A few pretty good weeks gave Hunter Logan a little confidence entering the Mississippi Boys and Girls Junior Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club earlier this week.
Little did Logan know he was going to have a lot more confidence after the opening round.
On Tuesday, a first-round score of 6-under-par 66 gave Logan all of the momentum and piece of mind he needed to win the 16- to 18-year-old division (Division A) of the annual event.
Logan, a rising junior at Caledonia High School, earned the title by shooting 69 in the second round Wednesday and 71 in the third round Thursday for a 10-under 206 that was eight shots better than the second-place finishers.
“Six-under was a little more than I was expecting,” Logan said Friday. “Leading up to the tournament I was hoping for three good days.”
Logan, who also won the Carr Haskins Medalist trophy for his first-round low score of 66, carded six birdies and no bogeys on the opening day to set a blistering pace. He said it was his first bogey-free round in a competitive round. He followed that success with five birdies and two bogeys in round two and five birdies, two bogeys, and a double bogey in the final round.
“Everything was really clicking for me,” Logan said of his first round. “I was hitting the ball really well and making putts all through the day.”
Logan said he didn’t realize he was having such a good round until one of his playing partners told him he was at 6-under. That shouldn’t be surprising, though, because Logan said he tries to focus only on the next shot so he can get the results he wants. Logan said good scores typically follow when he can remain that focused.
Caledonia High golf coach Bradley Tate said Logan’s ability to keep his emotions in check and to see multiple shots in advance set him apart. He said he has seen plenty of improvements in Logan’s game since the end of this past school year, when Logan won the individual championship in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A Championship and was part of a team that won its second-consecutive state title.
“He blocks everybody out around him out,” Tate said. “Some players when you watch them it affects them. … You throw a crowd around them, they can’t even make a three-foot putt. With Hunter, it doesn’t matter who is watching. It doesn’t affect him. He knew some top college coaches were following him.”
Tate said Logan is at the top of the Class of 2019 and is attracting plenty of attention from Division I coaches. But don’t think that will affect Logan’s focus because he plans to stay busy the rest of the summer. Last month, Logan and Jake Crosson, a rising senior at New Hope High, earned two of the four boys qualifying spots for the Trusted Choice Big I National Championship on Aug. 7-10 at the Annandale Golf Club in Madison.
Crosson won the A Division with a 5-under-par 103, while Logan tied for third with a 2-under 106.
Matt Liddon and Jack Gnam will join Crosson and Logan in the nation’s largest junior stroke-play golf tournament. The event, which started in 1969 as a community service project devised by Independent Insurance Agents, will feature some of the nation’s top junior golfers.
Logan said he isn’t sure if he will play in another tournament to help prepare him for the Trusted Choice Big I National Championship, which he said will be an honor for him to play in. He feels the same way about the Mississippi Boys and Girls Junior Amateur, even if his accomplishment hasn’t sunk in.
“It was definitely a confidence booster knowing I did like I did,” Logan said. “I hope to take that for the next tournaments I have coming up.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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