By Jed Blaackwell. Associate Editor/Publisher

With seven holes to go in the boys division at The Blade Junior Classic, a crowded leaderboard looked like an exciting finish was in order.

Instead, Cade Kriscunas removed all doubt.

Kriscunas fired a final-day 67 to win the event by four shots over Erik Erlenkeuser of Anderson. Fort Mill’s OT Mitchell finished third, with defending champion Dawson Szabo from Greer fourth and Conway’s Cade Jordan tied with Columbia’s James Rhodes and Belton’s Bennett Scaletta tied for fifth. The first six golfers on the list all shot under par in the third round, accounting for the uncertainty down the stretch. 

It didn’t last long, thanks to a remarkable stretch of golf from Kriscunas.

It started with a disaster.

His tee shot at the par-3 11th found the left fringe, but a putt up the slope got away from him, and his third shot came from across the green in the right fringe. That one stopped about 30 feet away, and his two putt gave him a double-bogey and reduced his lead to a single shot.

“I just kind of messed up that first putt,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad tee shot at all, I just made a mistake. That kind of snapped me out of it.”

And then he caught fire. He drove the par-4 12th and made a 30-footer for an eagle, immediately getting his two dropped shots back. He drained a birdie at the 13th, and saved par at the 14th. Birdies at 15, 16, and 17 followed, and by the time he came back to reality with a bogey at 18, he had posted a 33 on the back side and won the tournament going away.

“The 12th was set up driveable, and I was able to hit one up there and make a putt,” he said. “I hit a good one out of the rough pretty close at 13, made a good putt for par at 14, and that kind of let me breathe a little bit and led to those birdies on 15, 16, and 17. I didn’t check the live scoring until 15, knew I had a buffer, and those three birdies really helped out.”

The Hilton Head Prep golfer is headed to Maryland, but first he has his senior year to play.

The 11th was pivotal in the girls division as well, as Blythewood golfer Caroline Hawkins was able to weather a triple bogey six at the hole to prevail down the stretch.

“It’s frustrating,” Hawkins said. “Fortunately, my putting was the best part of my game this week, and I made a few and that kept me in front. I didn’t play my best, but you don’t have to play your best every time to win. This is a great tournament, and a very difficult course, and I’m glad to be able to win it.”

Hawkins finished with a two-day total of 18-over, defeating Mount Pleasant’s Grace Lindsey by two strokes. A.C. Peake finished third, with Belton’s Marissa Scaletta and Spartanburg’s Londyn Rath tied for fourth.

Final scores from The Blade https://scjga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scjga24/event/scjga248/contest/13/leaderboard.htm