The Woodlands, Texas - Bowen Ballis of The Woodlands, Texas, shot a final-round 1-under-par 71 for a tournament total of 8-under-par 208 and his first Invitational win. Ballis claimed victory on his home course.
The AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods is one of the longest-running events on the AJGA schedule. Originally played in 1987, the tournament settled at The Club at Carlton Woods in 2009. The event has a storied past with champions such as Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth.
Ballis began the final round with a four-shot lead which quickly shrunk as players made moves in the favorable course conditions. Ballis relied on his resilience throughout the round, but especially following the front nine where he carded two bogeys and made the turn at 1-over-par 37.
"I’ve played this course a million times I know that if you hit the ball well you can make a lot of birdies. I kept telling myself that my swing has felt good all week and all it takes is a few good swings to make it happen. After the early bogeys I knew that there were birdies to come and I just tried to stay in it mentally."
Ballis rebounded on the back nine, carding birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Going into the par-5 No. 17th, he had a one-shot lead over Eric Yun of Menlo Park, California. Ballis reached the green in two and sealed his victory with a birdie, before completing an incredible up-and-down on No. 18 to close out the win.
"Obviously any win on the AJGA is huge. This tournament has one of the best fields in golf, you get to see 72 of the best juniors in the world. That’s how it’s going to be in college too, every tournament that you play there are good players everywhere. So just getting experience in these types of scenarios will help me down the road. "
Coming into the event at No. 74 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, the high school senior has signed a National Letter of Intent with Vanderbilt University. He is playing in his second AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods. The win is his third AJGA tournament victory.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
- 2 | Eric Yun of Menlo Park, California (-6)
- 3 | Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee (-5)
- 4 | Billy Davis of Spring Valley, California (-4)
- 5 | Luke Colton of Frisco, Texas (-2)
- T6 | Matthew Diehl of Redlands, California (-1)
- T6 | Joshua Kim of Danville, California (-1)
- T8 | William Jennings of Greenville, South Carolina (E)
- T8 | Byungho Lee of (South Korea) Plano, Texas (E)
- T8 | Henry Guan of Dallas, Texas (E)
- T8 | Michael Riebe of Encinitas, California (E)
- T8 | Boston Bracken of Saint George, Utah (E)
- T8 | Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Virginia (E)