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Letson Wins Fla. Junior Golf Major

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY

nmurray@tampatrib.com

Published: December 3, 2008

HARMONY - Tampa golfer Doug Letson won the Florida Junior Tour's inaugural major event, winning by one shot with a three-round total of 215 (1 under par) at Harmony Preserve Golf Club on Sunday.
Letson shot a 1-over 73 in the third round, making par on the final hole to best Brendon Park of Weston. The two players had come to the last hole tied at 1 under for the tournament, but Park got a bad lie in the rough after he sent his tee shot left, and was forced to punch out into the fairway. Park was unable to get up and down from there, making bogey to leave him tied with Ernesto Marin of Miami at 216.
Letson played the last hole as consistently as he had the entire tournament, finding the green with a low shot that put him 15 feet from the hole. Two putts later, he took the victory. Letson, who signed with Florida State during the recent early college signing period, said the low trajectory he typically hits his shots on helped him in the blustery conditions on the final day.

"I usually shoot the ball a little low, so that helped my game out a little," Letson said. "I hit it solid, which also helped with the wind."
Letson finished in the top five in both of his other FJT events this season, and with the bonus points awarded for winning the major tournament, now sits on top of the tour's points standings with 2,383. Letson said it did mean something to win the inaugural major tournament.

"It's pretty good to win the first major of the FJT," Letson said.

Ian McConnell of Riverview had led after two rounds, but shot a 6-over 42 on the front nine on the final day as he finished with 219, tied for fourth. McConnell said there was a simple explanation for why he struggled Sunday.

"I choked like a dog with the putter," McConnell said. "Three three-putts on the front nine just killed me, and add in a four-putt on the back nine, it kind of blew me out of there."

Tampa's Jack Twomey finished in a tie for 12th with 225, and as with McConnell on the final day, Twomey said his putting was the reason for his finish.

"I was hitting the ball really, really good, I just couldn't putt out there," Twomey said. "I had probably over 35 putts each day. I was hitting every fairway, and hit 15 or 16 greens today and shot a 76, so it was real tough."

M.J. Maguire of St. Petersburg finished sixth with a 220, while brother Jack tied for 12th.

In another FJT event, Madison Opfer of Plant City defeated Robbi Howard of Bradenton in a playoff to win the girls under-15 title at Hunters Creek Golf Club in Orlando. Opfer led after the first and second rounds, but Howard shot a 70 to Opfer's 71 in the final round to force a playoff.

HCU Under-15 Falls In Super-Y Semifinals

TAMPA - In the end, the absence of its starting goalkeeper may not have been the main cause for Hillsborough County United's boys under-15 team falling in the semifinals of last week's United Soccer League's Super-Y North American Championships. In fact, it's likely the cause was its homefield advantage.

HCU lost 3-2 to the City Islanders Academy from Pennsylvania after the Islanders scored late in the second half to tie the game, then again late in the second overtime for the win. With its players having to compete in high school games in addition to the club tournament, HCU coach Eric Sims said his players did well to compete as hard as they did.

"I think our team played hard, and fought as hard as they could," Sims said. "They just ran out of gas."

HCU was without goalkeeper John Nardozzi in the semifinal, as he was serving a game suspension after being ejected late in HCU's final group game after the referee ruled he prevented a clear scoring opportunity when he brought down FC Fredericksburg forward Ryan Zinkhan. But Rodrigo Urcia filled in admirably in goal, making a number of excellent saves to keep HCU in the game in the first half, and then to keep them ahead after goals by Ellis Curry and Kofi Forkuoh had given them a 2-1 second-half lead.

Urcia was unable to prevent Tyler Gay's equalizer with a minute to play in regulation, and had little chance with Brandon Arvey's sharp finish into the roof of the net just before the final whistle of the second overtime.

Despite the loss, HCU took a lot of positives away from the tournament. Nick Patterson scored five goals in four games, Daniel Barboto, Christian Zelasquez and Johnny Thomas all impressed in midfield, and Josh Santos was solid in defense. Thomas said the late goals stung, and would stay with the team for a while.

"We'll take it as a lesson that we need to play hard the entire game," Thomas said. "If we had played through, that could have been our game."

HCU's boys under-13 team was eliminated a day earlier after a 2-0 loss to Diablo FC from California. HCU would have advanced with a victory, but was unable to find its rhythm against Diablo's defensive pressure.

"Our whole group was in the same situation today where they needed to win," HCU coach Scott Moniz said. "They came out and they wanted it a little more than we did. I thought we started out well, but they pressured us more than we were used to, and we just didn't click."

Moniz added that despite the team falling short of advancing to the semifinals, he was pleased with its overall performance.

"I'm proud of the boys," Moniz said. "They made it a long way, and they worked their butts off here this weekend, and it was more a positive weekend than a negative."

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243. Keyword: Youth Sports for more news, notes and live game stories.

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