MADISON TWP. — The top two seeds in the 17-18 age division battled head-to-head on Thursday morning in the Middletown Junior Match Play championship at Weatherwax Golf Course.
Madison Twp. resident T.J. Selby grabbed an early lead and kept the pressure on and knocked off defending champion and Middletown High School graduate Jimmy Parks 6 and 4.
“My putter really helped me a lot today,” said Selby, who won his second match play title after winning the 15-16 age division two years ago. “Putting is usually a strength for me, but today it was just a little bit better than the other parts of my game.”
Selby grabbed the early advantage, taking a 4-up lead after eight holes. Parks won the ninth hole, but then Selby regained his four-hole lead when he birdied the 10th hole (No. 1 Meadows).
The twosome halved the 11th and 12th holes. Selby had a booming tee shot that went just right of the fairway on the par-5 13th hole. He hit his second shot — a 5 iron — two within a foot of the green.
That forced Parks — who was lying at the 250-yard marker on the left side of the fairway — to do something he wouldn’t normally do. Parks used his 3 wood rather than a long iron in an effort to reach the green. Instead, his ball finished in a bunker, leaving Selby open to take a 5-up lead with five holes remaining.
Selby’s tee shot on the par-3 uphill 14th hole came to rest about three feet from the cup. Parks was off the green and once he missed his chip shot, conceded the match.
“He wasn’t going to miss from 21/2 feet,” Parks said. “I was playing pretty well, but T.J. just put on a show today. He got up early and just ran with it.”
Parks plans to attend the University of Toledo in the fall. He said he may attempt top walk on the golf team in his sophomore year. Selby will play golf for the College of Wooster.
In the 15-16 age division, Chris Rossi defeated Tyler Johns 3 and 1. Drake Couch won the 13-14 age division 1-up over jake Gilkison and Miles Jena claimed the 12-under age division by beating Jonathan Cloyd 3 and 2.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2852 or sweaver@coxohio.com.