A week after Nicholas Pevny of Aspen won the boys 12-13 division in phase 1 of the prestigious Optimist International Junior Golf Championships at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (READ MORE), another Coloradan scored a top-10 finish at the event.
Eva Pett of Denver tied for sixth out of 69 players on Thursday in the girls 13-14 division in Florida.
Pett shot rounds of 80-78-75 for a 17-over-par 233 total, which left her 17 strokes behind champion Thanchanok Iadpluem.
Ironically, Pett had narrowly qualified for the Optimist tournament in Florida, finishing tied for sixth last month at Meadow Hills Golf Course, where only seven players advanced. Last year as a 13-year-old, Pett finished fifth in the girls division of the Colorado Junior Amateur.
One other highlight from the Colorado perspective this week came from Rachel Penzenstadler of Centennial, who made a hole-in-one Thursday on the 141-yard 11th hole en route to a 33rd-place finish.
The third and final phase of the Optimist International — for boys 16-18 and girls 15-18 — will be held in Florida from Sunday through Wednesday. A combined 17 Coloradans are scheduled to compete in those tournaments.
Here are the results of the Colorado golfers at the Optimist this week:
Girls 13-14
6. Eva Pett, Denver 80-78-75–233
17. Kaylee Chen, Denver 83-82-75–240
23. Katelyn Lehigh, Loveland 85-81-78–244
30. Sofia Choi, Littleton 83-86-78–247
33. Rachel Penzenstadler, Centennial 82-81-85–248
34. Timbre Shehee, Mead 85-80-84–249
60. Amira Badruddin, Parker 94-93-98–285
Boys 14-15
23. Ryan Sangchompuphen, Denver 77-75-75–227
45. Traejean Andrews, Windsor 78-77-76–231
58. Maxwell Lange, Golden 81-76-77–234
69. Hunter Swanson, Denver 77-80-81–238
Missed 36-Hole Cut
Jack Larson, Arvada 82-83–165
Jackson Grace, Boulder 85-83–168
Trey Kirschner, Arvada 86-83–169
Mario Dino, Denver 83-87–170
Dakota Dolph, Pine 84-89–173
Langdon Bradley , Lone Tree 87-86–173
Jackson Rottschafer, Centennial 85-91–176
Matthew Wilkinson, Centennial 84-94–178
Jack McCormick, Littleton 84-94–178
Christopher Gunlikson II, Longmont 89-94–183
