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Seung
Su Han of Chino Hills, Calif., was all smiles after his seven-birdie,
one-bogey final-round performance that landed him in the winner's
circle at the EDS Boys Junior Championship. His tournament
total of 12-under-par 276 edged out Andrew Dresser of Carrollton,
Texas, who shot a 3-under-par 69 to take home second place
at the event at 279.
Seung
Su Han with the EDS Boys Junior Championship trophy.
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The 72-hole
tournament, conducted by the American Junior Golf Association
and held at held at the par-72 Oakmont Country Club, featured
153 players representing 23 states, Singapore, New Zealand
and Canada, and included 41 Texas natives. A cut after the
second round narrowed the field to 76.
Past champions of the event include Jim Furyk (1987), David
Duval (1989), Tiger Woods (1992), Ty Tryon (1999) and Matthew
Rosenfeld (2001).
Coming into No. 18, Han (68-71-71-66-276) had no clue where
his fellow competitors stood. So when he made his only bogey
of the day, he thought for sure he was in second or third
place.
"I didn't know how good of a position I had until all
of the reporters and people were congratulating me,"
Han said. "I wanted to know where the other guys were,
but I couldn't see the scores. So I stopped caring and just
played my game."
Although Han is no stranger to victory; he won the AJGA ClubCorp
Junior at Mission Hills and the AJGA Chrysler Boys Invitational;
today's victory was one piece of his goal achieved this year.
Han
finished first at the Chrysler AJGA Boys Invitational
and (above) the ClubCorp Junior at Mission Hills.
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"My
goal for the year was to play all major AJGA tournaments and
play well in them," the 15-year-old said. "I have
been playing a lot better than I expected this year."
Everything seemed to come together for Han.
"After the first round I thought I was going to shoot
really low in the second and third rounds," Han said.
"During those rounds, I was hitting my irons really well,
but the putts wouldn't fall. Today the putts dropped too."
In his last individual AJGA tournament before leaving for
college at Texas Tech University, Dresser had fun with the
thick competition in the final round.
"It's fun when it comes down to the last couple of holes,"
Dresser, 18, said. "You are just more focused with everyone
watching and you know every shot counts. It's always more
fun to win, but I went out on a good note."
Wearing the yellow POLO from his previous AJGA win, AJGA Shell
Golf Village Junior Championship, Zack Miller of San Rafael,
Calif., was in the race at 1-under for the day until he hit
No. 9.
Andrew
Dresser, who finished second at EDS Boys, heads
to Texas Tech University this fall. |
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"I
went for the hole and was trying to be aggressive, but I short-sided
myself in the bunker and went double," Miller, 18, said.
"After that I thought that my biggest competition was
Chanin [Puntawong] so I just kept up."
Miller and Puntawong of Bradenton, Fla., tied for third place.
"I played great all week," Puntawong, 15, said.
"Of the whole season, this tournament is the best I have
played. I am getting all my confidence back."
Rounding out the top ten, Joshua Wooding of Riverside, Calif.,
earned fifth place. Jake Grodzinsky of Cornville, Ariz., Martin
Ureta of Wesley Chapel, Fla., and Scotty Campbell of Conway,
Ark., tied for sixth place. Tied at ninth place were Louie
Bishop of Murrieta, Calif., Jay Choe of Yorba Linda, Calif.,
and Adam Cohan of Wayne, Pa..
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