Local golfers seek berth in PGA Junior championship

A pair of local high school students are hoping to notch one more belt on their golfing summer.

Four Hills Country Club in Albuquerque will be hosting the Sun Country PGA Junior Tour Championship Monday and Tuesday, with Portales High’s Paige Hartman and Clovis High’s Ethan Peterson among the field.

One boy and one girl who win the tour will join winners of the other 40 PGA sections in the Junior PGA championship, scheduled for Aug. 2-5 at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind.

For most golfers, however, the final tour gives a good chance to evaluate the season.

“The program is really good,” said Hartman, who will be a sophomore at Portales this year. “It gets you set up for college (and/or) doing pro tournaments.”

Players can continue in Sun Country until they attend college or turn 19, whichever comes first.

The tour championship is open to a dozen qualifiers, and alternates, if necessary. The tour has four different qualifiers throughout the season, and a golfer must finish in the top three at one of the qualifiers.

Hartman played in five tournaments in June, two of them qualifiers. She finished with an 82 for second place in the 15-16-year-old division at the Links at Sierra Blanca (Ruidoso).

Peterson, entering his junior year at Clovis, finished second at the Ruidoso qualifier with a 73.

Neither Hartman nor Peterson has played at Four Hills.

“I heard it’s a pretty nice course,” said Peterson. “I hear it’s tight, pretty narrow, but I haven’t really met anyone who’s played it.”

Corbin Best, who will be a senior at Clovis in the fall, also qualified, but said an injury he suffered during a 7-on-7 football tournament will likely end up sidelining him. Best qualified by finishing second with 70 in the 17-18 division at the June 24 qualifier at Sierra Blanca.