Sixteen area players, based on points accumulated in tournaments over the summer, earned invitations to participate in the Southern Texas PGA Junior Championship that will be contested over The Woodlands Country Club Palmer Course Wednesday and Thursday. That group includes Josh Elmore, Cameron Keith, Reece Picou and Brodey Warner in Boys 15-18 and Jason Bryant, Jack Burke, Caleb Folmar and Colin Lietzke in Boys 13-14. Karlei Hemler, who will be play in the Champions Tour’s Nature Valley Open later this summer, heads up the group of three girls that are in the field. Joining Hemler in Girls 15-18 is Jaci Wolcik. Elizabeth Townsend will compete in Girls 13-14. Rounding out the local group from the Junior Tour is Beau Autery in Boys’ 11-12. Four players from the Little Linksters Tour — Micah Depew (Boys 11-12), Stephanie Wee (Girls 11-12), Xander Parks in Boys 9-10, modified tees and Stacy Wee in Co-Ed 6-8, 9-hole modified. Area players will be competing against finalists from Austin, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Houston, the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio for championships in their age groups . . . Ivory Hatch from Lumberton got his week off to a memorable start Monday by sinking a 7-iron tee shot from 120-yards on the 7th hole at Babe Zaharias. It was Hatch’s fourth hole in one. Witnesses were Rick Pritchett, Joey Alexander and Roger Baumer . . . Gary Duncan of Beaumont carded his best ever round of 75 Monday at Babe Zaharias. Witnesses were J.E Huebel, T.K. Donnell and Mike Kirkpatrick . . . West Orange-Stark’s Michael Arnaud moved up from 69 to 67 while PN-G ex Andrew Landry remained at No. 15 and former Lamar star Dawie van der Walt stayed at 16 on the Web.com Tour money list, following their performances at the Digitial Alley Open in Overland Park, Kan. Landry finished T31, Arnaud was T33 and Van der Walt T53. All three are playing this week in Springfield, Mo . . . Landry, incidentally, is the measuring stick of Southeast Texas success for Braden Bailey in next week’s U.S. Amateur. Landry advanced to the match play round of 64 as a senior at the University of Arkansas in 2008, then rolled over Florida’s Billy Horschel, 5&3, before falling to Oklahoma State’s Morgan Hoffman, 2&1. Ironically, Hoffman’s golf coach at OSU, Mike McGraw, is now Bailey’s coach at Baylor . . . Hunter Huff of Nederland teamed with PN-G rivals Cameron Keith, Tyler Feemster and Josh Elmore to shoot an 18-under-par 54 and win the 10th annual Clint Wasser Memorial Scramble Saturday at Babe Zaharias. Closest to the pin winners were Joe Wolfe (No. 2), John Lewis II (No. 7), Terry Schwertner (No. 12) and Darren Loftin (No. 15) . . . The team of Harrell Guidry, Troy Touchet, Bruce Lee and Larry Rogers rolled up 18 points to win the Babe Zaharias DogFight. Teams captained by Pritchett, Don MacNeil and Larry Vicknair tied for second with 15 points. Closest to the hole winners were Gary Whitfall (No. 2, No. 7) and Gene Hardy (No 15) . . .The Super Saturday Game at The Babe was played in a best 2-ball format. On the front, there was a tie at minus 5 between the team of Roddy Weatherly, MacNeil, Wes McGuire and Aron Davis and the foursome of Joey Alexander, Pritchett, Hatch and Baumer. On the back, the team of Paul Flores, Cap Hollier, Brian Guidry and Wes McDonald won with minus 5 . . . The Senior 50 Plus Game at The Babe was played in a best 2-ball format and saw the team of Benny Sharpe, Mark Petry, Baumer and Hollier score a sweep. They won the front in minus 8 and the back in minus 7.
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