Once again, it’s time to celebrate the return of golf season.

The Tri-County Chapter of the S.C. Junior Golf Association was held at the Ponderosa Country Club in Batesburg-Leesville and over 50 juniors took part. Chase Cline, a rising freshman at Chapin High School, had the days’ lowest score with a 2-under-par 70. He won the boys’ 13-14 age division.

Ashton Eubanks, class of 2023, and Charlie Beiers, class of 2021, both of Lexington High, scored even par 72, and 1-over-par 73 to place 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the boys’ 15-18.

Trust Winters, Whitmire and Nathanael Caughman, all of Lexington, tied at 4-over-par 40 on 9 holes in the boys’ 10-12.

Mia Andrade of Chapin was the low scorer in the girls’ 10-12.

Go to https://scjga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scjga20/event/scjga2020/contest/1/leaderboard.htm for the complete scoreboard.

Nancy Dodge of Gilbert won the Super Senior division of the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association State Amateur at the Columbia Country Club.

Karen Wolfe, member at the Ponderosa Country Club, place 3rd while Louise Givens of Lexington placed 4th in the state division.

Molly Hardwick and Isabella Rawl, both on the Lexington High girls golf team, contended for the women’s state amateur championship before placing 3rd and 5th, respectively.

Before a short visit to pro golf, a couple of middle schoolers recently made their 1st aces at Golden Hills. Banks Smith hit his perfect shot on the 13th hole and Howie Vroom made his 1st on Hole 3.

The RBC Heritage is at Sea Pines on the famous Harbor Town Golf Links this week. It is PGA Tour’s 2nd fanless event after the restart in Texas.

Players, caddies, a minimum number of volunteers, media, along with grounds and tournament staff will be the only people allowed on the property. Spectators and family are not allowed to attend. Sports management teams including coaches and agents are not allowed to attend. In my opinion, the players will welcome this last omission!

Dustin Johnson and my son Wesley will be in the field and while my intel is limited on DJ, Wesley is playing extraordinarily well. Negotiating with excitement and conserving energy will be his biggest challenges. He’s really good with these variables.

“I know I’ll be nervous and I love this feeling”, Wesley said Sunday before leaving.

November 2018 was his last PGA Tour start and he played two Korn Ferry events in the late winter in preparation for the 2020.

The lesson for today is to embrace any nervousness that you may feel while playing golf . As your heart races and hands shake, Continuously take deep breaths and attempt to visualize what you want your ball to do and/or feel the way you want your swing.

What’s so beautiful about golf is the entire family can play the game together. The Lexington County Recreation & Aging Commission restarts its Family Junior Golf program on July 12, so visit the website for more information. The Irmo-Chapin Recreation commission will have junior golf camps in July.