With two major summer championships on her resume and a few more tournaments to go before going back to school, Clinton’s Mia Carles will have plenty to talk about when she goes back to class.
At the end of June, Carles came from a shot off the lead in the final round of the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association’s Junior Championship to win.
Carles won the state title by shooting a 1-under par 71. Her final round score at Arcadian Shores Golf club in Myrtle Beach turned out to be the only under-par round posted in the junior championship,
The 14 year old followed up the victory at Myrtle Beach with a win in Gaffney at the Carolinas Golf Association South Carolina Junior Match Play championship.
“I had never played in a Match Play tournament,” she said, “The rules are a little different, but I had so much fun” she said.
Some of the fun had to come from winning the event at the Cherokee National Golf Club.
Carles finished third in the stroke play qualifying round and earned her spot in the finals after two impressive wins.
Carles topped Braelyn Oliver from Pageland 2 up.
She moved into the finals with a 5&3 win over Melissa Scaletta from Belton, winning her last six holes to advance.
Her opponent in the championship match, Olivia Roberts from Chesnee, ironically was the same golfer she had to top to win the WSCGA Junior title in June.
After Roberts took a 1-up early lead, Carles charged back to win three of the next four holes.
The 2022 Orange Jacket champion held the 3 up lead until the 14th hole.
Roberts cut into the lead with a birdie and when Carles blew her approach shot over the 15th green into trouble to finish with a bogey and the lead dropped to a single hole.
“I guess I started to stress a little, It wasn’t I was playing badly, Olivia (Roberts) just made some great shots,” said Carles.
But on 16, Roberts got a bad bounce in the fairway and had to declare her ball OB.
Carles made a par to get her lead back to two.
A scrambling par on the par 3 17th hole won the match for Carles 3&1.
With two big wins so far this summer Carles is comfortable with her game, but also knows she needs to keep getting better,
“My putter saved me this week because my driving needs to get much better, but I had so much fun playing match play r,” she said. I cant want to play in another tournament like this,” concluded Carles.
Boys Semi Finals Set at SC Junior Match Play
The Quarter Final round of the CGA South Carolina Junior Match Play championship at the Cherokee National Golf Club in Gaffney saw some close matches to identify the four golfers to play in the semi-final round on Friday.
Dorman High School golfer Will Ruth built a 3 up lead by the 13th hole and then held off Seamus Bogan from Clover for a 2&1 win to advance to a semi final match.
Ruth will take on Drew Andrews after the Hartsville golfer topped David Oliver from Pageland in 21 holes.
The widest margin of victory in the quarter finals belonged to Upstate Junior Champion Richard Anaciero from Aiken. He won his match with Matthew Parker from Florence 3&2.
Spartanburg’s Hugh Lemmons earned the last semi-final spot with a tough 19 hole win over Beau Lewis of Greenville.
The Semi-Final matches begin at 8 am at Cherokee National with the finals following .
Scores from the CGA South Caroliina Junior Match Play championships https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/4
Categories: Junior Golf
