfortably ahead going into the second round.

Teams from both states were selected by accepting the top eight finishers at each state's Junior Championship.  Friday's matches started at 7:30 a.m. and will do the same Saturday morning.  The first round ended with South Carolina earning six points to Georgia’s two.

Forty-two years ago, Pete Cox of the Georgia State Golf Association and Charles Rountree, Jr. of the South Carolina Golf Association formalized the idea of the GA - SC team matches. The winning team has their victory inscribed on the beautiful Rountree - Cox trophy that was donated by the Rountree family.  Every junior golfer that has participated in the 42-year-old competition will find his name on the trophy with his teammates.  The Georgia teams have produced 24 victories as compared to the 13 for the SC teams and four ties.  Last year’s event held at Idle Hour Golf Club in Macon, GA saw the Georgia squad make another comeback and even up the Sandlappers on the final day for the fourth consecutive tie when contested in the state of Georgia. 

First Round Results