Jack Castiglia of Lakewood capped off his junior golf career in fine fashion on Wednesday, rallying from 3 down on the back nine in the boys final to claim the title in the Colorado Junior Match Play, a victory that narrowly eluded him the past two years.
And Lauren Lehigh of Loveland defeated two of the state’s top girls golfers on the same day to earn the girls championship at Plum Creek Golf Club in Castle Rock.
Making it all the sweeter, it was the first Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado major title for both Castiglia and Lehigh, who won four matches in two days to earn the trophy.
“It was all I could really ask for” in his final junior tournament, said Castiglia, who will begin playing golf at the University of Northern Colorado in about a month. “I had never won a major, so it’s definitely nice to finally get one under my belt before I go off to college. It feels good. It was a lot of fun playing out here.”
Said Lehigh, a senior-to-be at Loveland High School who will play her college golf at New Mexico starting in 2019: “This (win) definitely ranks pretty high up there for me, especially considering the field. There were a lot of good players here. Playing as well as I did this week gives me a lot of confidence.”
Castiglia (pictured above) was a semifinalist in this event in 2016 and a finalist last year, losing to the eventual champion in each case. But on Wednesday, he defeated Tyler Severin of Johnstown, 2 and 1 in the boys final as Severin hit two balls into the water at both 16 and 17 after the match was all square through 15.
On the girls side, Lehigh (left) beat 2017 JGAC Girls Player of the Year — and 2016 Colorado Junior Match Play champion — Hailey Schalk of Erie in the title match, 4 and 3. Lehigh, 17, finished off the match by hitting a 4 hybrid from 210 yards to inches from the cup for an eagle on the 15th hole, where the match ended.
Earlier Wednesday in the semifinals, Lehigh posted another 4 and 3 victory over Charlotte Hillary of Englewood, who went to the match play round of 32 at the California Women’s Amateur Championship last week.
“It definitely feels good knowing that I came out here and played as well as I did and I was able to beat those (top-flight) girls,” Lehigh said. “We’re both friends and competitors. We’re still going to be great friends afterward, but everybody out here knows we’re playing to win.”
In the boys final, Severin made three birdies on the front nine, including a 45-footer on No. 8, to make the turn at 3 up. And Castiglia didn’t help his cause by missing a 2-foot par putt on No. No. 7.
But things turned on the back nine. Severin (below), a University of Wyoming signee who played in the CoBank Colorado Open last week, three-putted the 10th and 14th holes, and Castliglia made eagle on 11 with a 55-foot putt. That evened the match after 14.
“I knew I needed to start getting some putts to go in” after the first nine holes, said Castiglia, who earlier this year advanced to U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying. “I missed a lot of putts inside 4-5 feet on the front nine. And he was making some good birdies. Once I finally got that long (eagle) to drop on 11, that’s where I knew I could get some confidence going.”
After the match was all square, both players two-putted for birdie on No. 15 for a halve. Then Severin pushed his tee shot and his third shot into the water that borders the entire right side of No. 16, falling behind for the first time in the match. And after Castiglia hit a good tee shot on the par-3 17th, Severin put two more balls into the water short of the green and conceded the match to his 17-year-old opponent.
“I played well the front nine, but a couple of three putts on the back nine didn’t help much,” said Severin, who like Castiglia was playing in his final junior event. “Jack played really good on the back nine. It’s a learning experience. I’ve got college coming up. It’s going to be helpful knowing it’s happened to me before. Hopefully I’m going to learn from this and hopefully never do this again. … I’m definitely not happy about it.”
The girls final was a matchup of two of the four players who represented Colorado last week in the Girls Junior Americas Cup at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. Schalk had won the last four JGAC majors in which she had competed, but the streak ended on Wednesday.
“I played pretty good all day,” Schalk said after her 38-hole marathon on Wednesday. “You can’t win everything obviously. It’s a little disappointing, but good for her.”
The finalists (left) were all square after four holes, but Lehigh won the next three, making 15-foot birdie putts on Nos. 5 and 7 and prevailing with a par on No. 6.
Schalk cut the deficit to 1 down by winning No. 9 with a par and No. 11 with a birdie. But Lehigh, the 2017 4A state high school champion, won 12 and 13 with pars. Then she closed out the match on No. 15, where her 210-yard 4 hybrid from the rough ended up a couple of inches from the hole for an eagle.
“I finished three of my four matches on that 15th hole and I was 4 under on that hole alone,” Lehigh noted. “I won two matches with birdies on that hole and then stuck it close for eagle today.”
Lehigh finished 2 under par for 15 holes in the final. All told for the week, he won her matches 5 and 4, 4 and 3, 4 and 3, and 4 and 3. In other words, she wasn’t ever pushed to the limit.
“I was only ever down in a match once,” Lehigh said, noting Hillary birdied the first hole against her on Wednesday morning. “I was playing pretty well this whole week. I felt really good coming in here. There’s not a lot of pressure. It’s a lot easier to just take a deep breath and go, ‘You know what, that hole didn’t matter'” given that it’s match play.
“But Hailey is an incredible competitor. She played really well. We both played our hearts out today, no doubt.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Schalk had needed 23 holes to defeat 14-year-old Kaylee Chen of Denver. Chen three-putted the 18th hole, missing a two-foot par putt, to prolong the match. Then after halving the first four extra holes with par, Schalk won on the fifth with a par when Chen got into trouble down the left side.
Colorado Junior Match Play
At Plum Creek GC in Castle Rock
Boys Semifinals
Tyler Severin of Johnstown def. Jack Hughes of Aspen, 5 and 4
Jack Castiglia of Lakewood def. Christopher Kennedy of Aurora, 4 and 3
Boys Final
Jack Castiglia of Lakewood def. Tyler Severin of Johnstown, 2 and 1
Girls Semifinals
Lauren Lehigh of Loveland def. Charlotte Hillary of Englewood, 4 and 3
Hailey Schalk of Erie def. Kaylee Chen of Denver, 23 holes
Girls Final
Lauren Lehigh of Loveland def. Hailey Schalk of Erie, 4 and 3
For the Colorado Junior Match Play brackets, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.
