PLEASANT HILL – Kyle Harman kicked off his 2010 summer season in style, rebounding from a lackluster opening round to win the Northern California Professional Golfers’ Association Junior Tour Summer Circuit Championship Tuesday at the Contra Costa Country Club.
Harman turned in a two-day score of 152, beginning the tournament with a less-than-impressive round of 81 only to emphatically bounce back and shoot a 1-under-par 71 for the only sub-par round of the entire tournament.
Harman’s victory in the boys 16-18 year-old division, set up a playoff with 14-15 year-old division winner Hunter Rappleye. Harman’s clutch play spilled over into the playoff, finishing the first hole with a par and the final playoff with a birdie before taking the tournaments’ overall Pro-Power Rankings No. 1 spot.
“It was all pretty nice,” Harman said. “I haven’t been playing a lot since school got out and in my tournament rounds it seems like I’ve been in a little slump.
“So it was good to shoot an under-par round and come back from five-strokes down to win the tournament. It really was like a relief.”
Harman opened day-two of the tournament trailing Justin Oertel of Dublin by five strokes after Dublin turned in an opening round of 76. The deficit did nothing to detour Harman, as he clawed through the deficit to take the tourney and outshoot Oertel by 10 strokes.
“The difference in the two rounds was definitely my short game,” Harman said. “The first day my irons were pretty good and my driver was solid, but my short-game the first day just fell apart. I could not make a putt to save my life. I tried to forget about the first day and go out there and be more aggressive with my putts.
“Basically I just putted lights out and got up and down when I needed to.”
Harman will try to keep his summer circuit success going when he tees it up for the NCPGA Junior Championship at Chardonnay Golf Club in Napa Valley June 23-24.
Harman turned in a two-day score of 152, beginning the tournament with a less-than-impressive round of 81 only to emphatically bounce back and shoot a 1-under-par 71 for the only sub-par round of the entire tournament.
Harman’s victory in the boys 16-18 year-old division, set up a playoff with 14-15 year-old division winner Hunter Rappleye. Harman’s clutch play spilled over into the playoff, finishing the first hole with a par and the final playoff with a birdie before taking the tournaments’ overall Pro-Power Rankings No. 1 spot.
“It was all pretty nice,” Harman said. “I haven’t been playing a lot since school got out and in my tournament rounds it seems like I’ve been in a little slump.
“So it was good to shoot an under-par round and come back from five-strokes down to win the tournament. It really was like a relief.”
Harman opened day-two of the tournament trailing Justin Oertel of Dublin by five strokes after Dublin turned in an opening round of 76. The deficit did nothing to detour Harman, as he clawed through the deficit to take the tourney and outshoot Oertel by 10 strokes.
“The difference in the two rounds was definitely my short game,” Harman said. “The first day my irons were pretty good and my driver was solid, but my short-game the first day just fell apart. I could not make a putt to save my life. I tried to forget about the first day and go out there and be more aggressive with my putts.
“Basically I just putted lights out and got up and down when I needed to.”
Harman will try to keep his summer circuit success going when he tees it up for the NCPGA Junior Championship at Chardonnay Golf Club in Napa Valley June 23-24.
