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SPORTS
Defending champ wins Bluegrass Junior tourney
Brooke Bellomy, of Ona, poses prior to her tee-off during the American Junior Golf Association Bluegrass Junior tournament Friday, June 19, 2009, at Bellefonte Country Club in Ashland.
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ASHLAND -- Justin Thomas arrived at the 10th tee one shot out of the lead.
A well-placed 3-wood followed by a crushed 5-iron from 215 yards out left Thomas 15 feet from the hole on the second and last of the par fives on the par-70 Bellefonte Country Club layout.
Thomas rolled in the putt for eagle and moved ahead of Jared Flanery to stay. The Goshen, Ky., resident racked up four more birdies over the last eight holes for a 6-under-par 29, a 64 for the day, a tournament-record 198 for 54 holes and a 5-shot victory Friday over Flanery in the Boys Division in the 26th AJGA Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior golf tournament.
"I said I need to get to 10 under," Thomas said. "He's coming off 31 on the front. I had to get something going."
The successful title defense makes Thomas, who was three shots out of the lead after round one, the first two-time champion in the Boys Division. The Girls Division has has three -- Vicki Goetze, Leigh Anne Hardin and Whitney Wade.
Kendall Martindale of Jefferson City, Tenn., carded a 73 to pass Emma Talley and win the Girls Division by two shots with a 9-over 219. Tally, who is from Princeton, Ky., led by three entering the final round. She turned in a 78 Friday and shared second with Allison Emrey of Charlotte. Both shot 221.
Brooke Bellomy of Ona posted a 78 in the final round and finished 11th in the Girls Division at 233.
Early in the round, a tree fell onto the fairway on the second hole and that caused a 40-minute delay in play.
The victory is the second straight for Thomas on the AJGA Tour. The junior at Louisville St. Xavier rallied from three down on the back nine last week to win the Footjoy Invitational in Greensboro, N.C., and earn an exemption into the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship on Aug. 20-23 in Greensboro.
"This means a lot, but I'm still stuck on 64," said Thomas, who posted that number in the opening round a year ago on the way to a 7-shot triumph. "It's nice to know I can come back against this level of competition. I've done it the last two weeks."
Flanery, who is from Sandy Hook, Ky., and signed to play at Morehead State University, closed with a 67 and 203 total. He had four birdies on the front and one on the back against two bogeys. He finished with three sub-par rounds.
"This feels good," he said. "To be in a tournament like this and finish well shows I can play a little bit," Flanery said. "There were a bunch of good people here."
While Flanery had the hot hand on the front, Thomas got little going.
"The front was a struggle," he said. "I couldn't break apart from anyone. I couldn't get anything close to make birdie."
Then came the memorable 10th hole.
"After that 5-iron the adrenalin was going," he said. "I felt confident over everything. I hit the right spots and kept rolling. I had 12 feet for birdie on No. 18 and left it short."
Once Thomas made eagle on the 10th, Flanery knew he was in trouble.
"He's a machine," Flanery said. "You can't catch a guy when he plays like that."
Since 1993, when the tournament went to 54 holes, 203 would have been good enough to win each year except 2002 (Jesse Mudd, 202), 2006 (Cody Gribble, then-tournament record 200) and 2007 (Donny Shinn, 203 which would've forced a playoff).
Flanery did receive the Cameron Weis Sportsmanship Award.
Thomas has taken a liking to Bellefonte and Ashland. He didn't make the field in the qualifier in 2006, but did get in as an alternate. He was third in 2007.
"I've had success here and I know so many people, it's like home for me," Thomas said. "I told my mom I wanted to get on the board twice because I saw it when I first came here and remember how cool I thought that was."
Martindale trailed Talley by seven shots after round one. She made up ground with a 71 Thursday and did enough Friday to secure her third AJGA win.
"I was fortunate to get ahead on the front," Martindale said. "I said keep it together on the back. I knew what she was doing. I got four back yesterday so I knew it could be done. It was fairways and greens, get par and if you have a good hole, take it."
Brian Anania from Hurricane shot 70 for the second consecutive day and tied for 35th in the Boys Division at 220.
Other Tri-State players were Sam Booth and Aaron Barna of Hurricane, Grant McKenzie of Russell, Ky., Jeffrey Meade from Ashland, Andrew Holtzapfel of Ironton and Thomas Dransfeld from Huntington.
