Freeth wins overall tourney title; O’Grady Hartl take division
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GILROY – Stephen Freeth, who started Thursday’s final round of the Gilroy City Youth Tournament with a 23-shot lead, ended it with a stunning 31-shot victory.
“It was pretty similar to the last few days,” said Freeth, who was playing in the first tournament of his life. “It just seemed like I was consistenly hitting it where I wanted to out there.”
But that wasn’t even the best part of the day for the Gilroy High golfer.
For the first time in the three-round tournament, Freeth had the opportunity to light up the leaderboard in the company of his friends.
Playing in a group with high school buddies Jordan Miller and Vinny DeLorenzo, the 16-year-old shot a 79 to win the Dustin Bettencourt Memorial Trophy as the tournament’s champion.
“It’s always fun when you get to play with your friends,” Freeth said after his round at the Gilroy Golf and Country Club.
Fun to play with your friends or fun to beat your friends?
“Both,” he admitted with a laugh.
Head pro Don DeLorenzo, who has been involved with the tournament for years, said no one has ever come close to a 31-shot margin of victory.
In previous competitions, the most was “maybe 10,” he said.
With Freed taking the overall title with a 222 total, Miller (253) was awarded first place in the 14-and-over division after a final-day 87.
DeLorenzo (260) finished second, while Kristen Campos (275), the only female in the field of 28, fired an 82 to move into third.
Meanwhile, quite an introduction was made in the 13-and-under group.
Sean O’Grady, who moved back to Gilroy six months ago after five years of living in Sarasota, Fla., attends Valley Christian School in San Jose and didn’t know any of the other 11 golfers in his age division before this week.
Surely they know him now.
The 13-year-old O’Grady, whose final-round 41 cemented his lead at 16 shots, was the low scorer in each round and finished with a 27-hole total of 128.
“It was pretty nice because I’ve had two seconds and a third,” O’Grady said, “but never a first.”
Speaking of two seconds, Tyler Park and Max Perkins faced off in an “aces-only” putting contest after both finishing at 144.
From 15 feet out, Park nailed his very first putt, while Perkins’ attempt came up just a few inches short.
“I was actually a little bit nervous,” Park said, “but it turns out I just drained it.”
Bret Hartl was draining quite a few in the 10-and-under division. He was tied for second heading into the final day, but pulled away with a 31 over six holes.
His tournament total of 122 was enough to hold off runner-up Bryant Park (127) and third-place finisher Steven Hebert (130).
Gilroy City Junior Tournament Final Results
14-and-over (18 holes)
RD1 RD2 RD3 Total
Stephen Freeth 77 66 79 222
Jordan Miller 88 88 87 253
Vinny DeLorenzo 90 79 91 260
Kristen Campos 109 84 82 275
Matt Warnock 110 77 94 281
Andrew Heinzen 107 99 101 307
Devin Rottler 120 97 99 316
Allan Hoshida 136 94 110 340
Justin Burgess 148 92 119 359
13-and-under (9 holes)
Sean O’Grady 50 37 41 128
Gene Park 54 44 46 144
Max Perkins 58 40 46 144
Alex Bassi 60 47 51 158
Dominic Filice 73 42 48 163
Justin Wheat 68 43 53 164
A.J. Been 64 47 55 166
Jacob Aldridge 68 50 54 172
Tyler Hartman 70 49 54 173
Jeff Smith 68 50 56 174
Robbie Filice 72 53 50 175
Andrew Lanier 71 78 53 202
10-and-under (6 holes)
Bret Hartl 45 46 31 122
Bryant Park 37 53 37 127
Steven Hebert 49 42 39 130
Mitchell Pasek 49 57 45 151
James Benson 55 61 44 160
Winston VanKuela 53 63 48 164
