This past weekend Katie and I headed down to Fort Gaines, GA for her first SJGT tournament. Since Katie aspires to play college golf, Will advised her to start playing on the tour so she could get experience competing at a higher level. The SJGT is a prestigious tour for juniors and one that has a lot of name recognition amongst college scouts.
Boy was this weekend an eye-opener! Katie was a basket full of nerves. Fortunately, Katie's friend and fellow golfer was playing as well and they were paired up for both days. If you don't think junior golf is serious, let me correct you. Will was right, this was a totally different level than we had ever played. It put the high school matches to shame. Katie came in 4th...out of 4 girls in her age bracket! But, I was very proud of her for sticking with it. Two days of walking 18 holes each day, carrying her own bag, hot weather and not so great golf play made for a tough weekend. Believe me, there were times I thought she was going to just walk off the course.
Todd and the staff of SJGT were top class and very understanding that this was the girl's first appearance in a tournament of this caliber. The two girls in the lead both shot 75 each day and had to go into a sudden death playoff that was decided after two holes.
We left there with our heads held high, a list full of things we need to work on, and the understanding that Brian will have to be at all the remaining tournaments. Katie suffered through my lack of golf knowledge and patiently accepted my pep talks from the side line. I have promised her that I would not speak of her score, only of how we will improve from here. I have included a few shots of her warm up on the first day and shot of Katie and Anna Logan headed off the tee box.
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