Acoaxet Country Club in Westport Harbor became the second winner of the Junior Interclub Golf Championship held over two months this summer at two area courses, including the final round two weeks ago at the Fall River Country Club.
Acoaxet finished with a net 53.5 strokes, a half stoke better than Sakonnet at 54 and followed by Carnegie Abbey at 55. Defending champions from Allendale and first time team from Montaup finished with a net 60.
Fashioned after the Frank McGrath Men's Interclub Tournament,the junior golf event is held over two nine hole rounds — at Carnegie Abbey in July and at Fall River in August. Five clubs participated in both rounds, including Acoaxet, Allendale, Carnegie Abbey, Montaup and Sakonnet. Fall River joined in for the second round but was not eligible for the title this year since that team did not play in both rounds.
Each club, like in the McGrath event, sends eight players for the net best ball team competition. Four players between 13 and 17 and four players 12-and-under. Both males and females are eligible to play. All must have handicaps with the older children teeing off from the men's tees and the younger ones and girls teeing off from the women tees. As well as individual team awards and a team trophy, awards for low gross and net by age group and closest to the pin were presented by the host club along with refreshments after the tournament. The number one player on each club played with the number 8 player and so forth with teams from each club playing with players from other clubs.
In winning the event Acoaxet scored a low 26 points at Carnegie Abbey in July followed by Sakonnet with 27 and Carnegie Abbey with 28.
At Fall River in August it was a three-way tie with Fall River, Carnegie Abbey and Sakonnet each with 27. Acoaxet followed with 27.5 . Fifty young golfers from six clubs played this year.
Individual honors went to Kevin Briggs of Acoaxet with low gross 74 and low net 68 combined at the two courses. Low gross for the U-12 group went to Axel Brown of Sakonnet with a 96. All eight Acoaxet players in the second round at Fall River contributed at least one net best ball score toward the final number of strokes.
Next year Montaup will host the first nine holes in July followed by Sakonnet in August. John B. Cummings, Jr. event co- ordinator thanked the club pros, Sean Busca and Tom Tetrault from Carnegie Abbey and Fall River for their help. Any area club with a junior program that would like to be included should contact Don Beck, the head pro at Acoaxet, for more information.