Lexington: Second round leader Emerson Dyer shot a final round 71 to win the 42nd Annual South Carolina Golf Association Junior Championship. The 54 hole event was contested on the par 72, 6,507 yard Country Club of Lexington, June 13-15, 2000.
Dyer, who will attend Coastal Carolina in the fall, was joined in the final pairing of the tournament with first round leader Brian Duncan of Greenville and home town favorite Gavin Gillespie of Lexington.
A birdie on the 7th hole gave Duncan the lead. It was only short term as he gave it up on the following hole. With a two shot swing on the eighth hole moved Dyer back in front. “I knew they were going to have to make some birdies to catch me.”
A birdie on ten and seven consecutive pars found Dyer on the eighteenth tee with a four stroke lead. The day before he was forced to hit his second shot off a bridge in a hazard. “I hit an 8 iron off that bridge because I just figured I had to get it airborne.” He later said, “I thought I would get a drop, so it kind of made me mad.”
In the 14-15 age division, Nick Hughey won a two hole sudden death playoff over Dane Burkhart of Aiken. Both players finished with a three round total of 226. Hughey, playing with a “ribbon of remembrance” for a good friend that recently passed away, dedicated the win to the friend and was convinced he had a hand in the win.
Turner Smith was victorious in the 12-13 year old division with rounds of 77-75-75 to win by 3 strokes over McArn Bennett. Smith’s final round included three birdies.
The top eight finishers from 14-17 will play in the 25th Georgia- South Carolina Junior Team Matches to be played at The Farm in Dalton Georgia and the overall champion will earn an exemption in the South Carolina Amateur.
The Country Club of Lexington played at a yardage of 6507 for the 14-17 year olds and 5882 for the 12 - 13 year olds.
| 16-17 | ||||
| Emerson Dyer (Conway) | 70 | 74 | 71 | 215 |
| Gavin Gillespie (Lexington) | 72 | 75 | 72 | 219 |
| Brian Duncan (Greenville) | 68 | 78 | 74 | 220 |
| Stephen Poole Jr. (Spartanburg) | 74 | 77 | 70 | 221 |
| Matt Bennett (Cheraw) | 75 | 74 | 73 | 222 |
| Alex Hamilton (Aiken) | 76 | 73 | 75 | 224 |
| Daniel Barden (Columbia) | 74 | 78 | 75 | 227 |
| Shane Birckbichler (Greenville) | 76 | 73 | 78 | 227 |
| Nicky Biershenk (Boiling Springs) | 72 | 75 | 80 | 227 |
| Kevin Kisner (Aiken) | 79 | 77 | 72 | 228 |
| Landon Hames (Spartanburg) | 75 | 80 | 73 | 228 |
| Ryan Castle (Summerville) | 73 | 79 | 76 | 228 |
| Van Burgess (Boiling Springs) | 77 | 74 | 77 | 228 |
| Billy Nisbet (Myrtle Beach) | 73 | 82 | 74 | 229 |
| Justin Gandy (Darlington) | 75 | 80 | 74 | 229 |
| Charles Chapman (Mt. Croghan) | 77 | 77 | 75 | 229 |
| Jeff Spencer (Blythewood) | 77 | 76 | 76 | 229 |
| Matthew Bryant (Lexington) | 74 | 77 | 78 | 229 |
| Thomas, M Cameron (Clover) | 75 | 81 | 74 | 230 |
| Scott Brown (North Augusta) | 77 | 78 | 75 | 230 |
| Andrew Hewitt (Spartanburg) | 78 | 76 | 76 | 230 |
| Emmett Turner (Greenwood) | 78 | 75 | 77 | 230 |
| Ben Grandy (Batesburg) | 75 | 73 | 82 | 230 |
| Lawerence Caudle (Columbia) | 74 | 79 | 78 | 231 |
| Robert Chen (Orangeburg) | 75 | 79 | 78 | 232 |
| Benji Thompson (Clarks Hill) | 74 | 82 | 78 | 234 |
| Jay Sylvan (Columbia) | 78 | 78 | 79 | 235 |
| Matt Wiley (Greer) | 74 | 79 | 83 | 236 |
| Matthew Minor (Surfside Bch) | 73 | 82 | 86 | 241 |
| 14-15 | ||||
| Nick Hughey (Gaffney) | 73 | 77 | 76 | 226 |
| Dane Burkhart (Aiken) | 74 | 80 | 72 | 226 |
| Luke Hart (Blythewood) | 75 | 79 | 73 | 227 |
| Joel McAlhaney (Aiken) | 75 | 74 | 78 | 227 |
| Zach Siefert (Simpsonville) | 74 | 76 | 78 | 228 |
| Casey Thompson (Clarks Hill) | 77 | 80 | 74 | 231 |
| Marshall Swails (Columbia) | 76 | 75 | 80 | 231 |
| Alex Sturgis (Rock Hill) | 74 | 80 | 79 | 233 |
| Adam Hart (Blythewood) | 79 | 79 | 77 | 235 |
| Patrick Cunning (Aiken) | 75 | 85 | 76 | 236 |
| Josh Clark (Simpsonville) | 81 | 73 | 82 | 236 |
| Andor Pruitt (Cayce) | 78 | 79 | 80 | 237 |
| Josh Janis (Ninety Six) | 79 | 76 | 82 | 237 |
| William J. Fairey (Columbia) | 77 | 83 | 78 | 238 |
| Matthew Nickles (Columbia) | 79 | 78 | 81 | 238 |
| Matthew Mead (Greenville) | 82 | 80 | 77 | 239 |
| Clark Carpenter (Blythewood) | 80 | 80 | 79 | 239 |
| Warren Thomas (Columbia) | 79 | 78 | 82 | 239 |
| Enobong Udo (Greenwood) | 78 | 83 | 79 | 240 |
| Zach Martin (Pickens) | 80 | 78 | 82 | 240 |
| Zachary Moran (Taylors) | 81 | 79 | 81 | 241 |
| Gill Herzberg (Blythewood) | 79 | 82 | 84 | 245 |
| Justin Hendrix (Aiken) | 75 | 85 | 86 | 246 |
| Hunter Leopard (Spartanburg) | 81 | 81 | 85 | 247 |
| 12-13 | ||||
| Turner Smith (Laurens) | 80 | 74 | 75 | 229 |
| McArn Bennett (Cheraw) | 78 | 76 | 78 | 232 |
| Austin Bowen (Chapin) | 77 | 75 | 84 | 236 |
| Phillip Mollica (Anderson) | 79 | 80 | 80 | 239 |
| Baker Elmore (Cheraw) | 81 | 77 | 82 | 240 |
| George IV Bryan (Columbia) | 81 | 76 | 83 | 240 |
| Clinton Chandler (Rock Hill) | 75 | 81 | 85 | 241 |
| Kurt Owings (Pauline) | 80 | 78 | 88 | 246 |
| Allen Koon (Bamberg) | 80 | 79 | 88 | 247 |
Last Updated on 6/15/2000
By Paul Rouillard
Email: prouillard@scgolf.org