Published: August 04, 2008 09:19 am      

Junior golf

By Rocky Higginbotham

sports editor

Little Rock's Andy Ogletree solidified his stronghold on the Division D Player of the Year standings last week by winning the State Farm Insurance Mississippi Boys' Junior Amateur crown.

The tournament, a stop on the Mississippi Junior Golf Association tour, was held at the Mississippi State University Golf Course.

Ogletree, competing in the 10-11-year-old Division D, shot a 4-over-par 40 during first-day action, then completed the tourney with a 5-over 41 on the second day. He finished five strokes ahead of runnerup Noah Hill of Calhoun City and six strokes ahead of John Dumas of Brandon.

The win also gave Ogletree 705 points in his division's Player of the Year standings, with Madison's Daniel Dahmash a distant second at 590.

Ogletree wasn't the only area golfer competing in the Junior Amateur event, as Easton Key, Allen Massingill and Daniel Finan all turned in solid performances in a loaded Division A field.

Key finished tied for 24th overall after shooting 78-73-81 and finishing at 16-over-par 232 for the three-day event; while Massingill was tied for 36th with a 23-over 239. He shot 80-82-77. Finan shot 88-76-82 and finished 46th.

Chad Ramey of Fulton fired 76-72-68 and won in a playoff over Peyton Spring of Madison.

In Division B, Fletcher Johnson of Belden won by eight strokes over his nearest competitor with a three-day total of 3-under-par 213. Wills Scarbrough finished 22nd in the same division.

Ramey also leads the Division A Player of the Year standings with 670 points. Key is fourth at 438.47, Massingill is fifth at 432.5 and Chad Bounds of Meridian is seventh at 347.5.



Bounds shines in AJGA



While most of the area's junior golfers were competing in the Junior Amateur at MSU, Bounds was in Memphis turning in a solid performance in an American Junior Golf Association tour event.

Playing in the Stanford Financial Junior Championship hosted by David Gossett, Bounds shot 74-75-74 to finish with a 10-over-par 223. He wound up tied for 16th in the prestigious event, which included more than five dozen participants from 14 states. Brandon Rodgers of Knoxville, Tenn., won with a 76-65-68-209 on the par-71 TPC Southwind course.

Bounds was one of just two participants from Mississippi in the entire tourney.



Finan 12th in MS/LA event



After competing in the Junior Amateur, Finan made another stop on the MJGA tour last week when he played in the Mississippi/Louisiana Junior Championship Friday and Saturday.

Playing at the Wolf Hollow Golf Club in Wesson, Finan shot 83-87-170 to finish in 12th place overall. He wound up at 26-over-par, 17 shots behind winner Leland Dunning of Gautier.