He tied for second in a Southern Ohio PGA Junior tournament at Sharon Woods, finished second in the Junior PGA qualifier at WGC, tied for 10th in the Ohio Junior World at NCR and he won an SOPGA Junior event at Foxfire in Lockbourne.
His best performance came last Monday, when he won the Ohio District Optimist International Junior Golf Championship in Canton.
On the second hole of what began as a four-man playoff for first place, Sveda holed a chip shot from five yards short of the green for an eagle 3 on a 475-yard par 5 to win the 16-18 age group title.
This was after posting a 2-over-par 72 at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course to match the scores of Oakwood’s Corey Weckerling, Jake Fait of Boardman and Will Mason of Columbus.
Sveda’s father, who works for Boeing, was transferred from Seattle to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base last fall, but the 5-foot-8, 145-pound Steven didn’t come to Ohio until his golf team at Tahoma High School in Covington, Wash., had played its last match. He will be a senior at Centerville High School in August.
As an age group champion, Sveda earned an expenses-paid trip to the Optimist International Junior Golf World Championship at the PGA National Golf Resort & Spa July 26-31 at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Other Dayton-area qualifiers were: Scott Rogers of New Carlisle, Ben Thieman of Sidney, Austin Wells and Tripp French II of Oakwood, Luke Schumann of Dayton, Sarah Kolodzik of Bellbrook and Molly Skapik of Miamisburg.
Ginger has 4 titles
When Molly Ginger defeated Amanda Dixon on the first extra hole to win the Dayton Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship on Tuesday at Wildwood Golf Club in Middletown, it was her third straight victory in the event.
Ginger, who won the match play crown two years ago, and Dixon each had 36-hole totals of 149. Daryl Nels shot 160 to lead the senior division.
The tournament lost some potential entrants this year because it was scheduled the same week as the Women’s Ohio State Amateur Championship, which was held in Concord. Last year’s match play champ, Kathleen Glavin of Dayton, played in the championship flight at Concord, as did sisters Laura and Lindsay Murray of Tipp City, Cathy Jefferson of Kettering, Jessie Jordan of Urbana and Kara Brinkman of Middletown.
Chip shots
• Alec Tahy of Dayton, who won the Ohio Junior World Championship at NCR Country Club on June 13, played in the prestigious Western Junior Championship in Chicago last week. He made the cut and played four rounds. Ohio Amateur champion Michael Bernard of Huber Heights also made the cut.
• Some of the area’s best juniors will skip this week’s Metropolitan Junior Championship at PipeStone to play in the Ohio Junior Championship at Windmill Lakes in Ravenna because the dates overlap. The Ohio Junior is Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Metro Junior is Wednesday and Thursday. Bernard, Tahy, Weckerling, Caleb Wolters, Austin Sipe, Matt Kern and Alex Zorniger are playing in Ravenna.
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