The Ringgold Telephone Company Junior Classic has marked the debut of several players in American Junior Golf Association play.
Chattanooga’s Brooks Thomas, 13, is one of those players getting his first taste of junior golf at the highest level after playing local tournaments the past few summers.
“I was pretty nervous out there on the first tee,” Thomas said after Wednesday’s round. “I got off to a pretty bad start and never got it back.”
After a par on the first hole, Thomas, a rising freshman at Ringgold High School, carded a double-bogey 6 and followed that with bogeys at Nos. 3 and 4. But he made five consecutive pars to make the turn at 3 over.
Unable to continue his streak of pars to the back nine, he started out with three straight bogeys.
He birdied the par-4 16th hole, but a bogey at the 17th and a double-bogey at No. 18 moved him to 9 over for the day.
Thomas wasn’t happy with his two-round total of 14-over 154 but said he has enjoyed playing in his first AJGA event and plans to participate in as many as possible in the future.
“It’s a better atmosphere and I like it a lot better,” he said. “I like being out there and playing with the best.”
David Uchiyama is a sports writer at the Chattanooga Times Free Press who began his tenure here in May 2001. His primary beats are UTC athletics — specifically men’s basketball and athletic department administration — and golf, which includes coverage from the PGA Tour to youth events. He also covers other high school sports, outdoor adventures, and contributes to other sections of the newspaper when necessary. David grew up in Salinas, Calif., and began working ...
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