For the 29th straight year, the Greenville Golf and Country Club brought many of the top junior golfers to its course this past weekend to compete in the Future Tour Championship.
In all, 168 youngsters from all across the Southeastern United States competed in this year’s tournament.
This year’s Boys Overall Champion was Aubrey Jones from Hattiesburg. Jones’ two rounds of 70, played Saturday and Sunday, netted him a score of 140 and 2-under par. Will Nolte of Biloxi (143) finished second overall and Cal Wier (144) finished third overall.
The Girls Overall Champion was Emile Chile of Flower Mound, Texas, who shot rounds of 74-71. Nethra Sheri of Irving, Texas finished in second and Abigail WcWilliams of Benton, La. finished in third place overall.
Other first-place finishers included young Matthew DeRoy who shot rounds of 72 and 69 for a 141 and a 1-under par finish. DeRoy finished 14 shots in front of his nearest competition.
Cameron Knight of Eurpoa, Miss., also had a fine tournament, finishing at even par over the two days to win the Boys 12-13 year-old division.
For complete scores go to www.futuretourchamps.wordpress.com
This year’s tournament was the second under new director Billy Brozovich. Brozovich replaced his father, Bill, who had ran the tournament for many years. Billy’s brother, Eric, also helps to run the tournament.
“Looking at the radar Thursday and Friday, I didn’t even know if we would get to play. So, this was a big blessing. We caught some rain Friday night, but we were able to play the tournament,” Billy Brozovich said.
“My father has helped me in this role. The big thing is he continuously reminds me why we do it. It is about the kids. It is to grow the game with juniors and to get kids interested at a young age. We provide a tournament for them to make them feel like they are on the PGA or LPGA Tour.
“We had 168 players this year which is about average. It is not up. It is not down. It is kind of right in our sweet spot. The flow of play has been great. We haven’t had any log jams or any issues.”
Billy Brozovich added the tournament would not be possible without the many local volunteers, some who have been doing it since the tourney’s inception.
“We hear a lot that the volunteers are amazing here. All these volunteers in red shirts around here are donating our time. That is why this event is about. It is about putting on a product that these kids feel welcome, feel special and feel like they have never felt before in an event.”
This was the first chance for many players, like Mason Comeaux, and Ward Weldon to play in the tournament. Weldon is from Birmingham, Alabama, while Comeaux is from Port Allen, La. Both players said the Greenville tournament has some of the best hospitality in their time playing in tournaments throughout the region.
“The banquet on Saturday was pretty awesome. They fed us and gave us a chance to win big prizes. You don’t see that in very many places,” Comeaux said.
With 29 Future Tour Championship tournaments now in the books, the future looks even brighter for the Greenville institution.
“Next year is our 30th anniversary so we have already got our wheels turning on what we could do to make it special for the players, the volunteers and the club. It has been going for 30 years strong and we want to celebrate and look for something special next year.”
