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Locals tee it up at SJGT competition
Local Golf
Griffin Garvin tees off at the 17th hole during a Southeastern Junior Golf Tour tournament at Forest Heights Country Club on Wednesday, July 20.

High caliber golf continues to be played in Bulloch County. Members of the Georgia Southern men and women’s golf teams are continuing to have success as well as our area high school golfers. This week Georgia Southern held a qualifier for the U.S. Amateur and saw Ben Carr and Brantley Baker both make it through. Over at Forest Heights seven area golfers participated in the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour (SJGT) stop and four golfers posted top 10 scores in the two-day event. 


Todd Thompson started the SJGT Tour in 1994 and it has grown leaps and bounds,” said FHCC Director of golf Walt Garvin. “They put on about 32 events per year and a lot of the players go on to play collegiately on the Division-1 level. It is an extremely competitive tour and is played throughout the southeast.” 


If the AJGT is the PGA of junior golf, then the SJGT is the Korn Ferry Tour. Featuring some pretty impressive stops at the likes of TPC Sawgrass, Sea Island and Glen Arven the SJGT can have anywhere between 60-125 participants at different events. All SJGT events are two-day tournaments and are open to girls and boys ages 14-19. 


“We have been fortunate to host an event for the past four years,” said Garvin. “There are plenty of stops in the state of Georgia, but they are also held in Florida, Alabama and South Carolina. I feel like we are getting more and more kids in our area playing on tours like this, and you can see how competitive our schools have been getting lately.” 


Among the local golfers to place in the top 10 this week Griffin Garvin finished sixth and Evan Avret was ninth in the 14–19-year-old division. Shelby Clark placed fourth in the girl’s 14-19 age group, and Grant Odom was third in the boys age 14-15 division.  


Winners included Avery Robinson of Macon who shot even par in the girls 14-19 age group. Landon Noble of Sharpsburg GA shot even par to win the boys 14-15 division. Grant Langford of LaFayette GA. won the boys 16-19 division with a score of one over par.