Dawson Szabo was smiling when he was handed the award for winning the Southern Cross Junior Invitational at the historic Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken.

It isn’t rare for the Blue Ridge High School golfer to win tournaments, but it is unusual to see him smiling even after a win.

When asked why he doesn’t smile, Szabo’s answer was simple.

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m satisfied,” he said with a straight face.

When you see the photo of Szabo receiving his award for the individual victory at the Southern Cross he is all smiles.

What’s the difference?

“I can smile because I’m satisfied,” said the top ranked junior in South Carolina.

The defending state 3A individual champion shot rounds of 69 and 71 to be the only golfer to finish under par and claim a two-shot victory.

“This is such a great tournament and the course is so special, It is an amazing feeling to win here. It is even better to get the team win too. It is almost like winning the Masters,” he said..

Over the year’s to win the tournament, played just a few miles from the one giving out a real green jacket, has become the goal for every high school team and individual.

Led by Szabo’s two-day 2-under par total, the Tigers were able to come from one-shot behind the first round leader, Frederica Academy from Georgia, to win the team title by 2-shots.

The Southern Cross format is a little different than regular high school tournaments, The format used at the Palmetto Club is four golfers play and count three scores. Regular high school tournaments play five golfers and count four scores,

The win is not a state championship, but the Southern Cross might be bigger. It is a “major” in South Carolina High School golf,

Szabo trailed first round leader, Jackson Byrd, the seventh ranked junior in the country and a future Clemson golfer from Frederica Academy in Georgia, by a shot.

Playing in the group in front of Byrd, Szabo’s start to the final round wasn’t good. He carded two bogeys and a double bogey in his first five holes.

“It was early and I had enough confidence I could get the shots back. I just had to stay focused and not hit any more bad ones,” he said.

Byrd birdied the first hole to stretch his lead to two shots, but gave some ground back to the field with two bogeys in his first five holes.

The battle for the top spot had tightened and went unnoticed by Szabo.

“I didn’t know what else was going on around the course. I knew Jackson was behind me, but I didn’t want to know what he was doing. I am not a scoreboard watcher. I just want to play my best golf and see how things turn out,” said the Blue Ridge Tiger.

Szabo made the turn still trailing Byrd, but the situation started to change on the 10th hole.

Szabo made an eagle to cut down the lead and he added another eagle on the 15th hole.

Szabo finished his round with an even par 71 and at 2 under par for the tournament had the clubhouse lead and had to wait for the rest of the field to finish,

None of the contenders were able to play through the difficult final holes at the Palmetto Club to catch Szabo.

Byrd shot a final round 75 to drop back into a second place tie with three other golfers.

Defending champion Will Ruth, from Dorman, shot the best final round posting a 1-under par 70 to tie for second place with Byrd and Ruth’s Cavalier teammate Moses Zikusooka and Hanna’s Bennett Scaletta.

“Winning was great, but our whole team played so well to win, This is our third win in a row,” said the medalist.

Helping Szabo win the team title were Owen Kinnunen, Ryder Seppala and Benjamin Brown. The Tigers finished with a 438 total,12 over par for a two shot victory.

Frederica Academy held off Dorman for second place with Hanna and defending champion Greenville rounding out the top-five.

The regular high school season has been completed and the post season tournament begins with Regional competition starting on May 5th.

Upper and Lower State qualifying tournaments begin on May 12th, with the 36 hole state championship tournaments start on May 19th.