SDGA Summer Junior Championship sees an unusual marathon finish in boys division

SDGA hosted a summer championship at Red Rock Golf Club in Rapid City over the past couple of days, and it did not come without a dramatic finish on the third and final day. The tournament involved both boys and girl’s divisions ranging from ages 16-18, and included some of the top golfing talent from around South Dakota. After the girl’s division was all said and done, the boys were a long way from crowning a champion.

Ladies first, Olivia Braun out of Aberdeen who has pieced together a wonderful high school career added another feather in her cap, firing a final round -2, 70 and taking the championship with a total score of +5 for three days of play. Bruan jumped three spots to the top in her final round firing a 74, 77 and 70 over her three rounds. Rylan Horning of Rapid City also jumped up the leaderboard in her final round posting a 73 on Wednesday to secure second place. Flandreau’s Tori Peterson would stay steady shooting a 75, 75 and 77 in her three rounds to take third.

The drama came from the boy’s side of things when three rounds and 54 holes of golf was simply not enough to crown a victor. The biggest move of the tournament came from Mitchell’s Asher Dannenbring who got off to a rocky start to the week shooting a 79 in his first round. Dannenbring’s first round would put him towards the middle of the pack, but as all golfers know, one good round can change everything. For Dannenbring, it was actually two great rounds that put him in position to win, however, his work was far from over.

Hovering around the top of the leaderboard was Vermillion’s Rylan Moran and Sioux Falls Carter Peterson who both put themselves in solid position after the first round. Peterson fired one of only two sub-par rounds on day one, shooting a 71 to tie him for the lead out of the gate. Moran would be hot on the heels of Peterson who finished his first round at even par.

Both Peterson and Moran would have solid second rounds, both posting 74’s to keep themselves in the mix while Dannenbring brought himself back into the conversation with an even-par 72 in his day two performance. Day three is when all the excitement would unfold.

Dannenbring’s crescendo continued in the Final Day Shootout, as he posted one of just two rounds in the 60’s on the day. A 68 from Dannenbring (Rapid City’s Hayden Heig posting the other 68) would be enough to thrust the Mitchell native into a tie for first with Peterson, who shot a 74, and Moran who shot a 73. This would setup a sudden-death playoff between the three. For those not as keyed in on golf playoffs, if player A scored a birdie on the playoff hole and players B and C scored pars, player A would take home the title. So, what took place in said playoff was truly something to behold.

The sudden-death playoff would go on to last a whopping 10 holes before it all came to an end. Dannenbring would outlast Moran and Peterson throughout the marathon playoff to take home the title. All three finished the tournament at +3, but Dannenbring’s persistency paid off for the win. Below, you will find the leaderboards for both the boys and girls divisions:

Girl’s division:

Boy’s division: