Locals to compete in SCGA Junior Championship

The SCGA Junior Championship returns to Columbia Country Club in Blythewood from June 6-8 for the fourth time since hosting its first championship in 1964.

2016 SCGA Junior Champion Trent Phillips will be back to defend his title and see if he can be the first player to win back to back Junior titles since Tommy Biershenk Jr. in 1990 and 1991.

More than 150 of South Carolina’s top junior golfers will play the Ridgewood-Tall Pines layout over three days. After two days of play, the field will be cut for the final round as competitors battle for the SCGA Junior Championship title.

Local players include Daniel Azallion, Brooks Dyess, Charles Farrell, Evan Greenplate, Jonathan Griz, Travis Mancill and Jake Snelgrove, all of Hilton Head Island; Tommy Holloway of Fripp Island; and Brandon McBride, Connor Moore, JD Patterson and Drew Weary, all of Bluffton.

The low eight scores of the tournament automatically qualify for the 42nd annual Georgia-South Carolina Junior Team Matches. The Matches will be played July 22-23 at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw. The top eight also qualify for the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational and the Junior Heritage. The champion also receives an exemption into the SCGA Amateur and the Sage Valley Junior Invitational.

The Heritage Classic Foundation will be the presenting sponsor of the SCGA Junior Championship. The Heritage Classic Foundation is the general sponsor of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing and The Players Amateur.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Locals to compete in SCGA Junior Championship."