Callaway Junior Tour makes stop in Ravenswood

RAVENSWOOD -- Having made the progression through the Callaway Junior Tour's Rookie League and the Mid-Ohio Valley Junior Golf program the past several years, Kelan Lucas is looking to carve his own niche for the Ravenswood High School golf program.

At 15 years old, Lucas' birthday made the cut for the 13-14 age group this season for the Callaway Junior Tour, and Wednesday playing on his home course at Greenhills Country Club he placed runner-up in his age division after shooting 8-over 80.

McCartney Hinkle from Bluefield, Va., claimed medalist honors with a 76.

"I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out," Lucas said. "I three-putted twice, but I struck the ball pretty good. Other than a couple of bad wedge shots it was pretty much routine."

The stop at Greenhills marked only the second Callaway Junior Tour event this year for Lucas. in June, he placed eighth at Guyan Golf and Country Club.

"I arrived at Guyan about 20 minutes before the meeting and hit like 10 balls, but today I got to warm up."

Lucas takes advantage of personal instruction from his older brother Alex Easthom, who blazed a trail of his own as a member of the Red Devil golf team.

"I will probably be the only player for Ravenswood this year," said Lucas, who will enter his sophomore year in the fall. "Alex is coaching me and helps me when he can. I was going through a swing change last week at same time he was going through one for the West Virginia Open.

"I think he would be happy with how I am doing. He gives me a hard time because I am his younger brother, but I'm sure he is excited and happy for me."

Belpre's Carson Moore gave Wednesday's Callaway stop quite a bit of local flavor. After 18 holes, he finished in a three-way tie for first place after shooting a 75. Joining him in a sudden death playoff were a pair of Winfield High School golfers who competed at the West Virginia Open -- Stephen McDavid and Jackson Woodburn, both from Scott Depot.

The trio each made bogey on the par 3, 18th hole on the first hole of sudden death. On their second attempt on the same hole, McDavid and Moore both found the green on their tee shots. McDavid would make par, but Moore three-putted to match Woodburn's bogey.

In the quest for runner-up honors, Moore and Woodburn had a chip-off. Both surrounded the hole, but Moore's effort edged out Woodburn by a mere four inches after the tournament director measured the distance using the flagstick.

"There were some good shots and bad shots, but after a couple of holes I figured out my driver and started sinking birdie putts," Moore said. "Everything came together. Nothing worse than a bogey."

No one hole stood out among the others for Moore, other than the fact he could get off the tee without much issue.

"As far as anything memorable out there, I could hit my driver straight," said the 15-year-old Moore, who enters his sophomore year at Belpre in the fall. "I haven't been able to do that recently."

In the 17-18 age division, Summersville's Ben Marsh turned in the low round on the boys side with a 73. Also taking home first place on the boys side was Barboursville's Wyatt Maynard posting a 76 in the 12-under division.

Low round for the girls belonged to Westside High School golfer Kerri-Anne Cook, who won the 15-18 age category by four strokes after shooting 74. The golfer from Oceana recorded four birdies and one eagle during her round.

"The past few days, my swing has felt really good -- it felt really good warming up," Cook said. "I'm getting to that point where I set my goals at the beginning of the summer and where I want my game to be for high school."

Also receiving hardware for a first-place age division finish was Bridgeport's McKenna Knotts, who posted a 102.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com