FROM STAFF REPORTS

Spain Park High School golfer Connor Smith won his second consecutive American Junior Golf Association tournament Aug. 9 by carding an overall score of even par 213 in the AJGA Junior at Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., presented by True Temper.

Conducted by the the AJGA, the Junior at Southwind is a 54-hole stroke play competition played on the par-71, TPC Southwind course. The event features 57 boys and 21 girls, ages 12-18, from 16 states and four countries. The boys’ division played the course at 6,949 yards, while the girls’ division played the course at 5,974 yards.

Smith, coming off a tournament win at the E-Z-GO Vaughn Taylor Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf, entered Thursday’s final round with a three-stroke lead. He started off the round with two bogeys on the first three holes but quickly settled down, parring five of the next six holes. He made the turn at 3-over par 39, but straightened his game out on No. 12 with a birdie.

“My first birdie put some confidence in me,” said Smith. “I birdied the next hole, too. It was a good confidence-booster: I had finally hit a good shot.”

After the birdies on Nos. 12 and 13, he parred his last holes, ending the round with a score of 72, one stroke over par. He won the tournament even-par 213, three shots ahead of the nearest competitor, and was already looking forward to a potential three-peat next week.

“I’m playing Webb Simpson next week in North Carolina,” Smith said. “Hopefully I can play good there and pull out another win.”

Rounding out the boys’ leaderboard, Fred Allen Meyer of Nicholasville, Ky., came in second at 3-over par 216, while Garrett Moores of Huntsville, Ala., and Arjuna Anday of Murfreesboro, Tenn., tied for third at 4-over par 217.