Before digital and internet scoreboards, the old fashioned kind of scoreboards used a color coded system to make it easy for players and fans to see the scores.

Black numbers were pars, green numbers were over par and red numbers were under par.

On Saturday, after the first round of the annual Morgan-Lucas Championship at the Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer course, you had to look very hard to see any red numbers.

The top junior golfers in South Carolina battled wind gusts up to 20 miles an hour creating a lot of swing and hope shots.

In the boys competition. only Dylan Park from Easley and Beau Lewis from Greenville were able to post a  red number, 1-under par 71. 

As difficult as it was for the boys, the  best first round for the girls was a 79 turned in by Mia Carles from Clinton.

Many of the juniors put numbers on their scorecards they have not written down since thier very early playing days.

One of those golfers, with a ridiculous, for him score, was Casey Kosney from Spartanburg..

The fourth ranked junior in South Carolina carded an 82, 10 over par in the first round to tie for 31st.

“I really didn’t think I was playing that bad, but the score ended up being pretty bad,” Kosney said.

The Dorman High School Junior was right with both his observations, The score was bad, but he didn’t play that badly and it showed when he came back for the second round.

The wind was a little more forgiving, but Chanticleer in late winter plays hard and fast and is not forgiving.

The shotgun start had Kosney starting on number 10.

His second round began to look special when he birdied numbers 12, 13, 14, and 15,

He only had one bogey on his card when he birdied in on his last three holes, numbers 7, 8 and 9 for his 65.

He finished his second round 17 shots better than his first round.

“I can’t explain it, it is just golf,” he said.

If this was a weekend club tournament he would have been accused of sandbagging .

“When I finished the first round I was shocked, I told myself I can be there (the lead) if I make a couple of birdies..Making birdies on 12-15 gave me a lot of confidence,” he said…

How good was the round?

The next best score was turned in by last year’s Upstate AAA medalist Dawson Szabo from Greer, who shot a 71 to improve by nine shots from his first round to climb into a fifth place tie.

First round co-leader Park, looked like he had the win when he finished-his round on18. but when the scores were posted from the other side of the course he was one shot back of Kosney.

Lewis. the first round co-leader, carded a double bogey on the par 5 17th hole to set him back into a tie for third with Kosney’s Cavalier teammate Will Ruth,

The 7-under par 65 wasn’t the best score Kosney has posted in competition, He had a 63 in a tournament in California before his family moved to Spartanburg a year ago.

While the score wasn’t his best, the win in the Morgan-Lucas championship was.

“It is up there. It is a great event and a great golf course. You can’t beat getting a win here,” he said,

The girls championship was won by Ella Kate Barnett from Galivants Ferry.

Barnett improved on her first round 80 by 3-shots in the final round to top Chesnee’s Olivia Roberts by two shots,

While the wind affected most players. Barnett believed she had already played in more difficult conditions.

“After playing in the Junior Heritage (Hilton Head Harbour Town) last week, I didn’t think the wind was that bad,” said Burnett. 

While every golfers card had some big numbers, Barnett’s three front nine birdies made a big difference in the outcome.

“I love this course and am so happy to win here,” she added.

First round leader Carles finished in third place.

Scores from the Morgan-Lucas championship https://scjga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scjga24/event/scjga243/contest/5/leaderboard.htm