PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA | Spencer Painton more than held his own against a talented group of golfers from around the world at the 2014 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships.
The recent Regis Jesuit High School graduate and future University of Kansas Jayhawk golfer rebounded from a tough first round at the PGA National Resort & Spa with three straight qualify rounds, including a 1-over-par 73 in Tuesday’s final round that lifted him into a tie for 29th in the overall standings.
A day after shooting a 1-under-par 71 that helped him become one of the top 54 players to advance to the final round, Painton turned in a 1-over 73 on the same Fazio Course. A double bogey on Hole No. 8 sent him into the back nine at 2-over, but a pair of birdies — including one on the par 5 Hole No. 17 that he bogeyed the previous day — put him in the clubhouse at 1-over for the day.
Painton — the Class 5A individual boys state golf champion and member of a team that won its fourth consecutive team title — finished his four rounds with an 11-over-par total of 299, easily the best score among the four Colorado players who made the cut.
Four shots behind Painton came Westminster’s Li Chen, who shot 303 to tie for 42nd, while Grant Rogers of Boulder and Ross Macdonald of Castle Rock each came in at 304 to finish in a three-way tie for 45th.
V. Rattanaphiboonk of Petchaburi, Thailand, took control of the tournament with an opening round 64 and hardly slowed the rest of the way as he finished at 12-under, six shots in front of Rodrigo Rivas of Santiago, Chile.
A pair of players from Regis Jesuit qualified for the girls 15-18 Optimist tournament, but only Sydney Gillespie played. Jaclyn Murray, who won the Optimist qualifying tournament, gave up her spot so she could play for Colorado in the 37th Girls’ Junior Amateur Cup July 29-31 in Walla Walla, Washington.
Gillespie finished at a plus-28 244 in three rounds and missed the cut to advance.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2014 OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Boys 16-18 Age Group
Individual results (par 288): 1. V. Rattanaphiboonk (Petchaburi, Thailand) 64-68-70-74 — 276; 2. Rodrigo Rivas (Santiago, Chile) 71-71-67-73 — 282; 3. Tapendra Ghai (Gurgaon) 68-74-73-70 — 285; T4. Luis Ruiz (Mexico City, Mexico) 76-70-71-71 — 288; T4. Patrick Stephenson (Four Oaks, N.C.) 72-72-71-73 — 288; T4. Alexander Hughes (Tulsa, Oklahoma) 73-70-74-71 — 288; T4. Erik Dulik (Great Falls, Virginia) 65-75-75-73 — 288; 8. Grant Godfrey (Delaware, Ohio) 72-71-70-76 — 289; T9. Philippe Urreiztieta (Wellington, Florida) 69-77-71-73 — 290; T9. Austin Crowder (Greenwood, Indiana) 74-71-72-73 — 290; T9. Jake Leffew (Vero Beach, Florida) 70-74-73-73 — 290; T12. Juan Ignacio Iturra (Bahia Blanca, Argentina) 72-71-73-75 — 291; T12. Felipe Strobach (Lima, Peru) 74-70-74-73 — 291; T12. Anthony Truong (Winter Garden, Florida) 74-68-72-77 — 291; T15. Dylan Chugg (Farr West, Utah) 70-79-75-69 — 293; T15. Alec Dutkowski (Wakarusa, Indiana) 77-74-73-69 — 293; T15. Christian Cavaliere (Katonah, New York) 71-72-78-72 — 293; 18. Lucas Hicks (Milton, Massachussetts) 77-71-75-71 — 294; T19. Noel Sims (Phoenix) 70-77-73-75 — 295; T19. Cameron Jones (The Colony, Texas) 69-76-73-77 — 295; T21. Yu Chuan Hsiang (Indio, California) 76-74-77-69 — 296; T21. Evan Rodwell (Charleston, South Carolina) 74-74-74-74 — 296; T21. Jose Calanda (Ciudad Victoria, Mexico) 77-70-72-77 — 296; T21. Jeffrey Inouye-Wong (Roseville, California) 75-73-72-76 — 296; T25. Guoxhen Xu (Beijing, China) 79-75-72-71 — 297; T25. Tim Graham (Stuart, Florida) 77-72-75-73 — 297; T27. Roland Massimino (Lumberville, Pennsylvania) 76-77-68-77 — 298; T27. Pab Rincon Gallardo (Queretaro, Mexico) 76-74-73-75 — 298; T29. SPENCER PAINTON (AURORA) 82-73-71-73 — 299; T29. Jason Guintu (Potomac Falls, Virginia) 74-76-76-73 — 299; T32. Carter Bowman (St. Mary’s, Ohio) 76-70-77-77 — 300; T32. Connor Estrada (Yuba City, California) 75-71-78-76 — 300; T34. Zach Sudinsky (McKinney, Texas) 75-79-74-73 — 301; T34. Austin McNutt (New Albany, Ohio) 75-76-77-73 — 301; T34. Dexter Wilson (Jenera, Ohio) 75-77-73-76 — 301; T34. Tyler Munetake (Wailuku, Hawaii) 75-77-71-78 — 301; T38. Brock Stanger (Orem, Utah) 74-79-74-75 — 302; T38. Caden Orewiler (Waldo, Ohio) 73-75-74-80 — 302; T38. Kelton Schmitz (New Ulm, Minnesota) 78-74-76-74 — 302; T38. Ethan Brue (Chandlerville, Illinois) 75-74-75-78 — 302; T42. Li Chen (Westminster) 75-80-73-75 — 303; T42. Kevin Burns (Canton, Georgia) 74-73-81-75 — 303; T42. Luis Rodrig Cordova (Leon, GT Mexico) 78-77-72-76 — 303; T45. Grant Rogers (Boulder) 74-74-80-76 — 304; T45. Ross Macdonald (Castle Rock) 76-74-76-78 — 304; T45. Jack Knoesel (Columbia, Missouri) 75-72-78-79 — 304; T48. Aaron Thomas (Mount Holly, North Carolina) 73-75-74-83 — 305; T48. Cody Roth (Bellingham, Washington) 75-75-76-79 — 305; T50. Gilbert Lanque (Belle River, Ontario, Canada) 75-77-76-78 — 306; T50. Thomas Demarco (Lasalle, Ontario, Canada) 77-71-77-81 — 306; 52. Pedro Gil (Mexico) 72-78-77-81 — 308