Island Packet Verizon Heritage 2008 Coverage | Harbour Town, Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC

By ZACH VAN HART
The Island Packet

When playing in the Verizon Junior Heritage, it’s taxing trying to keep the names of previous winners out of your mind. Andrew Yun had to withstand the urge for two extra holes.

“It’s not something you think about until you get the job done,” he said.
Yun got the job done, winning on the second playoff hole at Harbour Town Golf Links against Julian Suri on Feb. 3 to claim his first Junior Heritage title He was joined by girls winner Marta Silva Zamora, who fired a 4-over-par 75 on the final round but won anyway by two strokes to become the first student from the Hilton Head Island-based Hank Haney International Junior Golf Association student to win the event.

Yun fired a 3-over 74 on his final round.

Each season, the Junior Heritage draws one of the best fields in junior golf — it ranked as the fourth toughest for both boys and girls in 2007 — and although this year’s field was less hefty than usual, it still attracted 31 of the top 100 boys and 26 of the top 100 girls in the Golfweek junior rankings.

Stout fields have produced an impressive list of past champions. Current PGA Tour star Charles Howell is one of only two boys to win consecutive titles, and other past champions include Sean O’Hair and David Gossett.
The girls’ champions roll is equally impressive, including future LPGA players Beth Bauer, Virada Nirapathpongporn, Candie Kung, Aree Song, Paula Creamer and 2007 LPGA rookie of the year Angela Park.

The Junior Heritage started as a local high school tournament in the mid-1980s and crowned its first individual champion in 1989, when Hans Albertson took the boys title with a 36-hole score of 144. Vicki Goetze had the low score for the girls, a 148, though an official girls champion wasn’t crowned until 1990.

That history and Yun’s recent play made his victory particularly sweet. The 16-year-old entered the event ranked 61st in Golfweek’s junior ratings, and the Chandler, Ariz., resident endured a self-described terrible 2007.

“To win any tournament is a big deal, especially one like the Verizon Junior Heritage,” Yun said. “It came after such a bad slump. It’s like I was reborn again.”

The high school junior is currently choosing where the wants to attend and play in college. What’s for certain is his invitation to the mid-July Player’s Amateur on the exemption offered to Junior Heritage boys winners.

Coincidentally, Yun and Suri also tied here last year, finishing in seventh place. This time, their gridlock forced them to return to the par-4 No. 1 for the tournament’s first playoff since 2005. After both parred, they moved to the 332-yard ninth, the course’s shortest par-4 but one with a narrow fairway and a bunker protecting the entire front of the green.

Suri’s tee shot landed inches from a tree trunk in brush right of the fairway, his path to the green completed obstructed. Suri needed two strokes to punch out to the fairway and carded a double bogey. Yun eventually sank a 2-foot bogey putt for the win.

Silva etched her name in the Junior Heritage history books during the first round when she tied the girls single-round record of 67, equaling the feat of Creamer, the only two-time winner on the girls side.

The 18-year-old Spaniard, in her first year at IJGA, wore pink during that record-tying round — just like Creamer — and held on during a rocky final round. After spending the week before the Junior Heritage visiting schools, soon after her tournament victory Silva selected the University of Georgia.

Past champions of the Junior Heritage

Boys

Year Player Scores
1989 Hans Albertson 71-73—144
1990 Brian Brown 75-69—144
1992 Justin Roof 72-67—139
1993 M. Henderson 69-74—143
1994 Charles Howell 70-71—141
1996 Charles Howell 64-74—138
1997 David Gossett 70-68—138
1998 Sean O’Hair 68-71—139
1999 Martin Catalioto 69-72—141
2000 Ty Tryon 65-33—98
2001 Jay Reynolds 70-72—142
2002 Luke List 74-66—140
2003 Sean Moore 68-74—142
2004 Toby Ragland 70-74—144
2005 Kyle Stanley 68-69—137
2006 Spencer Cole 71-76—147
2007 Spencer Cole 68-71—139
2008 Andrew Yun 68-74—142

Girls

Year Player Scores
1990 Kacie Myers 82-81—163
1992 Abby Pearson 76-74—150
1993 Ann Pohira 75-76—151
1994 Kathryn Cussick 77-74—151
1996 Beth Bauer 72-71—143
1997 Cimmie Shahan 69-73—142
1998 V. Nirapathpongporn 70-73—143
1999 Candie Kung 72-72—144
2000 Aree Song 69-36—105
2001 Paula Creamer 70-72—142
2002 Brittany Lang 72-70—142
2003 Paula Creamer 67-74—141
2004 Jennie Lee 72-77—149
2005 Angela Park 69-74—143
2006 Isabelle Lendl 70-76—146
2007 Mina Harigae 71-68—139
2008 M. Silva Zamora 67-75—142