Eleana Collins of Pinehurst defeated Kristin Vincent of Burlington 2-up to win the North Carolina Girls' Junior Amateur at Highland Country Club in Fayetteville last Friday. The 16-year-old, who is a rising senior at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, Calif., never trailed on a day that included a 6 and 5 semi-final victory over Virginia Mayer of Charlotte.
In the boys' competition, Robert Hoadley of Southern Pines, a rising sophomore at Union Pines, shot a 77 in the qualifying round before making it through five rounds of match play all the way to the finals. His run ended with a 4 and 3 loss to Will Collins of Salisbury on a day that he played 50 holes of golf.
Patrick Barrett, a rising junior at Pinecrest was ousted in the second round of match play at Highland Country Club. He and Hoadley played in the Mid Pines Junior Invitational at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines on Saturday and Sunday. The two friends went at it head-to-head on Sunday before the second round was washed out after 11 holes.
Barrett was declared the winner in the 15-16-year-old division based on his four-under par first round score of 68. Hoadley was one stroke back with a 69. Michael McGowan, a rising sophomore at The O'Neal School, shot a 72 to finish in a tie for fifth place.
Eleana Collins and her family lived in Hong Kong until about three years ago. She finished in a tie for ninth place in last year's North and South Junior Championship at the Pinehurst Resort and is entered in this year's event that begins August 1.
She has been taking lessons the last two years from Eric Alpenfels, director of the Pinehurst's Golf Advantage School. This week she is playing in a tournament in South Carolina.
"She works hard, she's a great student and she's a great kid from a great family," Alpenfels said Monday. "Sometimes we lose sight that you get rewarded for hard work. It's neat to see kids like Eleana and Patrick Barrett, who work hard and have the passion, see it pay off."
One of the keys for Collins, he says, is that when she misses a shot, she knows where the ball is going to go.
"During the tournament, she told me that she was hitting her irons really well and felt confident hitting at the pins," Alpenfels said.
Barrett birdied all of the par fives and made seven in all at Mid Pines in the Carolinas Golf Association event on Saturday. The CGA applies a multiplier of four to the individual tournament results in its ranking system.
"I think my putting was what was improved," Barrett said Monday. "I haven't been putting that well. Plus, I put everything in the fairway."
With his confidence building throughout the weather-interrupted week at the North Carolina Junior Amateur, Hoadley surprised himself by jumping ahead of Daniel Meggs of Charlotte early in his semi-final match on the way to a 4 and 2 victory.
Even though he and Will Collins had already played 36 holes, they both preferred to finish up on Friday rather than have to come back on Saturday.
In the championship match, it was Collins, who will play at the University of Virginia in 2007, that took control early.
"He hit nothing but fairways and greens," Hoadley said of Collins. "Like I told his dad after the match, Virginia is getting an awesome player. It's hard to beat a machine-like person."
Feeling some fatigue on Saturday at Mid-Pines, Hoadley nevertheless played the first 13 holes in five-under par.
"I'm thinking maybe I should play 50 holes more often," he was thinking at the time.
Hoadley enjoyed playing in the same foursome with Barrett on Sunday even though the 11 holes they played didn't count.
"My hat is off to Patrick," he said. "Sixty-eight is a great score at Mid Pines.
"If you don't play the course correctly, it can eat your lunch."
Barrett thinks his nerves will be a lot more on edge Thursday when he travels to Greenville for a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier. Hoadley, Pinecrest teammates Russell Burke and Jack Fields, a qualifier in 2005, will also be there.
"Everyone wants to get into the U.S. Junior Amateur," Barrett said. "You have to play 36 great holes to qualify."
