The International Junior Masters has a unique, shake-out system for match play pairings. Round one of qualifying is played on Tuesday, then round two takes place Wednesday morning. The top 32 golfers go into immediate match play to determine the Championship (top 16) and Consolation (next 16) flights of golfers. The Gold, Silver and Bronze flights are made up of the remaining 48 golfers. Yesterday, 32 golfers advanced from medal play into the shake-out, including three Buffalo-Niagara challengers: David Hanes (Elma), Ben Reichert (East Amherst) and Nolan Ditcher (Randolph). Hanes and Reichert failed to advance to the round of 16, but Ditcher moved on impressively, defeating the 2014 NYSPHSAA champion from Rochester, Jack Gianniny, 1 Up. Ditcher qualified 4th and will face Brandon Lacasse of Quebec in round one.
The marquee match of Thursday morning features qualifying medalist Andres Gonzalez of Mexico and Will Thomson of Pittsford. Gonzalez qualified impressively with rounds of 68 and 69 for a six-stroke advantage over brother Javier, who also advanced to the championship flight. Five sub-pars scores were returned during qualifying and two of them belonged to Andres G. A third Gonazles, Emilio (also of Mexico) is in the mix for the tournament title. Will Thomson is a respected youngster from Pittsford, NY, who has advanced deep into the NYSPHSAA championship each of the past two years, despite his middle-school status. His match with Andres Gonzalez goes off at 7:30.
Photo Courtesy of International Junior Masters
For all results and brackets, click the appropriate link below.
