In conjunction with the SCPGA, the 2018 Southern California Junior Amateur Golf Championship was held at Morongo GC at Tukwet Canyon. In the Boys’ Division, Ryan Smith, a familiar name, took home the trophy Sunday afternoon after finishing T-2 last year.
While it was wire-to-wire, it wasn’t a cake walk as he was forced into a sudden-death playoff with Sebastian Vallejo who held the low round of the tournament at five-under par in his second round.
“I hit a really good tee ball and put a 9-iron into the green,” Smith said. “It would’ve been nice to make that putt for birdie but I just wanted to play it safe.”
Throughout the day, however, Smith wasn’t thinking safe – with shots like driving the green on the third hole. “It was an up and down kind of day, I’m sure my mom was running miles around the house at home watching [the live scoring],” said the Carlsbad resident.
With a total of 15 birdies, seven bogeys and two doubles this weekend, Smith hung tight until the very end. Behind Smith was his playoff competitor Vallejo, Eric Doyle, Ryan Hartanto and Evan Chien to round out the top five.
“After coming close last year, it feels good to come back, shoot a few under par scores and get the job done,” Smith said.
As the SoCal Junior Amateur Champion, will see Smith at the 2019 SCGA Amateur Championship, as well as the 2019 California Amateur Championship.