Defending AJGA champion has comfort zone on Hilton Head

Certainly JonErik Alford would have loved the chance to tee it up at this week’s U.S. Junior Amateur. As second options go, though, there could be no better alternative than Hilton Head Island.

“This is my favorite place to be,” Alford said. “I love Hilton Head.”

And that’s not just because the Georgia golfer is defending boys’ champion at the Judie Oppenheimer Memorial Junior that tees off Tuesday at Ocean Reef Golf Club. Alford’s affinity for the Lowcountry goes back to long before he first picked up a golf club.

“This is where we’ve taken vacations since I was little,” he said Monday, after already picking up a little hardware as part of the winning junior-am team.

“I didn’t really get into golf until about my freshman year, and this was already my favorite spot. And getting to play golf here is even better.”

Alford was something of a surprise winner a year ago, using a final-round 68 in overcoming a six-shot deficit to prevail over a chase pack that included Hilton Head Island’s Travis Mancill and defending champion Bryson Nimmer of Bluffton.

A birdie/birdie finish left Alford expecting a playoff, only to be told one wasn’t necessary.

“I birdied my last hole, so I knew I had a chance,” he said. “I went in to try and switch (out) a glove, came back out and they told me I had won. Man, that was completely shocking.”

It was his first AJGA victory, coming after a few disappointments when the roles were reversed and he wasn’t able to fend off pursuers. “Then the one that I won,” he said, “I was nowhere near the lead and I just played it.”

Alford had hoped to qualify for the U.S. Junior, which teed off Monday outside Chattanooga, Tenn., but came up two strokes shy at his qualifier in Ohio.

“It’s a hard tournament to qualify for,” Alford said. “There’s always about 60 juniors trying to get three spots. You’ve got to be on your game all day long for 36 holes.”

Though Mancill and Hilton Head Island’s Andrew Orischak are in Tennessee this week, Alford still faces a solid local contingent that includes Hilton Head Island’s Brooks Dyess and Daniel Azallion, plus IJGA student Leo Hernandez.

Bluffton’s Sophia Burnett, who placed fifth at last spring’s Drive, Chip & Putt national finals at Augusta, is making her AJGA debut in the girls’ field. She’s joined by Bluffton’s Kayla Kozak and Hilton Head Island’s Anna Eddy.

Ana Paula Ramirez, last year’s winner, is preparing for her freshman year at SMU.

This also marks the first year the tournament is held in memory of Oppenheimer, a Long Cove Club member who was a longtime supporter of junior golf. The event has created a new “Judie Award” for the player who best exemplifies Oppenheimer’s character of friendship, kindness and joy.

“Judie was one of the most special women you’d have the opportunity to meet,” said Mariah Stackhouse, a three-time All-American at Stanford who flew out to support Monday’s event. “She always had a hug to give me and I felt like she was my grandmother.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Defending AJGA champion has comfort zone on Hilton Head."