All-star squad has high hopes in PGA Junior League
Photo: Left to right, Emerson Majma, Chase Jones, Porter Hart, Harrison Shaw, Ainslie Stanford, Banks Cozby, Chase Hughes and Evyn Cannon. Porters little brother Paxton is in the front.
After taking a team from Tulsa to the PGA Junior League national finals two years ago and seeing the level of golfer that some state’s were sending from golf academies with national draws, Amanda Fisher decided to fight fire with fire.
This year her four-team PGA Junior League at Battle Creek Golf Club in Broken Arrow, where she is the director of instruction, included some select invitees from the Oklahoma City area, allowing Fisher to compile a post-season all-star team that could hopefully be competitive at nationals.
That is why the Battle Creek squad that dominated play in sub regionals last week, defeating teams from Wichita 11-1 and Little Rock 11-1, has a collection of the state’s most accomplished junior golfers.
Chase Hughes, Emerson Majma, Ainslee Stanford and Evyn Cannon, all from the Oklahoma City area and all with accomplished backgrounds in national U.S. Kids events and other junior events, have teamed with four talented Tulsa-area players in Chase Jones, Porter Hart, Banks Cozby and Harrison Shaw to form a formidable team.
Next step is regional finals Sept. 3-5 in Columbia, Mo. If the Battle Creek team can get by two teams from the Gateway Section and one from the Midwest Section, it will represent the South Central Section at the national championship Oct. 7-10 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“It we do make it to nationals, we want to have a chance to win it,” Fisher said. “Every kid out there can be a superstar. They can all be as good as they want to be.”
Cannon recently placed second in the U.S. Kids World Championships at Pinehurst in the girls 11 division, opening with rounds of 68-68 before a third-round 75 left her at 5-under. Hughes tied for seventh in the Boys 11 while Stanford placed 13th.
– Ken MacLeod