AVON — Fortunately they finished before two lengthy thunderstorm delays, but none of the local golfers in the SAP Junior Open at Red Tail Golf Club ended among the leaders Thursday afternoon.
Ethan Tracy of Hilliard, one of six still remaining on the course when the second delay of over an hour hit, eventually won the boys tourney with an even-par 216 (shooting a 76 in the final round), edging by one stroke Aaron Siekmann of Dublin, who shot a par 72 Thursday.
Kristina Wong of Bradenton, Fla., took the girls crown with a 4-under 212 during the three-day event run by the American Junior Golf Association.
Kyle Kmiecik of Avon, a junior-to-be at St. Ignatius High, shot an 11-over 227, highlighted by an eagle on the final day, to top all area golfers. He was tied for 11th place among all golfers.
Johnny Burke of Bay Village and Beau Titsworth of Avon both shot 236 for the next lowest. Avon’s Michael Opsitnick finished at 238 while Reilly Bates of Avon Lake rounded out the local golfers with 248.
Victoria Bello of Avon Lake was the lone area girl and finished at 305.
“I found a comfort zone level after hitting the water on the third hole and shot pretty well the rest of the way,“ said Kmiecik of his one-under 71 on the final day. “I had birdies on 6 and 14 and an eagle on 13.”
His eagle on the 495 yard-par five 13th featured one of his best shots of the tourney. After he drove right into the rough, Kmiecik used a five iron that was near perfect, going 200 yards to within eight feet of the pin. He put in the putt for the eagle.
“My drives were pretty good today, except for that one on the third hole, and carried very well.”
There was a strong wind blowing on the hot and humid day that led to the pair of thunderstorms causing the delays of nearly two hours.
“You definitely had to take the wind into account,“ Kmiecik said. “But overall it wasn’t too bad for me.”
Titsworth, a freshman to be at St. Ignatius, welcomed the wind. “It cooled things down a bit,“ he said of his final round of 80. “I just couldn’t get it going today. I had no birdies and two bogeys.”
Opsitnick, a senior-to-be at Avon High, was not pleased at all with his final-day 83.
“I really didn’t play well,” he said. An example of his frustration came on the final hole. “I hit a good shot coming into the green and was thinking birdie. But I was too aggressive on my putt and slid it by.”
His birdie putt just barely slid by the cup and then his second putt rimmed the cup and spun off so he had to settle for a bogey.
“I had some bad luck on the front nine, landing in divots three times. That usually doesn’t happen much. I didn’t have any birds all day and one double bogey.”
Wong, a senior at a golf-instruction high school in Bradenton, led the girls tourney from start to finish. Defending Juniors Champion Tessa Teachman of Baton Rouge, La., shot a 220, eight strokes off the lead. Runnerup was Emma Talley of Princeton, Ky., with a 219.

Top finishers

Ethan Tracy, Hilliard, 69-71-76 — 216
Aaron Siekmann, Dublin, 77-68-72 — 217
Richard Lamb, South Bend, Ind. 72-72-74 — 218
Aidan Javed, Kingston, Ont. 76-74-69 — 219
David Haley, Hilliard, 69-80-72 — 221
Chad Metzbacher, Dublin,  71-76-75 — 222
Mac McLaughlin, Shaker Heights, 74-77-73 — 224
Sean Lombardo, Dublin, 72-73-79 — 224
Richard Werenski, South Hadley, Mass. 75-76-74 — 225
Matthew Burkhart, Lancaster, Pa. 76-70-79 — 225
Kyle Kmiecik, Avon, 80-76-71 — 227
Thomas Douglas, Canal Winchester, 73-76-78 — 227
Aaron Pontsler, Monclova, Ohio 72-75-80 — 227

Kyle Kmiecik, Avon, 80-76-71 — 227
Johny Burke, Bay Village, 80-72-79 — 236
Beau Titsworth, Avon, 72-79-80 — 236
Michael Opsitnick, Avon, 79-76-83 — 238
Reilly Bates, Avon Lake, 83-83-82 — 248
Victoria Bello, Avon Lake, 101-100-104 — 305

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