Sandor grabs 2nd summer win

Badin golfer shoots low score en route to 14-15 division win; says he’s really improved his game.

$Auston Sanders participates in the Hamilton City Junior Championship on Thursday, July 9, at Potter Park Golf Course. The Badin High sophomore shot a \uFEFF74 to win the boys 14-15 division. Staff photos by Greg Lynch$

Auston Sanders participates in the Hamilton City Junior Championship on Thursday, July 9, at Potter Park Golf Course. The Badin High sophomore shot a \uFEFF74 to win the boys 14-15 division. Staff photos by Greg Lynch

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Megan Skelly shot an 89 to win the girls 14-15 division at the Hamilton City Junior Championship on Thursday at Potter Park Golf Course.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 11:21 AM Friday, July 10, 2009

HAMILTON — Austin Sandor has been working hard this year to improve his golf game. It shows.

Sandor, of Fairfield, won his second title of the summer when he shot a 5-over-par 74, the overall low score of the day, to capture the boys 14-15 division of the Hamilton City Junior Championship at Potter Park Golf Course on Thursday, July 9.

Sandor will be a sophomore at Badin High School this year and said his freshman golf season was “not that great. But my game has really turned around. I’ve worked really, really hard at it.

“I want to get a college scholarship,” he added, “and want to do whatever it takes. I’m working four to five days a week, putting one day, playing 18 holes the next, going to the driving range. It’s paid off so far.”

Sandor finished three shots ahead of runner-up Matt Venerable. He also won the Twin Run Junior Classic two weeks ago. He said his putting “worked really well” until he missed makable birdie putts on holes 17 and 18.

He was at his best on holes 11 and 13, a pair of par-3s which he birdied. “On 11, I hit a 9-iron and stuck it about three feet (from the hole), and on 13 I hit a 6-iron and stuck it about two feet,” he said. “Everything was clicking.”

Adam Kinch, also of Fairfield, won the boys 16-18 championship with an 81, three strokes ahead of Michael Stinson.

“I had one bad hole (a triple-bogey on No. 11),” said Kinch, who will be a junior at Fairfield High School, “but other than that it was pretty good. My chipping and putting were working for me.”

Kinch nearly aced the par-3 fifth hole.

“I hit a 6-iron and almost bounced it in,” he said, noting that the ball stopped about four inches short of the cup, dead center.

Ryan Ellis, a Fairfield resident who will attend the eighth grade at Sacred Heart, captured the boys 12-13 title by shooting 76, the second-lowest score overall. Connor Skelly placed second by winning a sudden-death tiebreaker after five holes against Nick Jurgens after both shot 89 in regulation.

Samantha Boyer, of Hamilton, claimed the girls 16-18 championship with a 79.

“I wanted to do a little better, but I have no complaint about a 79,” said Boyer, who recently graduated from Hamilton High School and will attend Miami University Hamilton this fall. “My putting was kind of holding me back. I play this course a lot and usually shoot in the low 70s.”

Megan Skelly won the girls 14-15 division with an 89.

Matt Miller carded a nine-hole total of 60 to claim the boys 11-and-under title.

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