BOWLING GREEN, KY -- Overcoming a 3-shot deficit in the final round, Auburn, AL, high school junior Turk Pettit forced a playoff with Chip Thomas, then won on the second extra hole to take the 43rd Southern Junior Golf Championship at Olde Stone Club.
Pettit has been on a pretty good streak in 2015, recently winning the Kinderlou Forest Junior Classic in April, and in March he finished second at the Brunswick Junior Classic.
The son of a club pro, Pettit posted a final round 1-under 71 for a 218 total that matched Knoxville's Thomas in the featured 15-18 age group. Both bogeyed the first extra hole, then Pettit holed a 4-foot par putt to win. Thomas had to make a big move to make it to the top of the leaderboard. He did so by matching the low round of the day, 2-under 70, making birdie on four of his first five holes on the incoming nine.
No player in the elite junior field from 27 states and three foreign countries could match par for 54 holes on the difficult, 7,100-yard Olde Stone layout. Bowling Green's own Canon Claycomb won the 13-14 division by 14 shots.
Young Turk: Turk Pettit wins Southern Jr Championship in playoff
For the second straight year, the final round comes down to a sudden-death playoff after Thomas finishes tied with Pettit